Saag is a traditional Indian dish with countless variations. The word “saag” literally means “greens” in English so there is no surprise that this dish is chock-full of various kinds of leafy green vegetables from spinach and mustard greens to collard and turnip greens and everything in between. The greens, spices and additions used in this dish vary greatly between the regions in which it is being made and what ingredients are readily available. Saag paneer (in English, “greens and cheese”) is traditionally a Punjabi version of the dish.
Punjab is a small state in northern India bordering Pakistan but their culinary influence has expanded far outside of India to the delights of many. In fact, Punjabi cuisine is immensely popular in the United States, France, United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, and other parts of Asia including Thailand, South Korea, Japan and China.
I have made Saag Paneer on several occasions but it never came out exactly how I thought it should. Any recipe I could find seemed to take the easy way out or omit a great amount of the spices necessary to make an authentic Punjabi saag. After my research I compiled the following recipe based on my findings and I think the flavors will certainly thrill any lover of Indian cuisine. Trust me, this one is worth the time and effort!
WHAT INGREDIENTS GO INTO SAAG PANEER
Greens – This is where many recipes differ. Different greens are used by people generally because of availability. I personally had a terribly difficult time finding the greens. Spinach and mustard greens I was able to find at my local grocery store. I had high hopes of finding many different kinds at my local international food store but didn’t have much luck unfortunately, I was happy I was able to find turnip greens to add to my dish. Tastes are going to vary based on the kinds of greens you have. That being said, I would recommend using as many as you can find (amounting to 6 cups total) to really round out your dish. Some greens you may want to include in your dish are spinach, mustard greens, coriander greens, turnip greens, fenugreek (this was the one I REALLY wanted to find but unfortunately, no dice) and amaranth. This is an extremely versatile dish, you can even experiment with greens local to you!
Spices – Saag is a very spice rich dish. While it utilizes its fair share of ground spices (turmeric, ground coriander, garam masala & Kashmiri chili powder), it also uses plenty of whole spices (cardamom pods, mustard seed, whole cloves, cinnamon stick, caraway seeds, mace and whole black peppercorns. While most of these are accessible at any grocery store, I did have to go to the international food store for the mace, cardamom pods and Kashmiri chili powder. I would highly recommend trying to find all the spices necessary to make this authentic Saag Paneer – the taste will be well worth the effort!
Paneer Cheese – Paneer is a delicious cheese appreciated in many cultures for its versatility. While in the United States we generally purchase Paneer pre-packaged from the grocery store t is an unaged cheese and is very easy to make fresh – see my recipe here! When purchased from the store, it is generally one consistency, that of which we usually see in restaurants; however, when made fresh from home, depending on the kind of acid used to separate the curds from the whey, you can be left with soft (about the texture of cottage cheese), medium firmness or very firm cheese. I highly recommend trying to make it yourself at least once. Mine came out delicious and my boyfriend and I actually had a pretty fun time making it!
HOW DO I MAKE SAAG PANEER?
The first step to creating the perfect saag is to create a paste with your greens. For this step, I found it necessary to have a food processer. You are going to want a variety of greens in your dish to make the flavors a bit more diverse. I was able to find three different kinds of greens: spinach, mustard greens and turnip greens but there are so many other kinds of greens you can try if you have them available. You will want to make sure you thoroughly wash your greens and then you can add them to a wok. I found it easiest to do this in batches because even though the greens will wilt down to just about nothing, when they are first put into the pan, it will be overflowing and difficult to get them cooked evenly without some burning.
Once the greens are cooked, put them in a fine mesh strainer and press firmly to remove as much water as possible. Put the greens into a food processer along with the salt, sugar and green chilis. Depending on the size of your food processer, you may need to do this in batches as well – mine JUST fit – I probably should have done it in batches. Process into a fine paste and then set the mixture aside.
Moving on to the main part of the dish, there is still a bit of preparation to be completed with the spices. You will want a well infused oil not only to cook your paneer but to also lend taste to the recipe. First, we will start with infusing some mustard seed into a base oil.
I used both red and yellow whole mustard seeds to infuse my olive oil. To get the most flavor, I began with grinding the seeds in my mortar and pestle for about a minute. This I found to be a pretty proper amount of time for the job. Some of the mustard seeds stayed whole while others were broken down, some even into a finer powder.
Add both the mustard seed mixture and oil together into a frying pan and heat together. The reason you do not want to heat the oil first is because you do not want to risk the mustard seed burning – it will manipulate the flavor and not for the better (I actually had to do this step twice because I burnt my first batch, so I know from experience!). Heat the seeds and oil on low heat stirring constantly. After about 2 minutes, pour the mixture through a fine mesh strainer to remove any debris from the seeds from the oil mixture leaving you with a clean infused oil.
Return 1/4 cup of the oil to the stove and add the freshly minced garlic, freshly peeled and grated ginger, cardamom pods, peppercorns, stick cinnamon, mace, caraway seed and whole cloves. Heat again over low heat stirring constantly. This is going to be the perfect base for your saag and all of the flavor is going to be infused through our several different layers of cooking.
Add your cubed paneer cheese and stir-fry on medium high heat just for a few seconds until lightly browned on some sides. This will be enough to infuse the flavors into the paneer. Remove the paneer with tongs and place on a paper towel covered plate to drain whatever excess oil may be there.
Now you are going to want to add your minced onion to your spice-infused oil. Cook on medium-low heat for about 5 minutes or until the onions are translucent.
Once the onions are sufficiently cooked, add your can of tomato puree along with the garam masala, ground coriander, Kasmiri chili powder and turmeric and then stir to combine. This will turn the mixture into a bit of a paste. Add your water to the mixture and stir to combine. I would personally recommend stirring this mixture with a whisk so you can be sure that the paste is well incorporated with the water. Once combined, bring to a boil on medium-low heat and then reduce to keep at a simmer on low heat. Simmer for about 15 minutes.
This is where I started to really worry about my recipe turning out alright. Saag traditionally has a very deep green color from all the cooked greens. I was looking at the amount of green paste I had in my food processor in comparison to the amount of bright red sauce I had in my wok and I just could not imagine that the greens were enough to completely change the color of the sauce – thank goodness I was wrong.
My next step was to add the green paste we had set aside into the red saucy mixture in my wok. Removed my wok from the heat and did so….and it worked! Once combined, the mixture in the wok turned a wonderfully deep earthy green-brown color – perfect!
After, I added the heavy cream to the mixture while stirring constantly to combine. This turned the mixture a lighter, brighter color of green, but those darker brown tones remained.
Then we add the paneer back to the mixture and stir carefully to incorporate. We want the paneer to be well combined with the sauce so all the flavors absorb but we do not want the paneer to break up and crumble. Mine got a tiny bit crumbly but for the most part it stayed together nicely. NOTE: For the firmest possible paneer use my recipe for Paneer Cheese and use distilled white vinegar as your acid.
And that’s it! You can return this mixture to low heat if it isn’t heated enough for you – mine was plenty hot – but keep stirring and be careful not to break up your paneer too much. This dish goes SO great with some naan bread and saffron rice. Check out my recipe for Authentic Saffron Rice – its delicious.
Enjoy your travels!!! – Kimberly
INGREDIENTS
- Paste
- 3 Cups Spinach
- 2 Cups Mustard Greens
- 1 Cup Turnip Greens
- 1 Teaspoon Salt
- 1/2 Teaspoon Sugar
- 2 Green Chili Peppers, Diced
- Base
- 1/4 Cup Yellow Mustard Seeds
- 1/4 Cup Red Mustard Seeds
- 1/4 Cup Oil (Olive/Vegetable/Canola)
- 3 Black Cardamoms
- 10 Black Peppercorns
- 1 Stick Cinnamon
- 5 Whole Cloves
- 2 Strands Mace
- 1 Tsp Caraway Seed
- 1 Tablespoon Garlic, minced
- 1 Thumb Ginger, peeled and grated
- 16 Oz. Paneer Cheese, cubed
- 1 Large White Onion, minced
- 1 Can Tomato Puree
- 1 Teaspoon Kashmiri Chili Powder
- 1 Teaspoon Ground Turmeric
- 2 Teaspoon Garam Masala
- 2 Teaspoon Ground Coriander
- 2 Cups Water
- 1 Cup Heavy Cream
Instructions:
- Wash all greens thoroughly and place in a large pot. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until well-wilted. This will most-likely need to be done in batches. Put the wilted greens in a fine mesh strainer and push as much liquid out as possible.
- Put greens, sugar, salt and diced chili peppers in a food processor and process until a well combined paste. Set aside.
- Put all mustard seeds into a mortar and pestle and mix, grinding some as you go, about 1 minute.
- Add the ground seeds to a frying pan along with the oil and heat on low heat, stirring constantly, about 2 minutes. You want the flavors to combine but not for the mustard seed to burn. After the 2 minutes, using a fine mesh strainer, strain the mixture over a small bowl and discard the mustard seed.
- Add 1/4 cup of the mustard infused oil to a wok and add the garlic, ginger, cardamom pods, black peppercorns, cloves, mace and cinnamon stick. Heat on low, stirring constantly for about a minutes being careful not to burn the spices.
- Add cubed paneer to the oil and stir fry until the edges are just browned. Remove and set aside on a paper towel lined plate.
- Add the minced onion to the oil mixture and let cook until translucent, about 5 minutes, stirring fairly often to avoid any burning.
- Add tomato puree, turmeric, garam masala, Kashmiri chili powder and ground coriander. Mix well. Add the water to the mixture, combine with a whisk. Bring the mixture to a simmer on medium-low heat and cook down for about 15 minutes stirring constantly.
- Remove the wok from the heat and add the leafy greens paste. Stir to combine. Add the heavy cream and stir in slowly. Finally add the paneer cheese. This mixture SHOULD still be plenty hot but you can always return to the heat on low, stirring often, if that would be more to your liking.
- Serve with naan bread and saffron rice (try mine here!!!). Enjoy!
At Home World Traveler 