IN PROGRESS

This restaurant-quality north Indian vegan Palak Paneer recipe is creamy and perfectly spiced. Cubes of tofu “paneer” swim in a delicious spinach sauce that’s perfect to scoop up with naan or roti.

Prep Time15minutes mins

Cook Time25minutes mins

Total Time40minutes mins

Course: Curry

Cuisine: Indian, North Indian

Diet: Gluten Free, Vegan, Vegetarian

Servings: 8 servings

Calories: 119kcal

Author: Vaishali · Holy Cow Vegan

Equipment

• Blender
• Large skillet

Ingredients

• 397 g extra firm tofu (press out the water, then cut into ½-inch cubes)
• 20 g cashews (use pumpkin seeds if nut-free)
• 454 g frozen spinach (substitute with two large bunches of fresh spinach*)
• 15 ml avocado oil or any neutral oil
• 4 cloves
• 1-inch piece cinnamon
• 5 green cardamom pods
• 2 g cumin seeds
• 1 large onion (finely diced)
• 3 cloves garlic (thinly sliced)
• 34 g ginger-garlic paste
• 3 medium tomatoes (finely diced)
• 1 g turmeric
• 2 g cayenne (adjust up or down based on your taste)
• 5 g ground coriander
• 2 g ground cumin
• 5 g garam masala
• 4 g kasoori methi (dry fenugreek leaves). Optional, but I strongly recommend it.
• Salt to taste

For optional tadka finish

• 15 ml avocado oil or any neutral oil
• 1 tablespoon ginger (julienned)

Instructions

• If you’d like to bake or air-fry the tofu cubes before adding them to the recipe, do so in advance.
• Make cashew cream by blending the cashews with 3 tablespoons water until very smooth. Set aside.
• Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the cloves, cardamom and cinnamon and, when they start to color, add the cumin seeds. When the cumin seeds begin to darken and become aromatic, add the onions and the garlic. Add a pinch of salt. Saute for a few minutes until the onions start to turn golden-brown.
• Add the ginger-garlic paste, saute for a couple of minutes, then add the tomatoes. Add the turmeric, cayenne, cumin and coriander powders and mix well. Cover and let the tomatoes cook until they are very soft and pulpy.
• Add the kasoori methi, if using, and mix well. Add the spinach puree, mix, and let the sauce come to a boil. Lower the heat and continue cooking the spinach for 10 minutes. Add some vegetable stock or water if it looks too thick, but don’t add too much liquid at this point– you want the spinach to cook thoroughly and lose any raw flavor.
• Add the garam masala, then stir in the tofu cubes. Let the sauce simmer a couple of minutes. Add the cashew cream, add salt, stir in, and turn off heat.

Make optional tadka

• In a small skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the julienned or grated ginger and saute for a minute, stirring constantly. Carefully pour over the cooked palak paneer. Serve.

Notes

My favourite zoo :-). I went to check out the new “Indonesian enclosure” (which looks nice but I only saw one of the alledgedly at least four different species living there), the amur tiger twins born a couple of weeks ago, and the newborn binturong twins (none of which I saw.

Another enjoyable walk very well organised by Johannes Rigal, again with a series of inspirational assignments. This time, the walk went from S-Bahnhof Frankfurter Allee along Frankfurter Allee and Karl-Marx-Allee to Alexanderplatz.

IN PROGRESS

The photos are currently in chronological order and I will have to select a few and group them later.

Main purpose bird watching. Heard a lot, saw some, did not get many photos, except of the usual swans (of which there are many at Urbanhafen). I actually find them quite boring, yet not as easy to photograph as one would think.

Nearly back home, I was treated to a lengthy concert by a robin.

Primary purpose annual meeting of IACE DE.

Then katamaran to Cuxhaven. Also visit Bremerhaven while there.

Other things to do in Hamburg:

Walk via Holzmarkt to Sandperle.

Check out NABU’s birdwatching events and pick a lake to walk round.

This exhibition in Deichtorhallen.

And definitely this exhibition in Bucerius Kunstforum.

Perhaps this in Hamburger Kunsthalle.

Recommended restaurant: Hotpot & Grill Restaurant Spicy.

Recommended Indian restaurant: Pabla Sweets.

Recommended fish restaurant: La Sepia.

Recommended ramen restaurant: YUME.

Recommended Greek restaurant: The Greek.

Recommended Korean restaurant: Seoul 1988, Karolinenviertel, Karolinenstr 1

Recommended traditional fish restaurant (traditional is not really my thing, but if they know how to cook fish, it is worth giving it a try): Fischereihafen Restaurant.

More photo tours from the book “Hamburg Fotografieren”

Recommended Café: Café Himmlische Versuchung

Another recommended Café: Hadley’s, Beim Schlump 84A, 20144.

Hiking Alstertal, e.g. between S Bahn Ohlsdorf and SBahn Poppenbüttel.

I try to eat spinach one way or another at least twice a week, and since apparently, raw spinach is not than healthy, I am always looking for variety in ways to cook it.

Here is one way:

One bag of spinach (for example 100 g baby spinach, in this case from Rewe) (of course always bio), rinsed and dried in the salad spinner

1 tsp sesame oil, toasted or regular

1 tsp soy sauce

1/2 tsp miso paste

2 garlic cloves, minced or very finely chopped

1 tsp toasted sesame seeds

Mix the miso paste, the soy sauce, and the garlic together.

Gently heat the oil and stir in the spinach. Add the miso paste mix and stir gently till the spinach starts to wilt.

Sprinkle with toasted, black sesame seeds before serving.