Saag Paneer with Indian Brown Rice

Another Indian recipe! Out of all the Indian recipes we make at our house, this one is my favorite. The main reason for that might be because it's the first one I ever made out of the curry cookbook that I inherited when I married Rob (the only cookbook he owned when we were married) and I was so proud of myself for trying something entirely out of my comfort zone. 

The cookbook is great, by the way. We've made a half dozen recipes, and there pictures for every dish (this is essential!) as well as pictures for many of the steps. Those pictures are what probably gave me the confidence to ever try this recipe out. It's been a few years since the first time I made recipe and we've had it many times. Lots of ingredients, almost as many steps, and a moderate amount of time to complete, but all of it pretty easy. And oh so delicious. 

This is the first time I made the dish vegetarian - with cheese (paneer - fresh Indian cheese) rather than with chicken. So, Chicken Saag (saag means greens - and BOY is this dish GREEN!) became Saag Paneer. I made the substitution for a couple of my friends who I know read these recipes and who prefer to eat vegetarian (Kendra and Kelly, I'm thinking of you!). But let me tell you, the dish is so much tastier with cheese instead of chicken that I will probably make it like this from now on! Chicken is a great blank slate that doesn't take anything away from the great flavors of the dish, but paneer adds an additional creamy element that can't be beat!

This dish can be served on naan or any kind of rice. This time I made our favorite rice to serve with Indian dishes. Feel free to use white or brown rice, but for added depth of flavor this rice is just about as easy as doing plain rice anyway!

A couple of notes: I don't know how easy it is to find paneer, here in the Seattle area there are plenty of Indian grocers so I didn't have a problem. Apparently paneer is easy enough to make. I say this because most of the recipes I looked up suggest making your own. I don't see myself every making my own cheese. Another thing - this recipe takes some time, not a crazy amount, but it will have you leaving time between each step to let the dish simmer and it's not all bad - it gives you time to prepare the next step, wash some dishes, or even check on your toddler every once in a while! Last note - even though the recipe for the rice is at the end of this post, preparing your rice should be your first step so it's done when your saag is ready to serve.

Saag Paneer

For the paneer:

12 ounces Paneer (Indian cheese, either store-bought or made)

1 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp cayenne

kosher salt

4 Tbl canola oil

For the saag:

8-10 ounces fresh spinach

1 inch piece of fresh ginger root, grated (I use a 1/2 tsp of prepared ginger)

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 fresh green chili, roughly chopped

1 cup water, divided

2 Tbl. canola oil

2 bay leaves

1/4 tsp. black peppercorns (or table ground works okay)

1 onion, finely chopped

1 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes (or 4 fresh, skinned and finely chopped)

2 tsp. curry powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp chili powder

3 Tbl plain yogurt, plus extra to serve

rice, to serve

To prepare the paneer:

one. cut the paneer into 1/2 inch or 1 inch cubes (I like the smaller size)

two. whisk together the turmeric, cayenne, salt and canola oil

three. gently toss the cheese inot the oil and spice mixture. let marinate while you're heating a large and deep skillet on medium or prepping other ingredients

four.  add the paneer to the skillet

five. after a couple of minutes, toss the pan (or, individually turn each cube - I'm not confident in my tossing abilities). fry for another minute or so. the paneer should be browned on a couple of sides.

six. remove to a paper towel and let sit while the saag is prepared (and give the skillet a rinse and dry to use for the next steps:)

 

 

 To prepare the saag:

one. Cook the spinach, without water, in a tightly covered pan for 5 minutes. Put the spinach, ginger, garlic and chili with 1/4 cup of the water into a food processor/blender and process to a puree.

 

two. Heat the oil, add the bay leaves and peppercorns, and fry for 2 minutes. Add the onion and fry for 6-8 minutes more.

 

three.  Add the chopped tomatoes to the pan and simmer for 5 minutes longer. Add the curry powder, salt and chili powder and stir well to mix. Allow to cook for 2 minutes.

four. Add that beautiful green spinach puree and the remaining water to the pan and leave to simmer for 5 minutes.

  

five. Stir in the yogurt, about 1 Tablespoon at a time and simmer for 5 minutes. Now you've got army green!

six. Add the paneer. Turn down the heat and keep warm until your rice is ready!

If you're using chicken: Add the chicken (as much as you'd like, cut into bite-sized pieces) instead of paneer. Cover and cook for 15 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.

Serve with rice and top with more plain yogurt. The ugliest meal you've ever loved.

I also made sweet potato and chutney samosas to serve along side the saag paneer. I took pictures, thinking I would also post that recipe. Then I remembered that they aren't even that great - so I'm not going to show them on the blog. In fact, I'm removing the recipe from my "Favorite Recipes" notebook. Rob once took an Indian cooking class and we just barely remembered that he learned how to make an easy and tasty veggie samosa. We'll have to make that one again and see how we feel about it.

Indian Brown Rice

Either follow your rice cooker's suggestion for rice/water amount or use these (you'll need to 1.5 or double the recipe to have enough for all the saag paneer):

1 cup brown basmati rice (or just plain ol' brown rice)

1.5 cups water

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp dried dill

1 Tbl butter

Toss everything into your rice cooker. Mix and press start! You might start using rice this with all your Indian dishes. We do!

It's green, but the toddler still devours it.

Asian Turkey Cabbage (or Lettuce) Cups

 Rob and I wanted to make a couple of light meals for the dinners prior to the Thanksgiving holiday. This is one of our favorites - so easy, delicious, and light. The ingredients are common in Asian cooking, but if you don't cook Asian food a lot, then you may not have them on hand, making the recipe not quite as simple to pull together. When I make it, all I need to make sure I have is cabbage (or this time we had lettuce) and a lime since those are the only ingredients I don't always have. 

This is a Cooking Light recipe, I only make very small changes.

Asian Turkey Cabbage (or Lettuce) Cups

1.5 lbs ground turkey (I've never tried it with beef, but I'm sure it's fine in not better)

1 tsp minced ginger (or grated fresh)

1 Tbl brown sugar

2 Tbl juice from a lime

1 1/2 Tbl fish sauce (the smelliest but most delicious ingredient you'll ever use - whatever you do, don't taste it!)

1 tsp. olive oil

1 tsp. sesame oil

1/2 c + thinly sliced green onion

1/2 c chopped fresh cilantro, chopped

Napa cabbage or butter lettuce leaves (I usually use the cabbage, but tonight we had lettuce. I think I actually like the cabbage better - and it's less expensive anyway!)

1/4 c. chopped peanuts

 

Add ginger to the turkey and brown the turkey.

After it's browned add the brown sugar, oils, fish sauce and lime juice.

Add green onions and cilantro. Then take a bite... because it's ready!

Chop some nuts.

Suggested toppings: Siracha and Sweet chili sauce. Okay, maybe they're not suggested, maybe they are mandatory for the most possible deliciousness. And if the meal is too healthy for you, steam up some wontons. (In the very first picture you can see that Rob also added fried chow mein noodles, but we don't usually do that).

Rob is demonstrating the eating of the cups. Doesn't that look tasty and fresh!?

Roasted Acorn Squash Soup

Isn't it so sad that summer is gone, and with it all the yummy fruit? For here on out, it's apples, oranges, pears and bananas. The flip-side: we trade a large variety of juicy fruit for Fall produce like squash!

Roasted squash is one of the tastiest foods I've ever eaten. I love eating it plain (with the light seasoning from the roasting process), in a pasta bake and in soup. A few years ago I started making acorn squash soup and this year the recipes I had on hand didn't seem right. Like, I didn't remember making them the way that were on the recipes. Weird. I don't know how that happened (did I forget? did I lose the recipe I actually used? did I just adjust the recipes I had each time I made it?), but I decided to start from scratch and just make my own and  WRITE IT DOWN so I don't have this problem again.

A few things to know: 1) you need a blender or better yet, a food processor, or better yet, a stick (immersion) blender 2) I didn't actually measure my spices or salt. You might need more than what's here 3) plan for about an hour for the roasting of the squash, which can be done ahead of time 4)I based my recipe off of this one 5) it tastes a little like heaven

Roasted Acorn Squash Soup (for those Weight Watchers out there: if you get six servings out of it, it's only 3 points!)

2 large acorn squash
salt & pepper
olive oil
about 3 garlic cloves, minced
1 onion, chopped
2 tsp oil (or butter)
3 c. chicken broth
 1/4 tsp dried sage (go ahead and switch out the herbs for your favorites)
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/8 tsp cayenne
1/2 tsp of salt
1/2 c. fat free half and half (or a half cup of another dairy)
1/2 c. fat free plain greek yogurt (or a half cup of another dairy)
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce (optional)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Half the two acorn squash, scoop and discard the seeds. It's helpful to cut/shave a little slice off the bottom so it sits flat. Place, facing up (inside up, rind down) on a baking sheet and brush with olive oil and season with salt and pepper and sprinkle with minced garlic. Roast for about an hour, until the squash is very soft (a fork moves easily through it). I covered mine with foil for a half hour, then uncovered it for the last half hour. (the above picture is after the roasting is complete, but I'm sure you guessed that)

When done, scoop away from the rind and set aside.

Next saute the onions. In a large pot add 2 tsp of oil/butter on medium, when hot add the chopped onion. Saute for about 4-5 minutes until soft then add chicken broth and squash. Combine.

Here's a good time to puree the soup. Because I have a stick blender I was able to puree it three different times during the process, but you'll only want to do it once with a processor or blender. So - transfer to either of those and puree until smooth (vent for steam).

Return the pureed mixture back to the pot and add herbs, cayenne and salt. Bring to a low boil then turn down the heat and add half and half and yogurt (or other choice of dairy - it's for creaminess). Stir to combine. Add Worcestershire sauce and additional salt to taste.

And can you believe it, this is the only photo I took of the final product. Behold, my leftovers:

Red Lentil Dahl

I want to *start posting some of our favorite recipes. I've wanted to do this for a long time because the possibility of someone else making and loving something that I make and love is exciting to me. And now that I've done a little bit of sharing recipes and giving cooking tips to my sister Monica, I thought continuing the premise of "teaching my sister how to cook (I need something more catchy than that - ideas!?)" would be really fun.

*note: That's what I want to do, but it's quite possible this will be the only one I actually get around to.

This one is for Red Lentil Dahl, a recipe given to me by a friend, Eleanor. "Friend" in this instance should be defined, "the wife of my husband's friend who we stayed with once and who I fell instantly in adoration of and how cute is she to give me a recipe."

And, I also need to mention here, that you really should visit my friend Amelia's blog. She posted this recipe too! And the recipe was given to her by Eleanor too!  On her post you'll find much more beautiful pictures and a much more delightful description - that is because Amelia should be defined, "beautiful and delightful."

I've changed the recipe up a (very) little from what she gave me, so I'm going to post it here the way I make it.

Red Lentil Dahl 
Makes a lot - about 8 servings. Freezes well.

9 oz split red lentils (those are the small, thin kind)
1 medium onions, finely chopped (there are two pictured here, but I realized that I just use one)
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
2 medium carrots, peeled and very finely chopped (I used 3 because they are skinny)
2 tsp. ground cumin
2 tsp. ground mustard seed
1 Tbl. ground tumeric
2 tsp. ground ginger
1 can (400 ml) coconut milk
1 can (15 oz) diced tomatoes
juice of one lime
2 Tbl. chopped fresh cilantro
Not pictured: olive or canola oil, salt, pepper, 16 oz. water (or chicken broth), sour cream for garnish

1. In a deep skillet, heat 1 or 2 Tbl. of oil on medium heat. Add onions and cook until onions are a pale golden color.
2. Add the garlic, carrot, cumin and mustard seed and cook for a couple of minutes.
3. Stir in the turmeric and cook for a couple of minutes (warning - turmeric adds vibrant color to a dish, but also to your counter top if you're not careful)
4. Add the lentils, 10 fluid ounces of water or chicken broth, coconut milk, ginger, tomatoes, a teaspoon or more of salt and some pepper (to taste).

I love that as you go through these steps the color of the dish changes from orange to brown to red and then ends up with this hearty mix of all three:

Yum, the flavors are all there at this point, but if you try to eat any of it you'll realize the lentils need to soften... that's step five.

5. Simmer and cook gently (very few/slow bubbles - that's a simmer), uncovered, for 45 minutes or more, until lentils are tender and all but dissolved into the liquid. You'll likely need to add more water/chicken broth during this time as the lentils absorb the liquid - just keep the mixture submerged in liquid so the lentils don't dry out. You can feel free to walk away, just stir every once in a while during this time

This is a simmer - a very low boil with just a few bubbles at a time

 I'm about to add more liquid because some of the mixture isn't submerged

6. Once the lentils are soft (you'll know - if they still seem crunchy, just keep cooking!) add the juice of the lime, cilantro, and any additional salt to taste. Serve with rice or naan and top with sour cream.

Serious Yum.

Here it is, served aside a chicken curry. In the words of my brother-in-law James, "I think this is the first time I've ever liked lentils."