Palak Paneer basically means Greens and Fresh Cheese! These two ingredients are balancing for Pitta dosha, and are also most-likely easily made with local ingredients from your area all Summer. This is one of my favorite Summer recipes – use more greens than you think! Like pounds…yum. STEP 1:
How to Make Fresh Paneer
45 mins plus overnight (or 6 hours)
Make your own cheese! I recommend making this the night before you want to use it, so it can hang over night.
WHAT YOU WILL NEED:
3/4 Gallon of whole milk
8 T of lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
cheesecloth
INSTRUCTIONS:
Get out your largest pot, giving yourself 6 inches (at least) above the surface of the milk. Pour in your milk, and heat on med high heat until foaming. Keep your eye on it, and stir regularly, so it does not burn, or foam over. Once it foams, shut off the heat, remove it from the heat source, and immediately add all of the lemon juice. Stir the milk in one direction for about 20 seconds, then allow it to sit. You may immediately start seeing curds form. Allow it to sit for 10 minutes or so.
Fold your cheesecloth over 3 times, and place it in a colander, which is set over the sink – or if you want to save the whey and use it in your chowder recipe (so good!) over a big bowl. Slowly pour the curds and whey over the cheese cloth. Add the salt. Once you have poured all of the curds and liquid out, lift the four corners of the cheesecloth, encompassing all of the curds. Twist the ends together, gently allowing that twisting to squeeze the curds into a ball-like shaped, as the whey begins to drain out. Rinse once for just a few seconds under cool water. Tie the ends together, and hang the bolus somewhere, over a bowl to catch the liquid, for at least 6 hours, or overnight. In the morning, untie the cheesecloth, and the curds should be stuck together in a loose ball. To store, place in a large ziplock bag. Will only last up to a week. Use on a whole grain bread, with a good glug of olive, hemp or avocado oil and some salt and pepper.
PART 2: Putting it all Together
If you do not have time to make your own paneer, you can purchase this as a grocery store, OR for protein, use cooked chickpeas instead.
INGREDIENTS:
1 inch fresh ginger root, finely chopped
1 green chili, finely chopped (though pungent, cooking will remove much of the heat, and retain the flavor for you.)
1 T ground coriander
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp Pitta/Summer Spice blend (optional)
5 T ghee or coconut oil
1 or 2 cups fresh paneer cheese, cubed (cooked chickpeas may be an optional replacement.)
2 pounds of fresh, local greens (collards or kale or swiss chard or spinach or a mix) washed and chopped roughly
water
salt to taste
INSTRUCTIONS:
Heat the ghee in a skillet or wok over medium to medium low heat, and add all spices, including ginger and chili. Allow them to cook slowly for a minute or two, become aromatic, cooking out some of the heat. Add the cubed paneer, and let that brown for 1 to 2 minutes in the ghee. Then add the greens, which have been washed and chopped.
Add 4 or 5 tablespoons of water, and cover and cook for 7 or 8minutes. Uncover, and stir, turning over the greens and paneer. Cover again, add 4 or 5 more tablespoons of water, and cook for another 8 minutes.
Get more recipes like this in my Pitta Recipe Book, only available through the Seasonal ECourse for Pitta, which begins on June 5, 2015.