An Indian dish with plenty of flavour, Paneer Saagwala is a well-loved vegetarian side. It’s rich in calcium and folate from the spinach and is gluten-free too.
Ingredients:
- 450g paneer, diced into 3cm cubes
- 500g spinach leaves, fresh or frozen
- 1 large onion – finely chopped
- 2 tbsp ghee (clarified butter)
- 1 tsp Cumin seeds
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1 inch of ginger – grated
- 1 green chilli, roughly chopped, (include seeds for extra spice)
- The juice of half a lemon, to serve
Method
- Melt the ghee in a pan and when hot, add cumin seeds, turmeric and chilli powder.
- Add the cubed paneer and toss well. Cook the paneer over medium heat till it becomes golden brown. Remove from pan and set aside.
- If using frozen spinach, microwave for 3-5 mins, then place in a sieve and squeeze out most of the water. If using fresh spinach, place in a colander, pour over boiling water, drain and cool, then put in a tea towel or muslin cloth and squeeze out most of the water. Roughly chop.
- Fry the onion with the garlic, ginger and green chilli for around 10 mins or until caramel coloured, adding a splash of water if it starts to look a little dry. Add the garam masala, stir to coat the onion mix, and 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. Add the paneer back into the pan with the spinach mixture and cook for 2-3 mins to heat through. Spoon into bowls and squeeze over a little lemon juice, to serve.
Serve paneer with rice or naan bread.