Palak Paneer for a Culinary Trip to India

Another bookmarked recipe was turned into a luscious meal for the Crispy family thanks to my Cook the Books buddy Deb at Kahakai Kitchen. She recently made a Palak Paneer, a spicy Indian spinach curry usually made with paneer cheese. In Deb's recipe, baked spiced tofu cubes substitute for the paneer.

I was anxious to try this recipe as I often order it when we dine out at Indian restaurants and will sometimes buy a package of "heat and eat" palak paneer at the grocery for a quick dinner or lunch. I made her dish in two steps, roasting the tofu cubes in the oven in the morning before work and then making the spinach curry when I got home from work. I paired it with some wonderfully fragrant basmati rice with a bunch of pointy curry leaves, which are two awesome purchases from my recent trip to India Bazaar. The philistines in my family picked out the curry leaves and complained that they looked like they dropped off a ficus plant, but I thought they added a great perfume to the dish and cheerfully chomped all mine down.



Thank you Deb for sharing another great recipe! I am sending a bowl of this fabulous Palak Paneer to Joan at Foodalogue for her Culinary Tour Around the World Event, where we are all now on a virtual visit to India. Joan's event is promoting awareness of world hunger issues and is linked to the BloggerAid group of folks hoping to raise funds for the UN World Food Programme. Joan will be publishing a roundup of Indian dishes on March 11th, so be sure to drop by to see what we all brought to our fragrant feast.