My husband loves Palak Paneer and there is nothing else which he fancies more. Whenever we get Spinach he doesn’t let me make anything else. This time when he was away at work and the milk wasn’t sufficient to make Paneer, I tricked him by adding Mushrooms. The combination clicked and he kinda liked it. Infact he said we should do this often. ha! You know sometimes in life you have to take extreme steps to change some people 😛 I guess I took mine… hahahah (evil laugh)
On a serious note this dish was a pleasant change over the conventional paneer dish. If you are a mushroom lover this will really suit your palette. Infact this inspires me to trick my husband more often now 😉 which promises you more Spinach dishes on my blog soon.
Directions:
1. Separate the spinach stems from the leaves and reserve the leaves in a colander. If you are using the packaged spinach in a bag they come without stems, so you can skip this step.
2. Insert the colander with leaves under the water tap and wash rigorously ensure that there is no dirt. Ensure you wash each leaf, it is a tedious process but by this you will eliminate all the dirt which will effect the taste of your dish.
3.Put the washed leaves in a pot and blanch them for ten minutes with lid on top. If you are using the packaged spinach you will need to put half cup of water to blanch the spinach. Once you see the spinach leaves are no longer firm you must turn the flame off. Keep them aside to cool down a little.
4. After it’s cooled put it in a blender along with garlic, ginger and chillies. Make a smooth paste of it . Keep aside.
5. In a blender add Tomatoes, Ginger, garlic and Onions and make a smooth puree. Set aside.
6. Wash and Chop some Mushrooms.
7. In a wok add some ghee or clarified butter and add the mushroom slices. Saute them till they have shrunk and have acquired little colour. Take them out of the wok and put them in a plate to be used later.
6. Add a little more ghee to the same wok and add cumin seeds. Wait for them to crackle.
7. Add the tomato puree and combine.
8. Add salt, turmeric powder and red chili powder.
9. Let the masala be on the medium low flame till the ghee separates out.
10. Add the Spinach Puree and combine. Let it simmer for five eight minutes till it thicken a little bit.
11. Add cream or you can use malai . It helps it give that creamy texture and takes away the bitterness of spinach.
12. Add Kasuri Methi for that restaurant like taste. Garnish with Garam Masala.
12. Add sauteed Mushrooms to the curry and combine.
13. Serve hot with Roti, Kulcha or Naan.
You can even try the classic Palak Paneer and Palak Dhaniya Chutney.
Other dishes from North India you can try are: Punjabi Dal Makhani, Kadhai Mushroom , Langar Wali Dal, Methi Matar Malai, Mushroom Do Pyaaza, Punjabi Style Dum Aloo.
[whohit]PalakMushroom[/whohit]
- 4 Bunch of Fresh Spinach destemmed only leaves or 800gms
- 4 tomatoes washed and cut into four
- Green Chilies
- Half Large sized Onion roughly cut in piece
- 3-4 Big sized Garlic Cloves for Spinach Puree + 3-4 for Tomato Puree
- About and inch long peeled Ginger root
- 1 tbsp Vegetable Oil or ghee + 2tsp Ghee , divided
- 1 tbsp Cumin seeds
- Salt to taste
- Red Chili Powder to taste
- 200 gm of Mushrooms
- 3 tbsp of thick cream
- 1/2 tsp Kasuri Methi
- 1 tsp Garam Masala
- Separate the spinach stems from the leaves and reserve the leaves in a colander. If you are using the packaged spinach in a bag they come without stems, so you can skip this step.
- Insert the colander with leaves under the water tap and wash rigorously ensure that there is no dirt. Ensure you wash each leaf, it is a tedious process but by this you will eliminate all the dirt which will effect the taste of your dish.
- Put the washed leaves in a pot and blanch them for ten minutes with lid on top. If you are using the packaged spinach you will need to put half cup of water to blanch the spinach. Once you see the spinach leaves are no longer firm you must turn the flame off. Keep them aside to cool down a little.
- After it’s cooled put it in a blender along with garlic, ginger and chillies. Make a smooth paste of it. Keep aside.
- In a blender add Tomatoes, Ginger, garlic and Onions and make a smooth puree. Set aside.
- Wash and Chop some Mushrooms.
- In a wok add some ghee or clarified butter and add the mushroom slices. Saute them till they have shrunk and have acquired little colour. Take them out of the wok and put them in a plate to be used later.
- Add a little more ghee to the same wok and add cumin seeds. Wait for them to crackle.
- Add the tomato puree and combine.
- Add salt, turmeric powder and red chili powder.
- Let the masala be on the medium low flame till the ghee separates out.
- Add the Spinach Puree and combine. Let it simmer for five eight minutes till it thicken a little bit.
- Add cream or you can use malai . It helps it give that creamy texture and takes away the bitterness of spinach.
- Add Kasuri Methi for that restaurant like taste. Garnish with Garam Masala.
- Add sauteed Mushrooms to the curry and combine.
- Serve hot with Roti, Kulcha or Naan.