Salgam Paneer - Turnips cooked with homemade paneer

Taking a page our of my own book I gave turnips a try. What I mean by that is that for some reason, I have never given turnips a chance, for no particular reason, just felt that they were too similar to potatoes. I personally love potatoes and often to do make room for any other starch...

How similar are turnips to potatoes? Well, looking though the web, it turns out they are actually much lower in carbs than potatoes, if that is your diet issue of concern.

Well, there are purple top turnips a plenty around our place, this time of the year. This recipe is exceedingly simple, with the exception of the fact, you do need to make the paneer at home, not a huge issue, but just needs some planning time.

So, to make the paneer, this is what I did, I brought about 1/2 a gallon of 2% milk to a boil, squeezed in a whole juicy lemon and waited for the milk solids to separate. Then I drained and gathered the cheese in a cheesecloth and set aside to drain.

Salgam Paneer - Turnips cooked with homemade paneer

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Serves 6

Ingredients

8 small to medium trimmed white turnips

2 onions

1 large (about 1-inch) piece of ginger

4 tablespoons olive oil

2 teaspoons ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon ground fennel

1 teaspoon red chili powder

3-4 cloves

2-3 cardamoms

1.5 cups of beaten yogurt

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup of very finely chopped turnip greens (optional)

1 cups of prepared crumbled paneer

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Method of Preparation

1. Chop the turnips into eights.

2. Peel and thinly slice the onions and grate the ginger.

3. Heat the oil and add the ginger and the onions and cook for 7-8 minutes on medium heat, stirring frequently till the onions soften, wilt and then softly turn golden brown.

4. Add in the turnips and the turmeric, salt, coriander, fennel and the chili powder cook for about 2 minutes, stirring frequently. By now the kitchen begins to smell quite glorious.

5. Add in the cardamoms and the cloves and the yogurt and bring the liquid to simmer. Reduce the heat and add the salt and the turnip greens and cook covered lightly for 15 minutes.

6. Remove the lid and stir in the paneer and cook for another 3-4 minutes, check the seasonings and stir in the cilantro and serve immediately.

Messing with the tested and tried!!!

Rich and creamy palak paneer - pureed spinach, with cream and chunks of Indian paneer cheese is one of the few Indian dishes that my children love. Granted, I use chillies quite sparingly but my kids love this dish. Actually, so do students!

However, with all the spinach in the garden, over the summer, I wanted to simplify this dish a little more without loosing it's appeal for the kids. I added almonds and just a hint of cream (which actually can be dispensed) with. With some quick co-ordination, I had this dish done in 20 minutes.

Actually that really is where the standard lies, I think people are now getting a little jaded with the 30 minute rule. Nah! here I jest!!!

While a lot of the food I cook, is rather quick and simple I also am not really a believer of cutting corners for the sake of reaching a "quick cook" target. One cooks as needed, and until food is done. Anyhow, this still does not change the fact that my palak paneer was pretty much done in less than 30 minutes.

Tangy Palak Paneer - Spinach with almonds and paneer cheese

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

1/2 cup hot water

20 almonds

1 tablespoon oil

1/2 teaspoon cumin powder

1/2 teapoon coriander powder

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger

4 cups of chopped fresh spinach

3 tomatoes, chopped

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon red chili powder (optional)

3/4 cup of diced paneer (can be substituted with tofu)

2 tablespoon fresh heavy cream (optional)

1 lime - cut into small wedges

Cilantro to garnish

Method of Preparation

1. Place the almonds in the water and set aside for about 10 minutes. This step can be skipped if you use pre-blanched almonds.

2. Heat the oil and add in the cumin and coriander powders and cook for a few seconds. Add in the ginger and onion and saute for 2-3 minutes until the onion is tranluscent.

3. Add in the spinach and tomatoes and mix well. Turn the heat to low and cover the pot and let the spinach wilt. This process takes about 5 minutes.

4. In the meantime, peel the almonds.

5. Turn off the heat, you should have the spinach wilted, with some water released from both the spinach and the tomatoes. Stir in the salt and red chili powder and let the mixture cool just a little.

6. Place the spinach and the almonds into the blender and blend for 2-3 minutes until the spinach is very smooth.

7. Place this mixture back into the pot and stir in the paneer or tofu and cook through. Stir in the cream ( if using) and mix well.

8. Squeeze in half the lime and stir and garnish with cilantro.

9. Serve with rice or bread and enjoy!