Palak Paneer

Indian food. Absolutely delicious. I still remember the day my friend Mike convinced me to go to the Indian buffet in town for the first time. I was skeptical of the cuisine, especially for my tender tummy’s sake, but the visit to the restaurant changed my bias and palate for good. Today, being National Spinach Day (and yes, I did find a calendar that tells me all the food days of the month), I wanted to try my hand at Palak Paneer, or Saag Paneer. Palak Paneer is the beautiful creamy spinach dish that has the bits of cheese throughout. It’s one of my favorite items to get when I visit Indian establishments, so I hope to do it justice in my attempt.

Paneer is very similar to cottage cheese or ricotta, but I wanted to make this dish as authentic as possible, so that meant I had to first make my own Paneer. It’s a basic enough recipe, but it does take a bit of time, so if you’re starving, I recommend substituting the Paneer with cottage cheese or, even better, with a rich ricotta.

PANEER (cheese):

1 litre (4.25 cups) of milk
½ tsp lemon juice

Let the milk come to a boil in a saucepan. In the meantime, add your lemon juice to ½ a cup of warm water. Once the milk begins to boil, pour the lemon juice-water mix into it. Reduce the heat and stir continuously until the milk is completely curdled. Remove the sauce pan from the heat when the separation of the curds and the yellowish whey is complete (I compared the “yellowish whey” here to the liquid you find a block of feta cheese stored in, similar texture and colour).
Next strain the mixture through a clean muslin or cheese cloth. Hold it under running water for about a minute and then press out all the excess water. Hang the bag to drain out all the whey, about an hour. The Paneer can now be pressed into shape and cut into chunks. If you having a hard time shaping your Paneer, let it rest under a heave pot or dish for about 2 more hours before cutting it.


Traditionally, the Paneer is fried in oil for about a minute to give it a crunchy outer skin and enhance its flavour. Fry the Paneers, stirring enough so that it doesn’t stick. Remove from the pan and place onto a plate lined with paper towel, to soak up any excess oil. If you’re wanting to save a few calories, add the Paneer raw.

PALAK (spinach)

2 lbs fresh baby spinach leaves (or frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained)
1 lb of Paneer cubes (about 28-30 cubes)
1 large onion, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
1” piece of ginger, peeled and finely minced
½ tsp turmeric
1 tsp ground cumin powder
1 tsp ground coriander powder
½ tsp garam masala
¼ tsp red chili powder
pinch of nutmeg
salt & pepper, to taste
½ cup cream (you can use light cream or even half and half)
2-3 tbsp oil, olive or vegetable

Half of the recipes I researched called for a tomato element to be added to the Palak, and half did not. I chose to leave out the tomato this time around to see how the final dish compared to ones I have eaten at Indian restaurants.


First you need to blanch the spinach leaves. In a large pot of boiling water, blanch the spinach leaves for just a minute or two. Remove, drain well and run under cold water. This will stop the cooking process and also set their beautiful green color. Using a food processor, pulse the spinach into a smooth paste, adding water if needed (I used the drained whey from the Paneer).

In a skillet on medium high heat, add a tablespoon of oil. When the oil is hot, add the onions and let cook until they are translucent (around 5-6 minutes). Add the ginger and garlic. Stir for a few minutes and add the spices. Let the spices cook for a few minutes then add the pureed spinach. You can add a little water here if needed (again, I used drained Paneer whey). The traditional consistency of this dish is that of thick gravy. Mix well and let cook for 2-3 minutes over medium heat. Now add the Paneer cubes and cream. Stir and let cook for a few more minutes until the Paneer cubes have warmed through.


Serve over Basmati rice. Feeds 4-6 people.

I hope you like it.

Apple-Pecan topped Belgian Waffle

Today marks a very special day in the culinary world. Two special ingredients are being honored simultaneously on this Friday, March 25th. I wanted to recognize both ingredients by creating a dish to celebrate International Waffle Day and National Pecan Day. Not a tall order, when trying to decide how to combine the two ingredients. I was able to highlight both and threw in a few extra ingredients to amplify the creation.

Let’s start with the waffle. In its most basic form, the waffle recipe doesn’t take a lot of consideration; however, I try to limit the amount of sugars in my recipes, so this is where I have to get creative. Since I’m planning to use an apple topping for my waffle, I’m going to use a bit of unsweetened apple sauce instead of sugar to sweeten the waffle batter.

This is the recipe for the batter for a classic Belgian waffle. You should get 2-3 large waffles out of the mix:

1 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
2 eggs, separated
2 tbsp Unsweetened Apple Sauce
1 cup of milk
¼ cup of melted coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt.
In a bowl, beat the egg yolks, add milk and melted coconut oil, and vanilla and apple sauce, mix and then add the dry ingredients.
Beat the egg whites to a thick foam and gently fold them into your batter.
Cook your waffles following the instructions of your waffle maker, or if you’re like me, and don’t have a waffle maker, you can pan fry these the same way you would cook a pancake.

Now on to the pecan. In my opinion, the pecan is one of the most delicious nuts you can use for baking or cooking. There is a certain sweetness to a pecan that you can’t find in other nuts. The pecan offers a smooth finish and adds a subtle crunch to your dish. I wanted to pair it with the sweetness of apples and the mild tang of yogurt for the perfect topping for my waffle.


We’ll begin making the topping by baking our apples and pecans in a shallow baking dish:

2 Macintosh Apples
1 tsp cinnamon
½ cup pecan halves, chopped
2 tbsp lemon juice
Peel, core, and slice the apples thinly and in a buttered 9x13” glass dish, toss them with the pecans, lemon juice and cinnamon. Bake at 400 degrees for about 12-15 minutes.

Plate you waffle and top with 1 tbsp unsweetened apple sauce, 1 tbsp plain or vanilla yogurt, and 2 tbsp of your baked apple topping. If you’re feeling like some extra sweetness, add maple syrup to your apple sauce and stir it together before spooning it onto your waffle.

Happy International Waffle Day and National Pecan Day!

Enjoy!

Coconut Flour Pizza Crust

I’ve recently been obsessed with creating food using coconut flour. I’m a big fan of low Glycemic Index (GI) eating, and coconut flour fits right into that eating style. Coconut flour is low GI, gluten-free, low calorie, low carbohydrate, high protein, and high fiber. Coconut flour is made from finely ground coconut meat that has had most of the moisture and fat removed. The coconut flavor of the flour is mild, which is really nice in baked goods, but not over-powering. The only potential downside to working with the flour is the delicacy of the finished product. The flour acts like a sponge when liquids are added to it, so it can come out very dry if you don’t add the right amount of liquid/eggs to the recipe. Just be careful to treat your finished product gently until you can gauge its durability.

This pizza crust recipe is really tasty. Coconut flour tends to be heavier than other flours, so make sure you spread the dough thinly before baking for a nice, light finish.

Servings: 1 small pizza

3 eggs
1 clove garlic minced
1 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tsp Herbes de Provence

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Beat eggs in a medium sized bowl, add in milk and garlic, stir.



Add remaining ingredients and beat into the milk mixture. The dough will have a consistency similar to a batter. Add just a bit more coconut flour if it is too runny to spread in the pan.


Spread thinly and evenly on a pizza pan or cookie sheet lined with greased parchment paper.

Bake for 15-20 minutes in oven. Crust is done when fully cooked through and bottom edges begin to brown.


Remove crust from oven and turn over. Carefully peel parchment paper from the bottom of the crust and place crust back on parchment paper with the bottom side up.

Top your pizza with desired toppings. Bake for another 10-15 minutes, depending on the toppings.

Enjoy!