Saag Paneer / Mustard Greens Paneer Gravy

Saag Paneer / Mustard Greens Paneer Gravy

"Saag", the green leafy vegetable, also called as "Mustard Greens" is one of the healthiest choice in regular cooking. This contains more anti-oxidants and anticancer effects. Its low in calorie and an excellent source of Calcium, folic acid, vitamins and other minerals. Using this vegetable, there is a famous Punjabi dish called "Sarson Ka Saag" which is generally eaten with Corn Roti ( Makki ki Roti). I added Paneer to this dish and made "Saag Paneer" to attract my kids. Recipe is simpler with less ingredients and the process is also much simpler. As I used less oil, its bit thicker. You can customize the dish and make it in your style.

Ingredients

Saag / Mustard Greens - 1 Fresh Bunch

Tomato - 1 Medium

Red Onion - 1/2 Medium

Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 tbsp

Oil - 1 tbsp

Butter - 2 tsp

Cumin Seeds / Jeera - 2 tsp

Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp

Sugar - 1 Pinch

Salt - To Taste

Green Chillies - 3 or 4.

Garam Masala Powder - 2 tsp

Method

1. Wash the Mustard Greens thoroughly for three times and drain the sand and other dust particles.
2. Cut the Mustard Greens, tomato in bigger size and steam cook them in a kadai with no water.
3. Grind them along with green chillies and keep the paste ready.
4. On a medium flame, add oil to the cooking vessel / non-stick pan. When its heated up, add cumin seeds followed by cut red onion, ginger garlic paste. Fry them for few minutes till you completely come out of the raw smell...
5. Add the turmeric powder, garam masala powder, pinch of sugar and stir them for another 2 minutes.
6. Add the grounded saag paste to the vessel now and add required amount of salt to the vessel.
7. Mix them well and allow them to cook on a low flame for 4-5 minutes. Finally add the paneer cubes into the saag and mix it well with the cooked saag masala. Cover the lid and allow the saag paneer to remain in the flame for another 2-3 minutes.
8. Switch off the flame and add little butter or ghee on top just before serving.

Tips / Variations

• You can shallow fry the paneer cubes instead of adding the raw cubes into the saag.
• You can add make it in any consistency you want by adding little more water / oil.
• In place of paneer, you can even add potato cubes and make it attractive for the kids.

Badam Halwa / Almond Halwa

Badam Halwa / Almond Halwa is a very rich sweet which is generally made in marriages or during special occasions. Halwa in general is made with the nutty paste, ghee and sugar syrup. Taste of any Halwa would be delicious if its slightly warmed before eating. A pinch of saffron strands would definitely enhance the taste of this rich halwa and also its flavour. Though it takes good amount of preparation time, the final output is really worthy for that time. My sister gave me a tip to fasten the process. With her experience, she told me that the almond paste made with water takes lesser time to get cooked and come to the Halwa consistency than the paste made with milk and water. Amount of ghee to this Halwa is not more if its added at the end of the process. So, I can confidently say that the process can never go wrong and also its not eating so much ghee. So happily we can enjoy few spoons of Almond Halwa during this festival time.

Ingredients

Almonds - 2 Cups

Sugar - 1 Cup

Ghee - 3-4 tbsp

Cardamom Powder - 1 tsp

Yellow / Kesar Orange food colour - 1 pinch

Saffron - A pinch in luke warm water.

Method

Blanching Almonds

Soak the Almonds in water overnight and peel the skin off the almonds the next day. This is the regular method which we generally follow for blanching. You can also soak them in warm water or hot water and peel their skin off after few hours. Follow any method whichever is simpler and easier for you.

Making Almond Paste

Grind the blanched almonds using a mixer grinder to a fine, smooth paste by adding little water. I don't add milk while grinding the almonds at all. Keep the almond paste ready.

Making Sugar Syrup

In a thick bottomed vessel, add 1 cup of sugar and 1/2 a cup of water and make a thick sugar syrup. Add a pinch of food colour to the sugar syrup.

Making Saffron Syrup

In a small cup, add 2 tsp of hot milk and add a pinch of saffron strands. Leave them for few minutes. Then you would see the saffron strands melted and the colour of the milk would have turned kesar yellow/orange. Keep this syrup ready.

Halwa Preparation

• Transfer the Almond paste into a thick non-stick kadai / round pan. Cook the paste by closing the lid for sometime and stir the paste constantly.
• Add the sugar syrup into the paste and mix them well. Stir the mix continuously so that the almond paste thickens and come to the Halwa consistency. This would take some good amount of time. So, patiently stir the mixture in the kadai. You can fasten the process by closing the lid and cooking them on a low flame. This would thicken the paste to some level and then stir the mix again by opening the lid for sometime.
• Add the powdered Cardamom powder and the saffron syrup into the Halwa Mix.
• Check the consistency of the Almond Halwa now. If its almost closer to the Halwa consistency, add 3 tbsp of ghee into the Halwa. Stir them again for sometime and finally the Almond Halwa would come in shape with good aroma and taste.
• Switch off the flame. Transfer the Halwa into a suitable container and sprinkle some fried cashew nuts if required. Also, you can sprinkle few saffron strands just before serving...

Variations

Instead of cooking and stirring the Halwa mix in the stove, you can microwave the Halwa mix and fasten the process too.