Saag Paneer, I love you

Discovered Indian food at a great little place here in Raleigh a few months back.

Absolutely can't get enough. LOVE the curry chicken, palak paneer, naan and just about everything else.

Learned to fix the curry chicken myself, but can't find a local grocery for the naan which is a must for the paneer!

Yummm! Now I'm hungry!

Saag Paneer is one of my favorite indian dishes! I've had countless varieties - some are much better than others. My other favorite is Dal punjabi. I have been trying more an more to find other regional indian dishes.

So, how is Saag different from palak?

Hmmm.... dunno what palak is actually. Saag paneer is a spinach dish (though I think the original greens weren't spinach, spinachhas become standard here). Paneer means spinach (or original green variety). The dish is well cooked spinach in ghee and some spices with farmers' cheese (cubes of mild, soft cheese).

Ah, sounds like the same thing then. Kind of like a spinach artichoke dip but with the cheese and curry?

The place we go to also has a tastey little side of tiny cubed cucumbers and tomatoes in a yogurt / cream sauce that is nice for cooling the tongue if the curry gets too strong.

a chutney or a salad?

I love it. Haven't found a great Indian restaurant here, and I'm annoyed. (Set?) Pasadena had about three great ones, Chicago had a few in our vicinity and plenty if we wanted to drive for a while, haven't found any really good ones around here yet though. And it's not just us -- a friend of ours is Indian and says she's been searching to no avail, thus far.

The clay pit here in austin has some TO die FOR curries .

You know a place is as close to traditional as it can get, when all you see when it comes to customers are Indian/ middle eastern people.

OOOhhhh yuuummyy..
I do love that place.

I had this like tortilla crisp thing with this onion chutney. to die for! If nothing else I now like osso, I may learn to like her dog pacco as well.

Yes, a chutney is what it (the cucumber / tomato) was. Also served with the very thin tortilla, which was good. But I'm a push over for any bread, and the naan flat bread is delicious right out of the clay oven.

Mostly Indians eat at the one we go to also, so yeah. I thought that was a good indication of its authenticity.

What a poopity head.

I've gone out for Indian food for, I dunno, thirty years. There used to be some wonderful places in the LA area, each rather devoted to one region or another. Up in Eureka there was just one, and I thought they served sheer dreck. Well, maybe not sheer, sort of lumpy.

This place yesterday was just elegant in both presentation and variety of ingredients. I'm a tough audience and I loved it (er, obviously, let me go on and on). I also ordered lamb vindaloo and raita and there was basmati rice with peas, a bit of carrot, and bay...
Those papadum (spelling?) crackers dys mentioned were complex, extremely tasty. We had two kinds of naan, one with fruit and pistachios, and the other an herb garlic naan. Oh, yes, a chutney tray, each one unusual to me, the one dys was talking about was picked onion that was bright red.. huh, wonder how they did that. Even the raita was especially good. Damn, I wanna go back there..

Diane had another lamb dish, milder than mine but also with complex flavors, and we both had dessert, of course.. pistacchio ice cream that seemed homemade. Dys had a shrimp salad with good shrimp, I gather, and a very tasty dressing.

Poopity head not directed at Squinney!!

Hmmm, I think paneer is the cheese and saag is the spinach.
Gonna go look for some recipes.

Here's a batch of links..
one of them has palak paneer

http://starchefs.com/features/indian_spotlight/html/saag_paneer_d_prasad.shtml
http://www.gregtulonen.com/recipes/master.html?
http://www.gregtulonen.com/recipes/saag.html
http://www.toomanychefs.com/archives/001367.php
http://www.recipesource.com/ethnic/asia/indian/02/rec0247.html
http://www.topfreerecipes.com/indian-recipes/paneer-recipes/saag-paneer-recipe.php

Osso, you would be right on this!

That second link isn't direct to a recipe, sorry, but the next one is. Seems to be some confusion re palak and saag.

But Diane's lamb dish with spinach had saag somewhere in the name..

Can't tell about the onion chutney, if this is it or not..
the onion bits were bright red, perhaps from cayenne?

http://www.whats4eats.com/recipes/r_sau_onionchut.html

Paneer means cottage cheese...and palak means spinach. Saag paneer and palak paneer are the same thing......Sag does not mean spinach/palak though - Saag just means "curry" a punjabi curry usually made with greens (usually spinach)...

Ah, and of course I love Indian food...



That's a "raitha". We make pineapple raitha, beetroot raitha...etc.


I'm not sure - there are many many types of onion chutney....onions probably looked red because they were dipped in a mixture of vinegar and red chilli powder.

Do I like Curry? Do I L-U-R-V-E Indian food?

I AM BRITISH! Is the Pope Catholic?

Indian food has to be consumed in great quantities, at least once a week. It is the law.


The lamb dish that Diane had, was it lamb rogan josh? One of my favourites......along with tarka dal.

Lamb Rogan josh.
http://www.madgeandgeoffrey.co.uk/lamb_rogan_josh.htm

Tarka dal.
http://www.recipes4us.co.uk/Indian%20Section/tarka_dal___veg___ht___indian__m.htm

As far as nan are concerned, it depends on the mood I'm in.

Plain, garlic and coriander....or Peshwari (mmmmm....sweeeeet)

Peshwari nan.
http://www.curryfrenzy.com/curry/recipes/Peshwari-Nan-Bread.html

Or....Just go to http://www.britsuperstore.com/index.html and type in Peshwari nan on the search, click on the product and it will take you to a page of wondrous goodies.
These are the nans sold in our supermarkets, and have a long shelf life, if you are interested in ordering some.



Various pickles and chutneys.......

Mango Chutney (sweet)
Lime Pickle (blows your head off)
http://www.britsuperstore.com/acatalog/Sharwoods_Mango_Chutney.html

WARNING! If you are new to eating curry, or are a bit wimpish like Dys when it comes to the hot stuff, do not ask for a "fal" (pronounced "farl" over here). I think they secretly douse it with nitro glycerine. Now....I love hot curry, the hotter the better....but I had to draw the line at a fal.
I had a couple of mouthfuls of my mate's fal once, but had to wimp out. He managed to finish it eventually, after several pints of lager.

I'll find some recipes from one of our famous (and in my opinion, the best) Indian chefs.


It is 8am here, and I am now craving a curry like you wouldn't believe.

Thanks.