Vegetarian Recipe: Saag Paneer featuring Karoun Dairies
On Saturday night, Andy and I stayed in for a change and I made another vegetarian meal with some products that were sent to me by Karoun Dairies. I decided I was in the mood for Indian cuisine and the Yanni grilling cheese I received from Karoun on Friday was the perfect thing to use in my own little version of saag paneer. 🙂
For fun, I added some boiled potatoes and parsnips into the finished stew and I also made the cauliflower breadstick dough (from a few posts back) into a thick sort of naan bread. Phenaanamal!! 😉
Ingredients:
4 cups baby spinach leaves
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 pound Yanni grilling cheese, sliced or cubed
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons cumin
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 Tbs fresh ginger
3 Tbs crushed garlic
2 tomatoes, diced
1 cup tomato sauce
2 teaspoons garam masala
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 cup Karoun Kafir lite cheese
3 parsnips, cut into half moons
2 potatoes, cubed
salt to taste
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook spinach in the boiling water until wilted, about 3 minutes. Drain well and transfer to a food processor. Puree until finely chopped. Set aside.
Cut potatoes and parsnips into uniform pieces and boil them until they begin to soften. Do not overcook. Stay on the firmer side, as they will do their last part of cooking in the finished stew.
Next, sauté the onion and mushrooms together until the onion is translucent/cooked through. Add the tomato and the tomato sauce, along with all spices (ginger, garlic, tomato, garam masala, turmeric, and cayenne pepper). Allow to simmer on low to medium heat so that the tomatoes will break down.
Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Fry the Yanni cheese, until browned on all sides, about 5 minutes. Set aside.
Return to the tomato sauce, and stir in the spinach purée. Salt to taste. Cover and cook for about 5-10 more minutes, stirring occasionally. Lastly, stir in the Kefir cheese to thicken the sauce. Then add the boiled parsnips and potatoes and coat them with the spinach and tomato sauce. Heat through and make sure the potatoes and parsnips have fully cooked through. Serve the fried Yanni on the side (to retain the cheese’s crispy edges!) 🙂 Happy to report I did not miss meat that night! Thanks to Karoun Dairies for the great product samples!
To find Karoun products, you can enter your zip code in the store locator here.
You can find Karoun Dairies on Facebook here and follow them on twitter here.
Gluten Free Pumpkin Pecan Breads & Apple Parsnip Soup
I made this duo (the pumpkin breads were my own recipe and I borrowed the soup recipe from Cooking Light) for a wine party Andy and I went to last Friday.
I always make sure to bring Paleo friendly food to a potluck, but I especially like making comfort-type foods that non-Paleo people think they might miss if they cut wheat or sugar from their diet. The Pumpkin and Pecan Breads are such a treat! 🙂
Pumpkin & Pecan Breads
This recipe makes about 18 cupcake-sized breads. Each one can be served with the soup. You can place the bread in the bottom of the bowl and pour the soup over, or you can pour the soup in the bowl first and tear apart the breads using them as croutons.
Ingredients
2 cups pumpkin
1 1/2 cups chopped pecan
1/2 cup coconut flour
1 1/2 cups almond flour
1/4 cup honey
8 eggs
1/4 cup coconut oil
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 1/4 teaspoons nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon crushed ginger
Preheat oven to 325. In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients except for the pecans. In another bowl, whisk together eggs, pumpkin, and coconut oil. Add wet ingredients to the dry mixture and fold until just combined. Incorporate the pecans and then pour the batter into a loaf pan or into a cupcake pan with liners.
Bake until the middle of the breads gently spring back and the tops of the bread are golden brown.
Now for the soup….
Parsnip Chips
I know, this plate doesn’t look like much. But please trust me when I tell you it might change your life. It will definitely make you fall in love with parsnips if you are not already.
All you need:
5 or 6 parsnips
Olive oil
Sea salt
Preheat your oven to 355°F.
Slice the parsnips into little “coin” shapes. Arrange them on a baking sheet and douse them liberally with olive oil.
Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes, then flip each one with a spatula. Bake 20-30 more minutes. Some of the parsnips will get really browned and crunchy… some will just get crispy on the edges. It’s a really great texture contrast.
Take them out of the oven when they are browned and crispy and coat them lightly with sea salt. Toss and serve.
Paleo doesn’t have to be expensive or difficult. 🙂
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