(Not so Christmassy) Palak Paneer - so green, so tasty!

Merry Christmas!
At this time of year, I miss my family back in England. I remember parties with fruit punch and party hats, crackers, Hunt the Thimble, screaming & shouting, chocolate cornflake cake, Coca Cola, homemade Baileys, and so much more...
My choice of food to write about today isn't particularly Christmassy and definitely doesn't remind me of Christmas' long gone... but it is festive green!

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As a vegetarian, living in a hot country, with no oven, it's really quite difficult to make the traditional Christmas roast of my childhood... chicken (or nut roast), stuffing, potatoes (boiled and roast), parsnips, brussel sprouts, carrots, peas, Yorkshire puddings, gravy... my mouth is watering at the thought of it!
Last year I wrote about some of my favourite chefs Christmas recipes, so if Palak Paneer isn't your thing then check out my entry on Christmas Foooooooooooooooooooooood.

I'm sure, however, that this recipe won't disappoint. This is a rich and warming dish. I chose to write about this, as this is what I'll be eating for dinner tonight!

I make mine less spicy, but you can easily add more kick to it with more chilli powder or you can make some chilli paste and add alongside the garlic and ginger paste.

Palak Paneer
3-4 bunches palak (spinach)
200g fresh paneer, cubed and soaked in water
1 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp jeera seeds
2 onions, minced
1 tsp ginger paste
1 tsp garlic paste
2 large tomatoes, pureed
1/4 tsp haldi
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp dhaniya powder
1 tsp garam masala
Salt to taste
Enough water
Cream / Milk to taste (optional)

1. Cook spinach in a little water, drain and cool
2. Blend to the desired consistency (I puree mine and make a very smooth Palak gravy)
3. Heat oil in a pan, add jeera and crackle
4. Add onion and saute until starting to turn brown
5. Add ginger & garlic paste and cook for a further few minutes until onions are golden brown
6. Add tomatoes, salt and all spices then cover and cook until oil separates
7. Add spinach and loosen mixture with a little water or milk or cream and cook for a few minutes
8. Add paneer, mix well, cook for 1 minute then serve

I usually don't bother with milk or cream, the dish is rich enough without it. Serve with roti and rice and scoff!
Because it's Christmas, I'll push the boat out a little and add some cream today. I'll also be enjoying a few Goan Christmas delicacies like Guava cheese and Plum cake along with a nice glass of plonk.

I hope you all enjoy a nice, relaxed Christmas day. May Peace be with you...

Beautiful food for a beautiful day - Paneer Mutter

Sunny, beautiful mornings make for a very contented Claire... Even when I have to work crazy hours and I'm suffering from a nasty cold and cough, a beautiful morning sets me up for the day.

I'm truly lucky to have a dog. Coco forces me to get up in the morning and go for a nice, slow stroll. Whilst she sniffs at every nook and cranny, I get to see life happening all around me. I meet so many random people who want to know how old Coco is, what breed she is, will she bite, can I stroke her, is she imported, where are you from...(15 months, Labrador - yes they come in chocolate brown colour too, no - but she will lick you to death if I let her, yes - if you don't mind getting licked, no - she's from Panvel, England - a little town called Nuneaton which is near Leicester and Birmingham) and they too become part of my daily routine.

And it's not just the people, now I'm the leader of a stray doggy pack which includes Brownie who accompanies on all our walks (unless the milk man cycles by, at which point Brownie descends into a mad panic and runs off in front of the milk man, barking all the way back to the compound where he barks and barks until the milk man leaves); white, butch looking doggy (Butch) who comes to greet us most days; skinny, little scared doggy (Lil) who desperately wants to be part of the gang but will only dare to follow at a distance until the end of the road; crazy, bouncy, white doggy (Springy) who bounces Tigger-like because he's sooooooooo excited; Flappy, who barks at us from his 1st floor window and even though this has happened every day for the last 6 months, Coco still can't work out where the barking is coming from (stupid dog!); Shadow, a gorgous Golden Retriever (wrong name for a golden dog!); Lester, the crazy, fluffy, white and brown dog who lives on the balcony and barks from a distance; Smokey, the grey and white spaniel, who tries to jump all over Coco, but is too small; and the little white and brown doggy, with droopy eyes that lives outside the docs surgery (Droopy).

Wow, as you can see, there's a very complicated doggy society going on around my neighbourhood. When a few of the owned dogs are out for a walk it's kind of like a family gethering. You know the ones, where all your extended family come together to celebrate an anniversary or something. There's lots of gossip and catching up, lots of snide remarks and nasty words, there's mad, old Uncle so-and-so who everyone avoids at all costs because he smells nasty and is likely to pee on you later when he's had one too many. Well my daily walk is a bit like this, and I love it!

Besides the dogs and people there's plenty of other life that I get to see. I've seen owls, bats, lizards, dragonflies, butterflies, moths, pigeons, sparrows, cats, cows and even an elephant (and although I can't see them - the teeny-tiny mosquitoes that bite me). Sitting, quietly in the garden, watching life flitter by leaves me extremely happy.

On top of that, I'm impressing myself with my cooking! One website that's been a great help in my quest is Show me the Curry. It has fab videos to make things easy to understand, and has a fab, unusual version of Paneer Mutter. It uses coriander and mint to make a gravy, rather than tomato, but I've tried it and it's really yummy. So here's my 'normal' tomato-ey version...

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Paneer Mutter (adapted from Show me the Curry)
1 tablespoon oil
2 onions, roughly chopped
1 green chilli, deseeded
1 teaspoon ginger paste
1 teaspoon garlic paste
3-4 tomatoes, skinned and roughly chopped
1 teaspoon jeera (cumin) seeds
1" cinnamon stick
1 bay leaf
2 elaichi (green cardamom)
2 laung (cloves)
1/4 teaspoon haldi (turmeric) powder
200 grams peas (fresh or frozen)
water
1 teaspoon red chilli powder
1/2 teaspoon dhaniya (coriander) powder
salt to taste
500 grams paneer, cubed
1/2 cup dahi (curd, plain yoghurt)
3 tablespoons cream (optional)
1 teaspoon garam masala
handful fresh coriander leaves, chopped, to garnish

1. Heat the oil, add the onions and green chilli. Cook until onions turn translucent.
2. Add the garlic and ginger paste and continue to cook for a minute or two further.
3. Take off the heat, allow to cool and then grind to a paste with the tomatoes.
4. Using the same oil, fry the jeera until popping, then add the cinnamon, bay leaf, elaichi and laung. Stir well for a minute or so.
5. Add the haldi and ground paste, mix well.
6. Add the peas and a touch of water, just enough to cook the peas.
7. Add the red chilli and dhaniya powder and salt. Mix well then cover and cook until the peas are done.
8. Lower the heat then add the paneer, dahi and cream (if using). Stir in the garam masala and cook for 5 minutes or so. Add extra water if required.
9. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Serve with rice or chappati

If your paneer is really fresh there's no need to fry it first, but if you're using packed paneer, it's probably best to fry it until its golden, then soak it in water like suggested by the ladies at SMTC.

Skinning tomatoes is pretty easy - score the skin from the top to the bottom at least four times (like you were going to quarter the tomato), but more if it's a really big tomato. Cover with boiling water and leave to soak for a while. The skins come off pretty easily then, especially if your tomatoes are properly ripe.

Anyway, enough talk of food - need to go eat now and enjoy the rest of this gorgeous day! Oh and laugh at my dog who's decided to sleep in her cage, upside down and all twisty...