By Niveditha Kalyanaraman
November 12th, 2023
An Indian dish with plenty of flavour, saag paneer is a well-loved vegetarian side dish. It's rich in calcium and folate from the spinach and is gluten-free, too. Here's the recipe for Saag Paneer.
2 tbsp ghee, or cooking oil 1 tsp turmeric 1 tsp chilli powder or Kashmiri chilli powder 450g paneer, cut into 3cm cubes 500g spinach, mature fresh or frozen, chopped 1 large onion, finely chopped 3 garlic cloves thumb-sized piece of ginger 1 green chilli, roughly chopped, (include seeds for extra spice) 1 tsp garam masala ½ lemon, juiced, to serve
Image Credit: Swasthi's Recipes
Melt the ghee, whisk in with the turmeric and chilli powder, then add the cubed paneer and toss well. Set aside. Blitz the onion with the garlic, ginger and green chilli. Cook the paneer in a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat for around 8 mins, tossing the pan so they become golden all over. Remove and set aside on a plate, leaving spices behind in the pan.
Tip the onion mix into the pan, add a pinch of salt and turn the heat down. Fry until caramel coloured, around 10 mins, adding a splash of water if it looks a little dry. Add the garam masala, stir to coat the onion mix, fry for 2 mins.
Add the spinach and cook for a further 2-3 mins, adding 100ml water to release all the flavours from the bottom of the pan. Season to taste. Add the paneer and cook for 2-3 mins to heat through. Spoon into bowls and squeeze over a little lemon juice, to serve.