Friday, June 18, 2010

Curry Night

Hello! Thank you for visiting my blog!

It was curry night last night at my house and we made an Indian butter chicken curry with a few delicious side. We had papadums, paratha bread, an eggplant dish called Baingan Ka Bharta made by Mum and palak paneer (spinach and paneer cheese) made by me. Today I am joining Foodie Friday for the first time and I would like to share a recipe for palak paneer.


To make palak paneer you will need -
  • 200g (7 ounces) paneer cheese
  • 1 small onion (chopped)
  • 2 medium tomatoes (chopped)
  • Approximately 1 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1 tsp crushed ginger
  • 1 tsp crushed garlic
  • Salt (to taste)
  • 1 tsp Garam Masala powder
  • 300g (11 ounces) finely chopped spinach 
  • 3 tbsp butter
  • Vegetable oil (as needed)
For a bit of spice, add green chilli paste to suit your taste. My 10 year-old brother Big Al (from Big Al's Books, Games and More) doesn't like 'spicy' food, so we didn't add any chili, but Mum tells me it would make the dish even tastier. Also, you may like to use frozen spinach (we did) instead of fresh.


Firstly, heat the oil in a medium-sized frying pan, on a medium heat. Cut the paneer into small cubes or rectangles and place in pan to fry until slightly golden, stirring occasionally. If you are using frozen spinach, heat the spinach while the paneer is cooking, either in the microwave for 3-5 minutes or in a separate pan on a medium heat for 5 minutes.


You will then need to add the onion, tomato, coriander leaves, cumin seeds, ginger, garlic, salt and Garam Masala powder. This is also where you would add the green chilli paste. Stir through and cook until the onions are soft.


After this, add the spinach and stir through. If you used frozen spinach, leave to cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. If you used fresh spinach, leave to cook for 5 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.


After this, place the palak paneer in a suitable dish and add the butter. Stir through and serve with rice and a curry of your choice.


We made a butter chicken curry to go with this dish. Also, Mum made an eggplant dish called Baingan Ka Bharta. For the recipe for this dish, please visit my Mum's blog - 5 Minutes Just for Me. I hope you your next curry as much a we did!


This post is linking with Foodie Friday.

Thank you for having me Michael Lea!

I hope your day is sweet,

4 comments:

Shellbelle said...

Welcome to Foodie Friday Maddy!

I love Indian cuisine and while I've had this dish many times, I've never cooked it myself. I do love to make chicken curry though and the next time I will be adding this in for a side dish.

Thanks for sharing the recipe and your photos (excellebt job!).

Red Couch Recipes said...

This dish looks stupendous and lovely photography too...I am afraid thought that I can't get some of the ingredients to make it...sigh! I have never seen Paneer or garam masala in our stores...we live in a small town. Good job Maddy! Joni

Jenny said...

Maddy, this recipe sounds delicious. I'm going to have to google paneer cheese and see where I can find it locally. I would very much like to try this recipe!

Holly Lefevre said...

So the eggplant recipe sounded divine and I had to come visit and see this one...It is wonderful. I too wonder if I can get some of those ingredients...hmmm I am going to try because we love spinach.