Saag Paneer: Spinach Curry - Video Recipe

One of my favorite veggie side dishes to order in an India restaurant is Saag Paneer, a pungent, creamy spinach and cheese dish. A Middle Eastern style cheese from India, called paneer, is presented in deep fried cubes floating in slow cooked curry spiced spinach. My latest video recipe is an easy version to make, so read on to see for yourself.

Unfortunately, it's not a light dish when served in your local India lunch buffet line. Clarified butter and deep fried cheese adds too many calories for this weight-watching kitchen commando.

Plus, it is not easy to find the India cheese called paneer. Paneer is a hard white cheese, that is similar in texture to feta cheese, but milder in taste. Because of a high melting point, it softens but still holds it's shape, even in a stew.

But, upon doing a little experimenting, I found Mexican Queso Fresco cheese has a similar flavor, and holds up well to slow cooking, too. And for a lighter creamy taste I have added a small amount of cottage cheese. So I put two and two together and came up with a budget-busting, calorie-skimping, entree anyone can make.

My latest video recipe, Saag Paneer, combines the best of two culinary worlds, Mexican and Indian.

The main spice is curry powder. I just use cumin - open a jar and smell -- it makes up 75% of your typical curry powder. And cumin is much easier to find on any grocery store spice shelf; plus it's much cheaper than curry powder.  Pick up an onion to saute, as this will add a bit of caramelized sweetness.

Click on any image to see larger.

For an extra boost of cheesiness crumble-in half a disc of Mexican cheese called Queso Fresco, that comes cheaply from 99c only Stores and Latin markets (It's showing up in regular groceries, too.) I also use Queso Fresco for the Mexican breakfast classic, Huevos Rancheros - just click here to see that recipe video.

Of course, my Saag Paneer recipe is adjustable to suit your convenience. It is just as tasty without Queso Fresco cheese. Think of this recipe as an India version of typical American Cream Spinach, with a little added curry spice.

Spinach is still a reasonable price and I can get fresh bundles of spinach and cleaned 5 or 6 ounce bags for a buck, or less. Fresh spinach may have dirt, so give it a rinse first. It may also have part of the root and long stems that need removing.. You can leave shorter stems, they will soften enough.

Slow cooking the spinach and cottage cheese with cumin creates a lush dish that is low in calories, especially if you use low fat cottage cheese. So give my delish, India-inspired, Mexican-style Saag Paneer a try -- all it takes is a little spinach and onion chopping with some slow cooking.

Mexican-style Saag Paneer - VIDEO

   Play it here, video runs 2 minutes, 3 seconds.

My YouTube video link for viewing or embedding, just click here.
Ingredients (2 -3 servings)

• 2 bunches of spinach - or about two 6 ounce packages.
• 1 whole onion - chopped
• Cottage Cheese - about 8 ounces. Okay to add more to suit taste. I used low fat.
• Mexican Queso Fresco cheese - optional. I used about half a 5 ounce package, roughly crumbled.
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin - if you have curry powder, use that.
• 1 tablespoon oil - for sauteing onions.
• 2 tablespoons of milk - if needed during final cooking stage.
• Pepper to taste - I find there is plenty of salt in cottage cheese and Queso Fresco cheese.
• Queso Fresco cheese -  optional. I used half a 4 ounce package, that is broken into bite-sized pieces. You can use more if you like.

Directions
Start cleaning spinach if needed. Cleaned spinach in bags may only need a quick rinse. Fresh spinach from produce sections may have dirt and long root/stems. So those bundles will need washing and longer stems trimmed. (No need to prepare all spinach at once. You will add it in batches if your pot can't hold it all.)

Heat oil in medium-sized pan or pot. Add chopped onion and saute until soft, about 5 minutes over a medium heat.

Mix in cumin and saute for a couple of minutes. Add cottage cheese and mix well.

Start adding chopped spinach. It will cook down in a minute or so. Continue cleaning spinach (if needed) and adding it to pot or pan until it is well blended into cottage cheese/onion mixture.

Once all the spinach is added, you can pile on some Mexican Queso Fresco cheese.

Season with pepper, reduce heat to low and cover to cook for 20 - 30 minutes until it is like Creamed Spinach.

Check spinach mixture from time to time to make sure liquid does not completely cook out. Stir periodically. The Queso Fresco will soften but still retain it's shape.

As spinach cooks down it adds a lot of liquid. The object is to cook spinach until very soft and cream-like. The cottage cheese will partially dissolve into the sauce. Add a couple of spoonfuls of milk if it starts to dry out.

Hindsight
If you like Saag Paneer more creamy then just add a 1/4 cup of milk or cream during last 20 minutes of simmering.

This would make a delicious pairing with my African Spiced Water Buffalo Wings, Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce, and Coconut Rice.

Baked Lasagna with Ground Chicken

Talk about patience, I've been on the lookout the last couple of years for packages of lasagna for 99.99 cents, so I could make a budget lasagna. Finally I picked up a few boxes at this Hollywood 99c only Store, along with some ground chicken, 2 containers of cottage cheese, and a large can of Del Monte 3 Cheese Spaghetti Sauce. Now I'm finally ready to make a Baked Lasagna with Ground Chicken...so let's get cooking!

The rest of the ingredients are things I always have around, including: dried parmesan cheese in a can, a few half-used small packages of shredded cheese stored in the freezer, a large onion, a jar of chopped garlic, and some fresh herbs from my garden. Just very basic stuff for a simply delicious meat lasagna.

And this recipe is Wife Approved, by my number one taste tester; her only recommendation to me was to chop the onion a little finer next time, and this recipe is so delicious there will be a next time -- soon.

I used inexpensive ground chicken, but you could also use ground turkey, beef, or pork. For a vegetarian version substitute the meat with a couple of washed and sauteed bunches of spinach.

A traditional lasagna calls for a tub of creamy ricotta cheese, but I've found that cottage cheese is a cheap and tasty substitution. (I do, on occasion run across ricotta on sale.) Once the assembled lasagna is baked, the cottage cheese melts just like any other cheese. It's milder, so I supplement with a little dried parmesan, mozzarella and cheddar cheese -- now that's a lot of flavor.

You will also need a large baking pan (and aluminum foil,) or a couple of covered baking dishes. Of course you could just cut the ingredient amounts in half, if all you have is a single oven proof bowl.

You can feed your brood and still have leftovers with The 99 Cent Chef's latest hearty entree. And if you are single, then throw a Lasagna Party! (It also freezes well to pack for a few work lunches.) And, if you are looking for a great Pot Luck dish, this is it. My Baked Lasagna with Ground Chicken is a recipe you will want to pull out on a cold Winter day.

Ingredients (about 6 servings)

• 12 ounce package dried lasagna
• 26 ounces tomato sauce - any favorite. Or two 15 ounce cans.
• 1 pound ground chicken or turkey - okay to use ground beef or pork.
• 16 ounces of cottage cheese - I used 2 small containers. Okay to use ricotta cheese. Add another 8 ounces of cottage cheese for a richer version.
• 6 to 12 ounces of mozzarella cheese - or any extra cheese you have on hand for the topping.
• 1 cup of water - to rinse out tomato sauce cans, adding every drop of sauce. Use red or white wine for a luscious sauce -- the alcohol cooks out.
• 1 whole onion - rough or fine chopped.
• 1 tablespoon chopped garlic - fresh or from jar.
• 1 egg - to mix into cottage cheese.
• A few tablespoons of dried parmesan - optional. Okay to use fresh grated.
• 2 tablespoons oil - One to saute onion and another to grease the baking pan.
• 1 tablespoon chopped herbs - fresh or dried including: basil, oregano, sage, and parsley. Okay to use an Italian dried herb mix.
• Salt and pepper to taste.

Directions
Add oil to a large pan or pot over a medium heat. Add chopped onion and saute until soft, about 5 minutes. Add chopped garlic and saute for a minute.

While onion is sauteing, you can start boiling water for the lasagna. Follow package directions to cook the lasagna. If pasta is ready before meat sauce, then drain, rinse with cold water, and drizzle with a tablespoon of oil to keep it from sticking together.

Scoop in ground meat to the sauteed onion and garlic and spread it out. I like to let it firm up for about 3 minutes, then break it into bite-sized chunks. Continue to cook the meat until it is done, about 5-10 minutes total.

Pour in tomato sauce and the extra cup of cup of water (or wine) that was sloshed in the emptied tomato cans. Sprinkle on the chopped fresh or dried herbs. Mix well and heat through about 5 minutes.

This is a typical meat pasta sauce. If you have your own favorite pasta sauce recipe (pre-made canned or bottled) then use that.

While meat sauce is cooking you can prepare the cottage cheese sauce. Just add the cottage cheese to a bowl and break in an egg. Mix it well.

Now time to put it all together. Start the oven preheating to 375 degrees.

I used a metal baking pan that is about 9x13 inches, and 2 inches deep. If you don't have a large pan, this recipe is easy to half into a couple of pans or baking dishes. You may need to fold (or cut) cooked lasagna noodles in half for an easier fit.

Grease the bottom of the baking pan with a little oil or oil spray. Add a couple layers of cooked lasagna. Next pour on about a third of the meat sauce. Then spread on about a third of the cottage cheese. You can use any extra cheese you have, including dried parmesan, mozzarella and cheddar.

Repeat the 3 steps to fill pan

Repeat another layer of lasagna, meat sauce and cottage cheese. Finally top with mozzarella, parmesan and/or any favorite cheese.

Make sure to not fill the pan all the way up, as the sauce may boil over -- just to be safe, put a wide cookie sheet or extra foil underneath the lasagna pan.

Cover assembled lasagna pan with foil. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes.

Now time to brown the top. Carefully remove the foil (it's hot,) reduce the oven heat to 350 degrees, and cook another 15 minutes until the cheese is lightly browned.

Remove from the oven and allow set a couple of minutes, then dig in.

Hindsight
 If you are worried about pasta sticking to bottom of baking dish, then add more oil to pan, or add a thin layer of sauce.

 My lasagna dish is just a basic recipe. There are many variations you can do. First, you can make more tomato sauce if you like it that way. And, of course, you can add more cottage and regular cheese for a richer entree -- you can never have too much cheese.

For a vegetarian version, leave out the meat and add 2 cleaned and roughly chopped bunches of spinach to the sauteing onions. And just layer it in with the cottage cheese. Almost any cooked veggies will work, including sliced squash, and florets of broccoli and cauliflower. If you like your veggies with some crunch, then just layer them in raw just before baking.

My meat sauce can be kicked up a notch by adding a cup of red or white wine. Again, if you have a favorite Italian pasta sauce then use it.

If  dried lasagna is too expensive then substitute with cheaper spaghetti, or any cooked pasta. The cheese, meat or veggie tomato sauce, goes with all types of  pasta.

Saag Paneer - Curried Spinach with Cottage Cheese

My favorite veggie to order in an India restaurant is Saag Paneer, a rich creamy spinach and cheese dish. I've had it served several ways: sometimes the paneer (cheese) is presented in deep fried cubes floating in slow cooked spinach; or it's incorporated as a cheesy cream spinach sauce. I prefer the latter.

Unfortunately, it's not a light dish when served in your local India lunch buffet line. Clarified butter and deep fried cheese adds too many calories for this weight-watching kitchen commando.

Plus, it is not easy to find paneer -- but upon doing a little research, I found out it tastes similar to cottage cheese. Just imagine all the liquid squeezed out and the curds formed into cheese blocks. So I put two and two together and came up with a budget-busting, calorie-skimping entree anyone can make.

 The main spice is curry powder. I just use cumin - open a jar and smell -- it makes up 75% of your typical curry powder. And cumin is much easier to find on any grocery store spice shelf; plus it's much cheaper than curry powder.  Pick up an onion to saute, as this will add a bit of caramelized sweetness.

For an extra boost of cheesiness crumble-in half a disc of Mexican cheese called Queso Fresco, that comes cheaply from 99c only Stores and Latin markets (It's showing up in regular groceries, too.) It is a hard cheese that softens to gooey deliciousness, making my Saag Paneer recipe extra rich.

Slow cooking the spinach and cottage cheese with cumin creates a lush dish that is low in calories, especially if you use low fat cottage cheese. So give my delish, India-inspired, 99 Cent Chef Saag Paneer a try -- all it takes is a little spinach chopping and some slow cooking.

 Ingredients (2 -3 servings)

• 2 bunches of spinach - or about two 6 ounce packages.
• 1 whole onion - chopped
• Small 8 ounce container of cottage cheese.
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin - if you have curry powder, use that.
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 2 tablespoons of milk - optional during final cooking stage.
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Queso Fresco cheese -  optional. I used half a 4 ounce package, that is broken into bite sized pieces.

Directions
Heat oil in medium sized pan or pot. Add chopped onion and saute until soft, about 5 minutes over a medium heat.

While onions are cooking, start cleaning and chopping spinach. Chop off long stems of spinach bunches. No need to chop all spinach at once. You will add it in batches - as one batch cooks down you chop another to add.

Mix in cumin and saute for a couple of minutes. Add cottage cheese and mix well.

Start adding chopped spinach. It will cook down in a minute or so. Continue chopping spinach and adding it to pot or pan until it is well blended into cottage cheese/onion mixture. (For extra richness add Queso Fresco cheese when spinach cooks down.)

Once all the spinach is added, season with salt and pepper, reduce heat to low and cover to cook for 20 - 30 minutes.

Check spinach mixture from time to time to make sure liquid does not completely cook out. Stir periodically.

As spinach cooks down it adds a lot of liquid. The object is to cook spinach until very soft and cream-like. Some of the cottage cheese will dissolve into the sauce. Add a couple of spoonfuls of milk if it starts to dry out.

 This would make a delicious pairing with my African Spiced Water Buffalo Wings or Coconut Rice.