initial guess at saag paneer

Last night, I got to play in the kitchen for the first time in a while. While the kitchen has been upside down, we've either eaten out or eaten leftovers.

I tried to make Saag Paneer by guessing at the recipe. Not bad, but I have some improvements to try for next time.

Saag Paneer is that yummy creamy Indian dish made of spinach and cheese cubes. Here's what I did:
. Put fresh spinach (minus stems) in a food processor with a few Tablespoons of yogurt and some garam masala (like a curry mix). Whirred until smooth.
. Chopped an onion. Chopped some fresh paneer.
. Prepared some fresh garlic -- put it through our "indispensable tool," a Cuisinart minichopper -- until it was reduced to tiny pieces of garlic.
. Prepared fresh ginger and turmeric the same way -- chopped it to little bits.
. In a pan, heated oil, then added cumin seeds, mustard seeds, and cayenne; let them pop, threw on the onions to cool things down and lowered the heat. After a few minutes, added the paneer and let that cook with the onions.
. When the onions were cooked, added the garlic, cooked briefly, then added the spinach mixture, then the ginger and turmeric. Turned the heat way down and let things just mingle until hot.
. Served over rice with some Indian bread we had in the freezer and mango chutney.

It was fairly good. Next time, I'll probably cook the spinach a little -- maybe steam it in the microwave -- before putting it in the food processor. And I'll add some salt while cooking. Adding salt at the table vastly improved the taste.

Definitely a repeat. Perhaps I'll look at a recipe between now and then to get more ideas.


Tonight, we worked long enough to put the kitchen back together that we ended up ordering takeout. It was yummy. But we'll have more homecooked food soon.