- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 60 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings
Saag Paneer is a beloved vegetarian Indian dish. If you wish to include authentic Indian paneer (cheese), you must make the paneer in advance.
See the instructions below. Sometimes I substitute the paneer for tofu (see below) just to save time. It works really well.
This substitution also accommodates the needs of a vegan diet if you substitute the cream with tomato juice and the ghee with oil.
Saag Paneer (translating to spinach cheese in Hindi) is a beautiful (not in the esthetic sense of the word) dish to accompany any Indian meal, vegetarian or not. I wouldn’t judge many Indian dishes as gorgeous to look at.
They make up for the lack of photogenicity with volumes and volumes of rich, exotic flavor. I make saag paneer 85 percent of the time when I prepare an Indian dinner. Check out my Indian Indulgence for Indian dinner party menu suggestions.
This is also one of my most requested dishes. As with any Indian curry, the longer you let it simmer, the better. Leftovers are always best the next day, after spices have been left to meld for an extended period.
Ghee is used in this and most Indian curry recipes. Ghee is essentially clarified butter, which you can easily make at home and save the expense of the store-bought versions.
Ghee is also healthy, as it does not contain the milk solids that carry all the LD cholesterol and any hormones or chemicals the animal may have been fed. As always, I use organic butter. See directions below to make the ghee.
Ingredients
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons of freshly chopped garlic
- 2 tablespoons of finely chopped fresh ginger
- 2 pounds of spinach, washed and chopped (or 2 boxes of frozen, chopped spinach)
- 1 pound of hard tofu or paneer, cut into 2-inch cubes
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons coriander seeds, freshly ground
- 2 tablespoons cumin seeds, freshly ground
- 2 tablespoons ghee, melted
- 1 heaping tablespoon of tomato paste
- 3/4 cup light cream or half and half
- salt and black pepper to taste.
- three dried red chili pods (more for heat)
Instructions
- To make the paneer, boil 16 ounces of full or 2 percent milk. Do not scald. When the milk is at a full boil, add 2 tablespoons of white vinegar.
- The vinegar should make the milk curdle. Cool to room temperature. Strain the curdled milk through a cheese cloth. Squeeze tightly to remove as much water as possible, and form the milk solids into a tight brick.
- Refrigerator for at least 2 hours, on a plate with a weight on top of the wrapped paneer brick.
- To make ghee, melt 1 pound of butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. Do not brown or boil. With a skimmer, remove the foaming solids floating on top of the clear layer.
- Through a cheesecloth, pour the clarified butter into a glass jar. The cheesecloth will strain out the milk solids from the bottom of the pan.
- Discard the milk solids from the bottom of the pan. The ghee can be used immediately or stored in the refrigerator for a month.
For the curry:
- Over medium-low heat, add the ghee and fry the onion until caramelized. Be patient. Do not salt the onions, or they will wilt instead of caramelizing.
- When the onions are nice and brown, add the cumin, coriander, garlic, ginger, and optional chili, and fry, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes without letting the spices scorch.
- Reduce the heat to low. Add the tomato paste and stir well. Add the cream and stir well. Add the spinach and paneer, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.
- At this point, taste, and add salt and pepper to taste. Cover and simmer another 20 minutes, then, if necessary, add more salt, pepper, garlic, ginger, cumin, and/or coriander if necessary. This step is recommended since the spinach and paneer will absorb a lot of the spices.
- Remove to a large serving bowl. Serve family-style, with basmati rice, papadum, naan bread, and your other favorite Indian curries.
