Cooking Saag Paneer

Emma and I have settled into a babysitting routine. Mondays we cook (when most museums are closed), and Wednesdays we explore the City. This Monday we made Saag Paneer using a recipe from 101Cookbooks. We were feeling ambitious and even made our own paneer.

We made the cheese first thing in the morning so it would have enough time to drain for cooking the saag later in the afternoon. The cheese making process was surprisingly easy. First we boiled a pot of milk then added some lemon juice to curdle the milk and separate the curds from the whey, then the mixture was strained in a cheese cloth and left to drain. Emma played a crucial role in the lemon selection for the recipe.

While the cheese drained we took a mini nap, then we wrapped up the cheese and put it in the fridge for later. We then went on a search for spices, a requisite for any decent Indian dish. We took the train to Curry Hill and visited Kalustyan’s—an amazing store full of every spice you can imagine, from Anardana (sour pomegranate powder) to Turmeric. Not only did the store smell delightful but, the products were well catalogued and the entire store was intuitively laid out. Emma woke up from her nap just in time to be adorable and elicit compliments and baby talk. We left with our small sack of spices and headed uptown.

When we got back Emma took a nap, and I started to chop vegetables. Emma woke up from her nap in time to help with the spinach and smell some of the spice mixture I was working on. Once all the vegetables were chopped it was pretty straightforward from there, mixing each item in and waiting for the whole mixture to cook down a bit. Everything was cooked and ready to eat when Olivia and Todd arrived.

Emma is dubious of the spice mixture
on the end of pestle I was using to crush it.