Crunchy Palak Paneer..well almost!!

You must be interested to know why is it almost crunchy. I had this recipe for quite a long while but wasn't getting around to make it. Last night I went to an Indian Grocery store where a friend of mine suggested me to buy ready made paneer of this particular brand, he claimed that it almost homemade. Well I never buy paneer from store, I think that milk products are never ever fresh and original if they are frozen. It hardly takes few hours for making paneer from scratch at home , so why risk eating milk product with artificial binders like Xanthum Gum in them!! But thats just me.

To make paneer crunchy I followed the recipe but didn't like it that much. I guess the coating they are asking for is bit out of taste. I would rather just fry the pieces without coating in few Tbsp of oil. I had few uncoated pieces of paneer left so I added them as well!! Meanwhile crunchy fried pieces made good garnish for the dish. My 11 month old also loved eating paneer. Its just melts like ice cream in mouth and it has so much flavour too.


Ingredients for the Sauce:
3 tbsp canola oil or any vegetable oil
whole spices:
1/2 cumin seeds
1 cinnamon stick
2 green cardamom
1 bay leaf

1 large red onion , finely diced
2 cloves of garlic , minced
1 tsp of grated ginger
1 tbsp of tomato paste or puree of 1 large tomato
1/2 tsp sugar
Dry Ground Spices:
1 tsp coriander powder
11/2 tsp kashmiri lal mirch powder or paprika
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp salt

1lb fresh spinach, washed and chopped or 1 frozen pack of chopped spinach
3 tbsp of heavy cream
few tbsp of water

For Paneer:
Homemade Paneer from 1 gallon of organic whole milk or use 6~7 oz of frozen pack
Oil for frying
1 tbsp semolina (sooji)
1 tbsp garam masala
1/2 tsp salt

small handful coriander leaves, finely chopped, to garnish
1 tsp lemon juice

1. For the sauce, heat the oil in a pan, add whole spices and onion and cook for about three minutes until soft. Add the ginger and garlic and cook for a minute.
2. Add the all the dry ground spices. Stir over the heat to release the flavours of the spices.
3. Add the tomato paste and sugar and simmer for ten minutes.
4. Meanwhile, for the paneer, place the garam masala, salt and pepper, and semolina in a large bowl and mix well.
5. Place the cubed paneer into the bowl and coat well with the spiced semolina.
6. Pour the vegetable oil into a deep frying pan to a depth of about ½in. When hot, add the coated paneer and fry until crisp and golden.
7. Add the thawed chopped spinach and two tablespoons of water to the tomato sauce, stir in and cook until the spinach wilts. Cook for 6-7 minutes and then add cream to it.
8. Fold the paneer into the sauce.
9. To serve, garnish with the coriander and squeeze over the lemon juice.