"saag paneer" news and stories

Cheesemaking is an exacting art -- a balance of the right milk, the right bacteria and the right temperature. There are a million ways it can go wrong, and, for most home cooks, it's best left to the pros. Not so with fresh, unaged cheeses like ricotta or the mild Indian paneer, which, in its simplest form, is a mixture of milk and lemon juice. It's easy to whip up for the classic silky spinach dish saag paneer, or, as the paneer-making blogger at the Dabble did for the photo above, fry it in a bit of butter until it caramelizes then sprinkle it with salt.

Trusted paneer maker and doyenne of the Indian kitchen Julie Sahni adds cider vinegar and yogurt to the standard ingredients in a recipe from her Classic Indian Vegetarian and Grain Cooking, a volume well worth having on your bookshelf.

Become a member of the Slashfood Flickr pool to get a shot at having your photos featured in Feast Your Eyes.

I am not shy about my obsession with Indian food, and today is no exception. When I'm in a restaurant or ordering in, I almost always order palak paneer. I say "almost" because sometimes, it's called "saag paneer." Either way, the dish is a curry made of spinach and lightly sauteed cubes of paneer, a fresh Indian cheese. Hooked on Heat has made palak paneer at home and the photo makes me want to dive into my laptop screen with a giant piece of naan. As delicious as it looks, it seems that it's not overly complicated to make, though it does require a bit of time to make the cheese.

Other bloggers make palak/saag paneer:
Mahanandi
Food, in the Main
SaiLu's Food