Paneer Hariyali / Cottage Cheese Fresh Greens Curry.

“Paneer Hariyali / Cottage Cheese Fresh Greens Curry" ... A delicious dish that can be savored with ghee rice, roti, paratha, naan, poori or our very own panpolo ... Yummy Yumz ... 

** Paneer or Cottage Cheese is dish that is famous throughout India used in different varieties of preparation of food. The choice of paneer dishes is so huge in numbers that I doubt if I will ever be able to blog in enough here. Curries, snack, desserts, parathas, bajias, tikkas, you name it and paneer rules the roost. Paneer is prepared out of curdled milk by straining the same and can be easily prepared at home. You just need to boil milk and then add on either lemon juice or vinegar and curdle the milk. The milk breaks up immediately and gets curled, you just need to strain it through a muslin/cotton cloth and hang it or keep it under a heavy weight so that all the excess water drains off. And the paneer is ready to be used. However, it is also easily available in every grocery store and is equally good too. 

** Paneer curry is a delight and favorite amongst Vegetarians as many Non-Veg dishes are adapted into preparing with paneer. Children simply love paneer and it is a very good idea to include them into your daily diet as it is a good source of Protein, Vitamin B12, Potassium and Selenium, and a very good source of Vitamin D, Riboflavin, Calcium and Phosphorus. Exactly what is needed for growing children. You can prepare paneer out of skimmed milk too which is also very used for those who are conscious of weight. Almost everybody knows the benefits of Paneer, so there is nothing much to write about them except insisting that you start using them. A little bit of paneer can build on calcium level which is very necessary for ageing people too. 

** Here is the simple Recipe for “Paneer Hariyali / Cottage Cheese Fresh Greens Curry" … My Style … Try this, its easy, simple and your family will love it ….. 

** Ingredients : 

Paneer / Cottage cheese : 200 gms. 

Salt to taste 

Oil : 2 tblsp 

Ghee : 2 tblsp 

Curry Leaves / Kadi patta / Karbevu : 5-6 fresh ones 

Butter : 1 tblsp (fresh homemade) 

Coconut Milk / Nariyal ka doodh : 1 cup (thick milk) 

Coriander Leaves / Dhania / Kothimbir : 2 tblsp for garnishing. 

** Masala No.1: 

Onion / kanda / piyavu : 3 medium sized cut into pieces. 

Garlic / Losun / Lehesun : 8-10 cut into pieces. 

Ginger / Alle’ / Adrak : 2 inch piece cut into small pieces 

** Masala No. 2 : 

Tomato : 2 Large sized cut into pieces. 

Palak / Spinach :4-5 cups finely chopped 

Coriander / Dhania / Kothimbir Leaves : 1.5 cups finely chopped 

Pudina / Mint Leaves : ¼ cup finely chopped. 

Green Chillies / Hirvi Mirchi / Tarni Mirsanga : 4-5 cut into pieces. 

** Masala Powders to be added : 

Kashmiri Red Chilly Powder : 2-3 tblsp 

Coriander / Dhania / Kottimbir Powder : 1 tblsp 

Cumin / Jeera Powder : 1 tsp 

Fennel / Badisep / Saunf Powder : 1 tsp 

Garam Masala Powder : 1 tsp 

Black Pepper Powder : 1 tsp 

Haldi / Turmeric Powder : ½ tsp 

** Clean, pick, wash and chop palak, coriander, pudina leaves and put it in a colander together for all the excess water to get drained off. Keep this ready aside. 

** Preparing the Paneer : Cut the paneer into 2 inch square cubes. Brush little bit of oil on a tava and keep the pieces of paneer on them and fry on both the sides till the color changes slightly on medium heat. Remove and keep this ready aside. 

** Masala No.1: Add the onion, garlic and ginger in a mixer grinder and grind to a smooth paste without adding any water. The paste should be smooth. Remove and keep this ready aside. 

** Masala No. 2 : Add in the tomato, palak leaves, coriander leaves, green chillies and pudina leaves into a mixer grinder and grind all to a very smooth paste. Do not add water while grinding, sprinkle a little bit if it is difficult to grind. Remove and keep this ready aside. 

** Masala Powders : In a small bowl add in the chilly powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, fennel powder, garm masala powder, black pepper powder and haldi powder together and keep this ready aside. I follow this method so that it makes it easier to add in all the masala in one go. 

** Preparation of the Curry :  Add both oil and ghee in a thick bottomed kadai/pan. When hot lower the heat to medium and add in the ground Masala No.1 and fry till the color changes slightly. Keep a keen watch on the heat or you may burn the masala. 

** Now, add in the curry leaves and fry for a minute and then add in all the masala powders kept ready in the bowl and mix well. Fry on medium heat for a good 4-5 minutes. Do not allow the masala to get burnt. If you find it being so, sprinkle some water and continue. 

** Lastly add in the ground Masala No.2, salt to taste and mix well. Cook on medium heat till you see bubble erupting from the masala. Be careful, and stay away from heat, add in a cup of water and mix well, bringing it to a thick gravy consistency. If need add in some more water if the gravy is too thick. 

** Once the masala is cooked properly and done add in the coconut milk after lower the heat and mix it well. Cook on low heat till done. Do not raise the heat once you add in the coconut milk as the chances of it getting curdled increases. Once you see bubbles on top of the masala it is done and ready. 

** Add in the fresh homemade butter, mix slightly, add the fried paneer cubes and garnish with coriander leaves. Remove from fire and keep the dish covered aside for a good 25-30 minutes. The gravy thickens on time, so check the same before serving. In case you want to prepare the curry and serve it later on, do not add in the paneer, bring the curry to heat whenever you want to serve and add in the paneer 10 minutes just before serving the curry. 

** “Paneer Hariyali / Cottage Cheese Fresh Greens Curry" is done and ready to be served. Tastes awesome with ghee rice, chapati, roti, paratha, naan, poori or our very own panpolo/neer dosa. You can serve this dish with any other accompaniment of your choice too. I served it with roti as I wanted to keep the menu simple. Do try this dish out and enjoy with your family and friends.

** Note  :  I have added coconut milk at the end and the curry as it tastes awesome with it. But in case you want to avoid it, you can always grind one cup of freshly grated coconut along with the greens and add while cooking too., I have done that with chicken curry many a times before and it tastes good. You can also check up on the chicken curry that will follow this curry as the gravy / masala is same for the same. I doubled the quantity of the masala while preparing this dish and have removed half portion after cooking before addition of paneer for preparing the same with chicken tomorrow. Do check that post if you too want to prepare two in one dish like me.