Chunky Palak Paneer with Stove Top Naan

 

The Recipe

Serves: 4 people
Preparation: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Eating Time: depends on how hungry you are

“Possibly of North Indian origins, palak paneer is a dish supposedly developed by Mughals, a powerful Muslim dynasty that ruled over parts of the Indian subcontinent from the early 16th century to the mid-19th century.”


Indian food. I crave it. Often.

Especially my all time favourite dish - Palak Paneer.

Palak Paneer is originally a Punjabi vegetarian dish but is now found in variations all over India. It is a spinach curry dish with tomatoes, a mix of spices, onions and paneer (a simple rennet free cheese). You can find my paneer recipe here - it takes but a moment to make and just needs to be strained and pressed over night. If you don't have the time or can't find paneer at your local market, cottage cheese will do the job just fine. 

Rather than blending the spinach like a curry, how it usually comes, I have actually left it chunky so it is like a thick stew. Team it with some simple naan bread (it's so easy to make from scratch!) and you have your Indian food cravings sorted.

 

INGREDIENTS

PALAK PANEER
600g baby spinach
4 tbsp vegetable oil
½ tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp fenugreek
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp ground turmeric
2 tsp garam masala
120g / 1 yellow onion, finely sliced
20g / a thumb sized piece of ginger, peeled
20g / 3-4 cloves of garlic, peeled
100g / 1 tomato
80g/ 4tblsp cream
2 tbsp lemon juice
150g paneer

STOVE TOP NAAN
3g/1 tsp instant yeast
180mls/ ¾ cup warm water
7g / 2tsp caster sugar
¼ tsp baking powder
300g plain white unbleached flour
2 tsp fine sea salt
15g/ 2.5tsp olive oil
50g/ 3tblsp yoghurt

 

METHOD

  1. Grind the spices until fine, set aside

  2. In a food processor blend the tomato, garlic and ginger until it resembles a nice smooth paste

  3. In a large saucepan, bring salted water to the boil and have a bowl of iced water on stand by

  4. Drop spinach into the boiling water for about 10 seconds until blanched, immediately drain and

  5. place into the ice water to stop the cooking process and to retain the vibrant green

  6. In a medium saucepan, heat the oil and fry the onion until translucent

  7. Add in the garlic, ginger, tomato and spices

  8. Finally add the cream, lemon juice, spinach and cook for another 10-15 minutes

  9. When the ingredients are combined and fragrant, crumble in the paneer and mix through

  1. Place the water, sugar, and yeast into a bowl and allow to sit for 10-15 minutes

  2. In a separate bowl, sift the flour, salt, and baking powder

  3. Mix the yeast mixture with the dry mixture. Add in olive oil and yoghurt

  4. Knead for 10-15 minutes until the dough is pliable. If the mixture is too sticky you may add a small sprinkling of flour

  5. Place in a well-oiled bowl and wrap with cling film

  6. Allow the dough to double in size in a warm environment for about 2 hours

  7. When the dough is ready, roll it out onto a floured surface. Shape out into rounds or teardrop shapes that are about 1 cm thick

  8. Heat a frying pan – for the best-charred results a cast iron pan works like a dream

  9. In the smoking hot pan, add a little oil and cook the dough, the bread will bubble and have charred spots on it. It shouldn’t take any longer than 30 seconds on each side of the bread to cook

  10. Before adding the next piece of dough, lightly oil the pan again.
    When all the bread has been cooked – it is time to dig in!
    Tear the naan into pieces and dip it into the deliciously fresh, made-from-scratch palak paneer.