Nadiya Hussain’s Saag Paneer Pilau
Packed with spinach and crispy paneer, this one-pot curry-and-rice dish from Nadiya Hussain's Fast Flavours makes for an easy midweek meal.
From the book
Nadiya’s Fast Flavours
Clever, flavour-focussed recipes from Nadiya Hussain
From midweek meals to celebration centrepieces
Including plenty of Nadiya's signature bakes
Introduction
Saag is greens, for which I like to use spinach but you can use whatever you fancy, and paneer is a delicious hard curd cheese, which is amazing at taking on flavour and doesn’t change shape when cooked. Traditionally cooked as a curry, here I have added rice to the mix to make a one-pot easy pilau, giving you the most vibrant and flavourful pot of rice.
Ingredients
| 6 tbsp | ghee |
| 4 tsp | cumin seeds |
| 4 | cloves of garlic, minced |
| 1 | onion, grated |
| 225g | paneer, cut into cubes |
| 150g | spinach |
| Juice of 1 | lemon |
| 2 tsp | salt |
| 400g | basmati rice |
| 800ml | hot water |
| To serve: | |
|---|---|
| 6 | large eggs, at room temperature |
| pickled red cabbage |
Method
Start by putting the ghee in a large non-stick pan that must have a lid. As soon as the ghee is hot, add the cumin seeds and let them bubble away for 1 minute. Add the garlic and onion and cook over a medium to high heat for around 5 minutes until golden. Add the paneer and cook for 2–3 minutes till it is no longer pale and takes on a golden colour.
Blend the spinach to a paste using a splash of water. Add the spinach and lemon juice to the pan, season well with the salt and cook till the mixture is dry.
Add the rice and cook for 1–2 minutes. You will see it start to get a brighter white in the centre of the grains (if you look hard you will see the change, just ever so slightly).
Pour in the hot water and bring to the boil. As it boils, the liquid will reduce. When the water is thick and the rice visible (after about 5 minutes), reduce the heat to the lowest you can get it, cover and leave to steam for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, soft-boil the eggs by dropping them into a pan of simmering water and cooking for 6 minutes.
After 30 minutes, take the lid off the pilau, leave for 10 minutes and it’s ready to serve. I like to serve this with a sprinkling of pickled red cabbage and the soft-boiled eggs cut in half.
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