Mornings in Bangalore are glorious and unpredictable; you can wake up to chilly mornings with grey cloudy skies, sometimes a silent drizzle, maybe just a peek of the sun or clear cloudless blue skies with warm sun. Today was a latter kind of day and the residents were making most of it; there were more than the usual number of morning walkers out and about.

During the lockdown the local shops are open only from 7:00 am to 12:00 pm. So grocery shopping needs to be done in the morning. I hate this task and avoid it as much as possible. I make a list and delegate. Sometimes hubs returns with some additional finds too and on one such expedition he brought palak (spinach).

I like to run over my list of possibilities with palak. So far make three dishes – palak paneer, palak chicken and palak chapatis.

Palak Paneer

Paneer was considered a delicacy in my school days. It was made at home by curdling milk with lemon juice. It was a cumbersome process to make the paneer at home and this had to be followed by cooking it into a dish. It was too much work.

And so paneer became a dish often ordered in the restaurants. Since then paneer has become a refrigerator staple in homes, all thanks to the homegrown brand Amul – a cooperative dairy company based at Anand in the state of Gujarat in India. Amul paneer is the universal favourite, though there are other brands available.

The stems of palak are not used, only the leaves. The leaves are blanched, blended together with masala to form a rich gravy and finally simmered with the paneer cubes. A dash of the aromatic kasuri methi and cream completes the dish. An easy dish to make and goes well with chapatis😋. 

Palak chicken 

I heard about this dish from my cousin first. It’s easier than palak paneer; the palak leaves need not be blanched, simply chopped and added to the chicken. Ready in minutes😋.

Palak chapatis

This is an easy way to add some excitement to the usual chappatis. Recipes are available online and they are a treat !! Here again the palak leaves are blanched and pureed and then mixed with the flour to make the chapati dough.

This is a start, there are other dishes to try with palak.

Till next post, take care !!