Maneet Chauhan’s Saag Paneer

 I learned from the headnote of Maneet Chauhan’s Saag Paneer recipe in Chaat (written with Jody Eddy, from which this recipe is adapted) that “saag means any dish made with leafy greens, not just spinach.” She goes on to explain that she whips up this dish at her home in Nashville when she wants a fortifying nutritional reboot. Use the recipe as a blueprint, she suggests, using only spinach, if you like, or “adding in as many greens as you can get your hands on.” She suggests collards, carrot tops, beet greens, chard or bok choy leaves. “The possibilities are endless,” she writes, “and it’s a fantastic recipe if you cook from a desire to eliminate food waste. All those vegetable tops have a home” with the recipe.

Chauhan also suggests swapping out the paneer for feta or other salty, firm cheese. I’m not a huge fan of what feta does in saag. In fact, while store-bought paneer is OK in the dish, if you make home-made paneer and use that, it’s absolutely spectacular.

Read our November 2020 review of Chaat: Recipes from the Kitchen, Markets and Railways of India.

Serves 4.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons ghee, store-bought or homemade, plus more melted ghee for serving if desired

1 teaspoon ground cardamom

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon Kashmiri, Deghi Mirch or other red chile powder

1/2 teaspoon brown mustard seeds

Pinch of hing (asafedita)

1 small yellow onion, finely chopped (about 1 cup)

2 tablespoons store-bought or home-made ginger-garlic paste

2 serrano chiles, finely chopped

2 cups packed arugula (about 4 ounces)

4 cups packed baby kale (about 5 ounces)

6 cups packed baby spinach (about 10 ounces)

3 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro, plus more for garnish

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Kosher salt

8 ounces Paneer (home-made) or store-bought, cut into bite-sized pieces

Basmati rice for serving

Chapatis for serving (optional)

Instructions

1. In a large sauté pan, melt the ghee over medium-high heat. Add the cardamom, cumin, chile powder, mustard seeds and hing and sauté until the mustard seeds begin to pop, about 2 minutes. Reduce the heat the medium, add the onion and sauté until translucent and light golden brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the ginger-garlic paste and serranos and sauté over medium-low heat for two more minutes, stirring frequently so it doesn’t stick to the pan.

2. Add the arugula, kale and spinach and sauté, raising the heat gradually to medium, until the greens are wilted and the kale is tender, 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and cool at room temperature for 5 minutes.

3. Transfer the green to a food processor. Add the cilantro and pulse until chunky but not uniform. Stir in the lemon juice and a generous 1/2 teaspoon of salt (use a little less if you’re using salty store-bought ginger-garlic paste) and return the mixture to the sauté pan. Set the pan over medium-low heat and gently stir in the paneer, being careful not to break it up. Cook until the paneer and the saag are heated through, 4 to 6 minutes.

4. To serve, spoon the sag and paneer into a serving bowl or individual bowls, drizzle with melted ghee if desired, and garnish with cilantro. Serve with rice and, if desired, chapatis.