{"id":27955,"date":"2016-07-20T15:36:05","date_gmt":"2016-07-20T19:36:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/?p=27955"},"modified":"2018-01-10T14:43:58","modified_gmt":"2018-01-10T19:43:58","slug":"get-cultured-saag-paneer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/get-cultured-saag-paneer\/","title":{"rendered":"Get Cultured: Saag Paneer"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are endless reasons to travel the world, but one always stands out: food. <\/em>Get Cultured<\/strong> takes you on a journey through cheesy dishes from different cultures (heyo), exploring how they came to be, what makes them significant, where you can find the real deal, and how you can make your own.<\/em><\/p>\n

Missed last week’s post on raclette? Check it out!<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Since I was a kid, I\u2019ve been an ardent lover of creamed spinach. Whether it was in a plastic, divided container from Boston Market or a bone china dish at a fancy restaurant, it made the cut even back when vegetables were supposed to gross me out. I didn\u2019t taste their Indian counterpart, though, until college\u2014I learned, then, that I had been sorely missing out. Saag paneer is a warm, savory mix of finely chopped, soft spinach; spices; cream; and paneer, an Indian cheese.<\/p>\n

To talk about saag paneer, we have to talk, first, about paneer. India\u2019s widespread and creative consumption of dairy contrasts with the eating habits of much of the rest of Asia, where milk products tend to be hard to come by. In India, the prevalence of cattle\u2014sacred in Hindu Indian culture\u2014makes yogurt, cheese, and milk much more commonplace. Paneer, also known as chhana<\/em>, is the star of the Indian cheese world.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>

Photo credit: liubomir<\/a> | Shutterstock<\/a><\/small><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

An early form of paneer is said, by legend, to have been made accidentally in saddlebags during the Mongol Empire. As the nomads rode their horses from settlement to settlement with the desert sun beating down, the milk they were toting mingled with the rennet lining their rawhide bags, curdling into a sort of proto-paneer. These days, it\u2019s strictly vegetarian\u2014modern makers curdle the milk with lemon juice or other acids\u2014but in the beginning, the story goes, rennet did the job. Despite these early origins, though, paneer didn\u2019t make its way into Indian cuisine until the Mughal Empire.<\/p>\n

If the saddlebags story doesn\u2019t suit you, here\u2019s another proposed origin story: Paneer may have entered Indian culture when the Portuguese introduced Calcutta to the technique. It is said that Portuguese settlers brought their knowledge of making fresh cheese, or queijos frescos<\/em>, to the region around the 17th century, introducing India to the acid method of cheesemaking. Either way, it\u2019s a good thing paneer found its footing somehow.<\/p>\n

Paneer<\/a> is far easier than most cheeses to make at home, akin to ricotta and queso fresco. It\u2019s a fresh cheese, needing only a few hours at most to do its thing, where most need more time to ripen. It also only requires two ingredients\u2014one might say that the only thing to paneer is paneer itself (sorry). To make the creamy cubes, milk is heated and an acid (often lemon juice or vinegar) is added, and the resulting curds and whey are separated. The curds are pressed, and there we have it: paneer that can be eaten fresh, cubed and fried, or mixed into any dish.<\/p>\n

Now, back to the matter at hand: saag<\/em> paneer. Around 2000 BCE, when the Ayurvedic cooking tradition found its legs, people likely prepared chopped mustard greens in earthen pots with yak\u2019s milk. Saag<\/em> in Hindi means \u201cleafy greens,\u201d which accounts for the combination of mustard greens, spinach, fenugreek, and other leaves in traditional saag, but, in its earliest form, mustard greens were the main event.<\/p>\n

Palak, meaning spinach, drives the quite common variation palak paneer, so if the menu says palak<\/em> instead of saag<\/em>, you can expect to see only spinach among the cheese cubes. The difference between the two isn\u2019t huge: saag is now typically made with spinach in addition to mustard greens. In the present day, heavy cream has replaced yak\u2019s milk. When cubed, fried paneer enters the equation, the dish becomes saag paneer.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>

Photo credit: imagesef<\/a> | Shutterstock<\/a><\/small><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Roughly 30 percent of the Indian population adheres to a vegetarian diet, so saag paneer is not only delicious but also provides a delicious source of necessary protein to those who don\u2019t eat meat. Saag paneer is commonly eaten as a side dish\u2014perhaps with a plate of chicken or vegetable tikka masala or vindaloo\u2014or alongside breads like naan or roti, often with a lassi to drink.<\/p>\n

As for finding a delicious saag paneer in its native territory, a pretty foolproof option is Bade Bhai Ka Brothers Dhaba<\/a> in Amritsar\u2014one patron<\/a> went so far as to label its paneer \u201cdivine,\u201d which is pretty high praise. For a great saag paneer that might not require so many frequent flier miles, Punjabi Dhaba<\/a> in Cambridge, Mass., is hailed by Zagat as one of Boston\u2019s best Indian restaurants. On top of that, it\u2019s inexpensive, quick, and colorfully decorated, and it looks out on Inman Square.<\/p>\n

And, of course, there\u2019s no place like home. If you want to try your hand at cooking your own variation on saag paneer, go for this palak paneer recipe<\/a>, starting with your own homemade paneer<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Feature photo credit: espies<\/a> | Shutterstock<\/a><\/small><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

India’s version of creamed spinach and cheese is warm, inviting, and not too difficult to find. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":78,"featured_media":27957,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[2221,2224,2223,2222],"coauthors":[875],"class_list":["post-27955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-indian-cheese","tag-indian-cuisine","tag-paneer","tag-saag"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGet Cultured: Saag Paneer - culture: the word on cheese<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/get-cultured-saag-paneer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Get Cultured: Saag Paneer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"India's version of creamed spinach and cheese is warm, inviting, and not too difficult to find.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/get-cultured-saag-paneer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"culture: the word on cheese\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-07-20T19:36:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-01-10T19:43:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/shutterstock_331081742.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"368\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Caroline Fenn\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Caroline Fenn\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/get-cultured-saag-paneer\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/get-cultured-saag-paneer\/\",\"name\":\"Get Cultured: Saag Paneer - 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