Palak Paneer, Meethe Chawal

Palak Paneer is something I make quite often. I like to mix other greens along with the spinach and this time I used kale. I like kale for its taste and also its nutritional properties, but it is time consuming to wash trim, chop and then cook the leaves. But I learned a trick from a friend (thanks "A") who freezes the leaves in a zip lock after they have been washed. Whenever you need it just take out the bag and crush the leaves in the bag. The leaves crumble easily and can be added to soups or other vegetables.  Here I mixed it with spinach. I also made a sweet saffron rice which is a popular North Indian rice dish but I had never made it before. It tasted quite nice with the palak paneer and kale and balanced the slight bitterness that kale leaves tend to have.

Ingredients

1 cup frozen spinach leaves (thawed)

1 cup kale leaves

1 medium onion (sliced)

2 tbsp. ginger garlic paste

1 tomato (chopped)

1 green chilli

2 sweet peppers (optional)

1 cup cubed paneer

6-7 cashews (soaked in water)

1 teaspoon each of cumin seeds, turmeric powder, garam masala, red chili powder

1 bay leaf, 2 black cardamon, one stick cinnamon.

salt according to taste

1 tbsp. oil for cooking

Method

Heat the oil and add cumin seeds, black cardamom, bay leaf and cinnamon. Fry till the seeds splutter and the cinnamon swells up. Now add the sliced onion and green chilli and fry till the onion just start turning golden. Mix the ginger garlic paste and all the dry spices. Fry for a minute and add the tomatoes and cashews. Cover and cook till the tomatoes wilt. Now remove the whole spices with a fork (cinnamon, cardamom and bay leaf). Add the spinach and mix everything well. Transfer into a blender or using a hand blender grind the vegetables. Pour it back into the pan and add water if needed. Stir fry the paneer and sweet peppers with a teaspoon of oil and mix it with the spinach. Cover and cook for another 5-10 minutes. I served it with this sweet rice.





Methe chawal (sweet saffron rice)

1 cup rice (soaked for an hour)
2 cups water
1/2 cup milk
 sliced mixed nuts (cashews, almonds, pistachios, walnuts)
a few raisins
3-4 cloves
3-4 green cardamom
3/4 cup sugar
a few strands of saffron soaked in milk
1 tbsp ghee



Heat ghee in a pot, add the cloves, cardamom, raisins  and all the nuts. Give a quick stir and add the rice. (Drain the water from the rice before adding). Mix well. Boil the 2 cups of water along with the milk sugar and saffron in a separate pot. Once it boils add it to the rice. Cook uncovered till most of the water is absorbed. Reduce the heat to very low and cover the pot. Cook for another 10 minutes till the rice is completed cooked. Fluff the rice immediately.