Saag Paneer/ Cottage Cheese with Greens

Saag paneer/ Cottage Cheese with Greens is a classic favorite dish for most of the  Indians across India. This is a very popular dish in North India. Traditionally this dish is made of mustard leaves, spinach, and fenugreek leaves. The recipe is a combination of different varieties of greens with the perfectly browned paneer cubes which are infused with Indian spices and are stewed together in the rich cream or coconut milk till done.

Recently, while I was talking to my friend, who is Polish, but is a big fan of Indian food, she mentioned how she loves Saag Paneer. So I tried making this dish when I invited her home, she liked it a lot and this was a big hit at my house too. So from then on, this dish is prepared once in a week, which we eat along with chapatis or rice. It is so easy to make and not time-consuming.

This recipe requires an incredible amount of spinach, feel free to use any amount of spinach. Here in the US, I tried making this along with kale, spinach, fenugreek leaves, broccoli. Whatever greens, they are, all tastes perfectly good. Paneer is available abundantly nowadays. Some people will use homemade paneer, which tastes amazing. I fried the paneer lightly as I love the soft crumble texture of paneer. Some love it crunchy and can be done golden brown. The spices will add a nice flavor to the dish and last but not the least, the cream is added to make the dish more rich, creamy, tasty and flavorful. Instead of cream, we can also use coconut milk. A delicious, amazing dish will be ready to enjoy, by adding all the above ingredients and with a little bit of love. Hope you will try to prepare this and will like it. Please let me know.

Ingredients:

1. Paneer/ Cottage Cheese- 2 Cups (cubed)
2. Oil- 3 tbsp
3. Spinach- 3 Cups
4. Fenugreek Leaves- 1/2 Cup
5. Onions (chopped)- 1 no
6. Tomatoes(chopped)- 1 no
7. Ginger and Garlic Paste- 1 tbsp
8. Turmeric Powder- 1 Tsp
9. Red Chili Powder- 1 Tsp
10. Coriander Powder- 1 tbsp
11. Cumin Powder- 1/2 tsp
12. Garam Masala Powder- 1 Tsp
13. Salt- as required
14. Cream- 2 tbsp

Method:

1. Chop the spinach and fenugreek leaves using a hand blender. Keep this aside.
2. Fry the cubed paneer pieces on a slow flame in 1/2 tbsp of oil. When they turn a light golden color, keep them aside.
3. In the same pan, add oil, saute the onions till translucent. Add the ginger- garlic paste. Fry for a min on medium flame.
4. Add the chopped tomatoes and when they turn mushy, add all the spice powders along with required amount of salt.
5. Add the chopped greens, stir for about 2 minutes. In this add the lightly fried golden colored paneer, mix and pour the cream on top. Stir lightly and enjoy naan/roti dipped in hot saag paneer.

Paneer Pop Corns

Paneer popcorn is a snack which can be enjoyed by everyone. A very healthy after-school snack for kids. This can make a perfect party appetizer which will be liked by all. This has a crunchy outside and a soft inside with which this becomes an excellent relish. These will remain crispy even after an hour of making this. This can be made ahead and refrigerated. When required, fry them in hot oil.

The cubed paneer pieces are dipped in batter, rolled in herbed breadcrumbs and then deep fried. You can increase the spice levels according to your taste buds.
For vegetarians, this is a tasty alternative to chicken popcorns. My daughter likes to eat it after her swimming class. A lip-smacking dish will be ready within no time and with very fewer ingredients. Hope you all will try this out and let me know.

Ingredients:

1. Paneer (cubed)- 1 Cup
2. Corn Flour- 1/4 Cup
3. All Purpose Flour- 3 tbsp
4. Ginger- Garlic Paste- 1 tbsp
5. Red Chilli Powder- 1 Tsp
6. Salt- as required
7. Turmeric Powder- 1/4 Tsp
8. Bread Crumbs- 1/4 Cup
9. Italian Seasoning- 1 tbsp (optional)
10. Salt- a pinch
11. Oil- for frying

Method:

1. Mix the cornflour, all-purpose flour, red chili powder, ginger- garlic paste, turmeric powder, salt along with little water to a thick batter.
2. Mix the bread crumbs, Italian seasoning, and salt in a pan, keep this aside.
3. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a deep bottomed pan.
4. Dip the cubed paneer pieces in the thick batter then roll them in the herbed breadcrumbs and fry them in the medium hot oil till it turns crunchy and golden color.
5. Drain the paneer popcorns on to a kitchen towel. Serve them hot along with your favorite choice of sauce.

Paneer( cottage cheese) Puffs

Puffs are the most popular snacks in India. We can see these crispy, flaky savory pastries in almost all the bakeries in India and which is liked by many along with their evening tea. When we were in India, we used to buy a lot of different varieties of filling in puff pastries.

Today I have made puffs with paneer filling. These are super simple to made and they are amazingly delicious. All you need to have is puff pastry sheets and paneer. You can also make the filling and shape them in triangles and store in the freezer. Whenever required remove the puffs from the freezer, thaw them till soft and bake till it gets cooked well. An appetizing snack which will be loved by all.

You can make puff pastry filling using chicken, mutton, vegetables of your choice or eggs. Egg Puffs are the most popular ones in India. I have posted about egg puffs long bake in my blog. In the US, we will get the veg puffs only in Indian store but not very frequently and to fulfill our desire of eating hot puffs, I will be making this regularly with different fillings which I mentioned above and this time it is with paneer. Hope you all will like this. Please try this out and let me know

Ingredients:

1. Cottage Cheese/ Paneer- 1 Cup
2. Green chilies- 3 nos
3. Onions- 1 no
4. Cumin Seeds- 1 tsp
5. Grated Ginger- 1 tbsp
6. Coriander Powder- 1 tsp
7. Red Chilli Powder- 1 tsp
8. Turmeric powder- ½ tsp
9. Cumin Powder- 1 tsp
10. Garam Masala- 1 tsp
11. Lemon Juice- ½ tbsp
12. Oil- 1 tbsp
13. Fresh Cilantro( chopped)- 1 tbsp  

Method:

1. Thaw the puff pastry until it comes to room temperature and becomes soft.
2. Meanwhile, chop the onions and green chilies. Heat oil and splutter cumin seeds, add the onions and green chilies.
3. Saute until translucent, add the grated ginger when the raw smells disappear add the spice powders and stir till everything gets blended.
4. At last, add the grated paneer and required amount of salt with a dash of lemon juice and chopped cilantro. Mix and keep this aside.
5. Cut the thawed puff pastry sheets into squares and in each square place a tbsp of the paneer mixture in the middle and fold the sheets in the form of a triangle. Press the sides of the sheets so that the filling won’t come out while baking.
6. Arrange the prepared triangle puffs on a parchment paper and bake them for about 15- 20 minutes or till top gets browned. When done, cool them and serve along with tomato ketchup or just enjoy with hot tea.

Spinach and Cottage Cheese Samosa/ Palak paneer Samosa

I have not been active in this space for some time now. I missed my blog space a lot. I had a lovely short trip to my brother’s place in Ohio and so I couldn’t blog from there, (which I planned to) as I was enjoying with my lovely niece and naughty nephew. This whole time, I didn’t cook anything, as I was enjoying my Sister- in law's amazing dishes. In some of my previous blog posts, I have mentioned about her dishes like the chocolate roll cake and the baked apple roses. As now I have returned, everything is back to normal. I started my routine and so after the break, the post which I thought would be perfect was this snack which is everyone's favorite.

We all know that spinach and paneer is an amazing combination in Indian curries. So I thought why not try it out in our favorite samosas. Samosas are deep fried snacks, which has a filling of meat/ vegetables. Samosas are one of the most common snacks in India. They are very special during the month of Ramadan, which is eaten as an iftar snack. These are easy to make, only difficult part is to make the dough and shaping them into a cone, but if you have spring roll sheets then within minutes an amazingly delicious snack will be ready to eat.

Ingredients:

For the Filling:

1. Spinach- a small bunch
2. Cottage Cheese- ½ Cup
3. Garam Masala Powder- ½ tsp
4. Oil- 1 tbsp
5. Onions (chopped)- 1 no
6. Green Chillies (chopped finely)- 2 nos
7. Ginger (crushed)- 1 tbsp
8. Garlic (chopped)- 1 tbsp
9. Cumin powder- 1 tsp
10. Red Chilli Powder- 1 tsp
11. Coriander powder- 1 tsp
12. Turmeric powder- ½ tsp
13. Oil- for deep frying

For the Dough:

1. All Purpose flour- 11/2 Cups
2. Salt- as required
3. Melted butter- 2 tbsp
4. Ajwain/ caraway seeds- 1 tbsp
5. Water- required to knead the dough

Method:

1. In a bowl, mix the all-purpose flour, salt, melted butter along with required amount of water into a smooth dough. Cover with a damp cloth and let it rest for some time.
2. Meanwhile, heat oil in a pan, saute the onions. When they turn translucent, add the ginger, garlic and green chilies.
3. Saute till the raw smell disappears. Add the chopped spinach, stir till it becomes soft. Add the crushed cottage cheese and mix well till everything gets blended well.
4. In the above add the garam masala powder, cumin powder, red chili powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, and salt. Mix and switch off the flame.
5. Divide the above-made dough into small round balls of 12- 15.
6. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough balls into small round discs, cut into half, water the straight edge and join the edges to make a cone. Press gently to seal the edges.take a spoon full of the filling and place it inside. Seal the other end and press gently make sure that the filling doesn’t come out.
7. Repeat with the remaining dough and the filling. When all the samosas are ready, heat oil for deep frying and fry the made samosas till golden brown. When they are done drain on a kitchen tissue and serve hot along with tomato ketchup or green chutney.

Ula’s Palak Paneer using Coconut Milk

Today I am sharing a palak paneer recipe which was prepared by my friend Ula. Ula is my workout buddy who hails from Poland. She told me about this dish she prepared and was curious to know how she would have prepared and here is the recipe she shared. It has all the perfect Indian ingredients except for a bit of improvisation with coconut milk and cayenne pepper instead of the regular chilli powder which I am used to. Way to go Ula !! :-)

Take sometime to marinate the paneer in advance, for the perfect texture and flavor. Serve this paneer gravy over steaming hot rice or naan as desired.

I have made palak tofu recipe before. In this Palak paneer recipe, the spinach is chopped and added not pureed like the regular palak paneer.

Paneer is a mild fresh cheese that’s made by curdling milk with an acid and then pressing the curds. This is rich, creamy and savoury with a hint of tartness.

In this recipe the paneer is well marinated with the spices and fried. The onions are caramelized along with the tomatoes and toasting of the spices, then goes the spinach, coconut milk to round off the edges and ends up by adding the fried paneer pieces, which are well blended together. The result is an intensely flavorful spinach paneer curry to go with roti or rice or pulav.

Ingredients:

1. Paneer (cubed)- 250 gms
2. Palak/ Spinach- a bunch
3. Onions (chopped)- 2 nos
4. Green Chillies- 3 nos
5. Ginger (julienned)- 1 tbsp
6. Garlic(chopped)- 1 tbsp
7. Salt- as required
8. Tomatoes- 3 nos
9. Coconut Milk- 1 cup
10. Garam Masala Powder- 1 tsp
11. Cayenne Pepper Powder/ kashmiri Chilli Powder- 1 tbsp
12. Turmeric Powder- ½ tbsp
13. Oil- 3 tbsp
14. Cumin Seeds- 1 tsp

Method:

1. Chop the onions, tomatoes, green chillies and spinach. Keep these seperately aside.
2. Heat 1 tbsp Of oil in a pan. Meanwhile take the cubed paneer in a bowl and sprinkle some salt, turmeric powder and cayenne pepper powder. Mix well and shallow fry the paneer in the heated oil till light brown in colour. Keep the fried paneer on a kitchen towel.
3. In the same pan heat remaining oil, splutter cumin seeds. Add the chopped onions, green chillies, ginger and garlic.
4. Saute for a while. Add the chopped tomatoes. Mix well.
5. Stir the coconut milk in the above mixture. Add the garam masala powder. Stir till the gravy thickens.
6. Atlast add the fried paneer pieces and switch off the flame. Serve this along with hot steaming rice/ rotis/ naan.

Restaurant Style Paneer Butter Masala

Paneer butter masala is a dish which I usually order whenever I visit a vegetarian restaurant. This dish is a good combination of rotis, parathas and also with all varieties of rice. I was searching for restaurant style paneer butter masala and I stumbled upon Food Viva, which had lovely step by step pics and a very simple but tasty recipe. I loved the recipe and tried, it came out perfect.

This recipe is a hit in my home. My husband and my little ones loves paneer a lot and so this one is made all the time.

In this dish the soft paneer is well soaked and mixed in mildly spiced onion tomato cashew gravy. This can be made with tofu also.This paneer butter masala can be made in different methods. Long back I have posted a different variety of this paneer butter masala. This is just another method. Just try this and you will love this delicious recipe.

Ingredients:

1. Paneer ( cubed)- 2 cups
2. Onions- 2 nos
3. Tomatoes- 3 nos
4. Ginger and garlic paste- 1 tbsp
5. Green chillies- 2 nos
6. Red Chilli Powder- 1 tsp
7. Cashewnuts- 6- 7 nos
8. Coriander Powder- 1 tsp
9. Garam Masala Powder- 1 tsp
10. Milk- ½ cup
11. Water- ½ cup
12. Kasuri Methi- 1 tbsp
13. Cream- ¼ cup
14. Oil- 1 tbsp

Method:

1. Soak the cashew nuts for 30 minutes and grind to a paste. Keep this aside.
2. Grind onions and purée the tomatoes.
3. Heat oil, add the ground onions, fry till it becomes light brown in colour.
4. Add ginger and garlic paste. Stir well. In this add the puréed tomatoes, green chillies and red chilli powder.
5. Add the cashew paste, coriander powder and garam masala. Stir well till the oil separates. Add milk and water.
6. Mix well, add salt. After about 10 minutes on low flame add the cubed paneer.
7. Sprinkle some kasuri methi on top and switch off the flame.
8. Pour some cream on top and serve along with rotis, naan, pulav and so on.