Delicious and slightly spicy cubes of paneer
This is a great vegetarian side dish, not too spicy but full of flavour. The paneer is served over blended saag (spinach) with some cherry tomatoes. The prep time below includes an hour’s marinating time- if in a hurry this can be skipped.
Servings
2
Prep time:
80min
Cook time:
25min
Difficulty:
Easy
Ingredients
For the paneer:
- 220g paneer block
- 70g natural or Greek yoghurt
- 1 clove of garlic
- 1/2 thumb of ginger
- 1/2tsp rapeseed oil
- 1/2tsp chilli powder
- 1/2tsp cayenne pepper
- 1/2tsp ground turmeric
- 1/2tsp mango masala powder
- 1/2tsp dried fenugreek leaves
- 1/4tsp lemon juice
- 1/4 pack of fresh coriander
- pinch of salt
For the saag:
- 450g fresh spinach
- 3 cherry tomatoes
- 2tbsp rapeseed oil (or vegetable oil)
- 1 dried red chili
- 1 green chili
- 1 medium onion
- 1 garlic clove
- 1tsp cumin seeds
- 1tsp garam masala powder
- 1/2tsp mango masala powder
- 1/2 thumb of ginger
- 1/4tsp ground turmeric
- salt to taste
We served this with some basmati rice, alongside a number of other Indian dishes. We recommend you also try the Masala cauliflower florets or the roasted broccoli in a mustard glaze.
This dish is not too spicy- but feel free to tweak the spice quantity to suit your preferences.
This recipe is inspired and adapted from the Gunpowder cookbook- one we’ve used on several occasions.
Step by Step Instructions
Step 1
First, cut the paneer into cubes (around 2/3 cm in size) and set aside. Next, peel both the garlic and ginger, and grate.
Step 2
In a bowl, combine all the paneer ingredients (except for the paneer) and mix well. Add the paneer to the marinade and mix well, making sure all the cubes are coated in the marinade. Set aside for an hour.
Step 3
Next, you need to do the prep for the spinach part of the dish. Dice the onion, roughly chop the garlic and ginger, chop the green chilli, dice the cherry tomatoes and set aside.
Step 3
Boil the spinach for a few minutes, then drain and set aside to cool slightly. Depending on the blender you have (heat resistant or not), you might need to cool the spinach completely. Then, blend the spinach until it becomes liquid. Set aside.
Step 4
In a frying pan, heat the rapeseed oil (or vegetable oil if using that instead), then add to the pan the diced onion, cumin seeds and the dried chilli, and cook for around 5 minutes on medium heat.
Step 5
Next, to the same pan add the garlic, ginger and green chilli. Mix everything together and fry for a minute.
Step 6
Add the turmeric garam masala, mango masala powder and cherry tomatoes, mix everything again, and let it all cook for another 3 minutes.
Step 7
Add the blended spinach to the pan, mix well and then set aside. This will need to be re-heated just before serving.
Step 8
Final step – cooking the paneer. After it has marinated, heat your grill, transfer the paneer and marinade into a small oven-proof dish. Grill the paneer for 10-15 minutes, turning the cubes half way through. Just before the paneer is finished, re-heat the spinach.
Step 9
The dish is then ready to serve- we served this with the paneer cubes topping the spinach. Enjoy!
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