My Current Favorite Meal

We like this so much around here, we had it two nights in a row. We served it to a friend Monday night and made another batch on Tuesday for dinner, and it will last for lunch today and probably lunch tomorrow! Yay! If you ever come to my house to eat, this is probably the dinner I would make (unless you don't want to eat Indian food, then I'd probably make lasagna).

One thing I like about blogging about this meal: I've already typed out the recipe for two of the three dishes. The chicken recipe is in the 'Cardamom, anyone' entry, and the yogurt dip is in 'Indian Food, etc.' The saag paneer (spinach and cheese), however, has a lot of steps. Totally totally worth taking all the steps, because this is about my favorite thing I've ever cooked. This dish is usually made solely with spinach, but we really like using mustard greens with the spinach. If mustard greens don't do it for you, just use all spinach.

Saag Paneer
2 T. cooking oil
1 medium onion, sliced
6 cloves garlic, chopped
4 slices ginger (each 2" x 1" x 1/8"), chopped
2 t. Bin bhuna hua garam masala (recipe to follow)
1/2 t. ground tumeric
2 T. tomato paste
8 oz. fresh spinach (stems removed), well-cleaned and coarsely chopped
8 oz. fresh mustard greens (stems removed), well-cleaned and coarsely chopped
1 t. salt
1 lb. paneer (get it in the freezer at the international grocery or make it (blog entry 'Indian Food, etc')), cubed and pan-fried (directions to follow)
1/2 c. heavy cream
1/2 t. Punjabi garam masala (recipe to follow)

Heat oil in large skillet on medium. Add onion, garlic, and ginger, stir fry 8-10 minutes, till onion starts to brown. Remove the skillet from the heat and stir in the tumeric and the Bin bhuna hua garam masala (the heat from the onion will lightly cook the spices). Transfer the mixture into your blender, add tomato paste and 1/4 c. water. Puree, scraping the sides. Return the paste to the skillet. Pour 3/4 c. water into the blender and give it a quick whirl to wash it out- pour that in the skillet, too. Place skillet on medium again. Pile handfuls of the greens into the skillet, cover it, and let the steam wilt them. Mix them into the puree, add more greens, cover, wilt, etc, until all the greens are incorporated-- about 10 minutes. Once all greens are added cover the skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, until the greens are starting to break down and the mixture is olive green, about 10 minutes. Transfer mixture to blender, puree, scraping sides, return to skillet over medium. Stir in salt, paneer cubes, cream, and Punjabi garam masala. simmer covered about 5 minutes, till the cheese and cream have warmed through. Serve with pita bread or rice or alone.


These garam masalas contain similar ingredients, but the Punjabi one is toasted, so the spices have different flavors. The Punjabi garam masala is like a finishing spice. If it's added at the beginning of a recipe the flavors get lost; every recipe I've used this spice blend in tastes way better the day it's made.

Punjabi Garam Masala
1 T. coriander seeds
1 t. cumin seeds
1 t. whole cloves
1/2 t. black peppercorns
1/2 t. cardamom seeds
3 cinnamon sticks, broken up
3 bay leaves

Preheat skillet over med-high. Add all ingredients, toast and shake the pan every few seconds until the coriander and cumin turn reddish brown, the cloves, peppercorns and cardamom turn ash-black, and the bay leaves get brittle and crinkly, about 2 minutes. Immediately transfer to plate to cool. Once they are cool to the touch, grind in coffee grinder. Yum! It smells so great!


Bin Bhuna Hua Garam Masala
2 T. coriander seeds
1 t. cumin seeds
1 t. black peppercorns
1/2 t. whole cloves
1/2 t. cardamom seeds
2 dried bay leaves
3-4 dried cayenne chiles (or 1 t. ground red pepper)

Combine all in coffee grinder and grind up.


Pan-fried Paneer
Take your paneer and cut it into cubes. Put some oil or butter in a non stick skillet on medium, put cubes of cheese in. Check periodically, turn cubes when the bottoms appear golden-brown. I don't usually brown on all eight sides, but I brown on most of the sides. Place on paper towels to drain, then set aside until it's time to add them. I usually start the cheese browning process when I start the onions, then the cheese will be done by the time it's time to add.