
This is from Meera Sodha’s amazing veggie book, East. We have Meera’s Indian recipe books and we often cook the recipes she writes for the Guardian. This book has an Eastern, but not exclusively Indian, influence and the recipes are mouthwateringly good. We’ve noticed people have mixed reactions towards kale, if you’re on the fence we reckon this is probably the best kale-based dish we’ve ever eaten. We served with naan bread from the local takeaway.
Panner, tomato & kale saag – serves 4
- 500g kale, discard the stems and roughly chop the rest
- rapeseed oil
- 450g paneer, cut into 2cm dice (if you’re buying 200g packs just buy 2)
- 2 onions, finely chopped
- 2 cm ginger, peeled and grated
- 4 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 2 green finger chillies, finely chopped
- 1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
- 1½ tsp ground coriander
- 1½ tsp ground cumin
- ½ tsp ground turmeric
- 1½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp brown rice syrup (we used runny honey)
- 1 x 400ml tin coconut milk
Blitz the kale in a food processor and chop it very finely. Unless your food processor is huge you will need to do a few batches.
Heat 2 tbsp of the oil in a large, nonstick frying pan, that you have a lid for. Fry the cubes of paneer for a couple of minutes on each side or until they have taken on a nice golden colour. Remove from the pan and set aside.
Heat another 2 tbsp of oil in the same pan and cook the onions over a medium heat for about 10 minutes or until soft. Add the ginger, garlic and chillies and continue to cook for another 5 minutes.
Stir in the tin of tomatoes and cook for 10 minutes or until reduced to a paste. Add the coriander, cumin, turmeric, salt and honey (or brown rice syrup) and mix in well.
Stir in a handful of kale at a time. It will seem like you have too much but it will wilt in perfectly. Stir in the coconut milk, then bring to a simmer, cover with a lid, and simmer gently for 15 minutes.
Add the paneer to the pan and cook for another 10 minutes with the lid on. Keep an eye that it doesn’t dry out and add a splash of water if necessary.
Taste to check that it has all come together and the kale is tender. Remove from the heat and serve with warm naan bread.
(Original recipe from East by Meera Sodha, Penguin Books, 2019.)
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