DISH NAME : PALAK PANEER ( COTTAGE CHEESE IN SPINACH GRAVY)

Preparation Time : 45 minutes

Cooking Time : 20 minutes

Description

Spinach is a green coloured leafy vegetable. There are 3 main types of spinach, savoy, smooth leaf and baby spinach.
Savoy has crisp,wrinkled,curly leaves. Smooth-leaf has flat, unwrinkled, spade-shaped leaves.Baby spinach is great for use in salads as it has a sweeter taste.
Spinach was popularised by Popeye, the famous cartoon character. There is a story behind the love for spinach by Popeye. It seems that in 1870 German chemist Erich von Wolf ascertained the amount of iron in spinach as 3.5 milligrams. But while scribbling it in his notes, he accidentally left out the decimal point and wrote that spinach had 35 milligrams of iron per 100-gram serving. This fact wasn't corrected until almost seventy years later. This claim of iron content in Spinach was noticed by the studio that created the cartoon character Popeye. So they brought out the theory that Popeye got his strength from eating iron rich Spinach.
Black cardamom, is also known as big cardamom or brown cardamom.Its seeds / pods have a strong camphor-like flavor, with a smoky character. Unlike green cardamom, this spice is rarely used in sweet dishes. Its smoky flavor and aroma is derived from traditional methods of drying over open flames. This is available in supermarkets.
Tempering of spices is a traditional method to extract the full flavour from spices and is also known as “Tadka” or "baghar". In tempering, whole or ground spices are heated in hot oil and then added to a dish. The hot oil or ghee makes the spices more flavourful and brings the essence of the spices to the fore. The ingredients used in a Tadka varies depending on the area the dish originated from. Dishes from the North of India tend to favour cumin whilst dishes from the south prefer mustard seeds.

Note

1) The cream used is fresh dairy cream and not non dairy whipping cream.
2) In this recipe Indian spinach known as palak is used.

Method

1) Fry paneer and soak in water with 1 pinch salt and turmeric (1 pinch).
2)Break palak leaves from the stem. Discard stems. Wash in plenty of water. Keep aside to drain.
3) Heat oil in a kadhai. Add black cardamom, cloves and pepper corns.
4) Add chopped onions and cook till light brown.
5) Add ginger, garlic and green chillies. Stir on low heat for 1 minute. Add dried fenugreek leaves.
6) Now add garam masala, red chilli powder, dried mango powder and salt. Stir on low heat for 1 minute.
7) Add chopped tomatoes. Cook for 7 to 8 minutes, till well blended.
8) Add spinach and cook uncovered for 10-12 minutes on low heat. Remove from heat. Cool.
Blend the cooled mixture along with 1/2 cup water, just for a few seconds, to a coarse paste. Do not grind it too finely.
9) Add 1 cup water and bring to boil. Add paneer pieces and let it simmer for 3-5 minutes till paneer is soft. Check salt.
10) Add lime juice and sugar if needed. Remove from heat. Transfer to a serving dish.
Tempering:
1) Heat 1 tbsp ghee or butter.
2) Add ginger and green chilli. Remove from heat and red chilli powder.
3) Pour this on the palak.
4) Garnish with fresh cream and serve with chapathis.

Serving Suggestions

Serve with chapathy.