Saag Paneer
Servings 4 pint jars
Ingredients
- 4 pint jars sanitized, with lids and rings
- 10 oz paneer cheese cut in to 1/2" cubes
- 1 bunch spinach
- 1 bunch mustard greens
- 1 bunch fenugreek see notes below on greens
- 1 cup unsalted cashews
- 1 (2 inch) piece peeled fresh ginger
- 1 medium yellow onion quartered
- 5 cloves garlic
- 1 serrano chile stemmed and seeded
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 tsp salt to taste
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 cups boiling water or vegetable stock
Spices
- 4 green cardamom pods
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 2 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp garam masala
Instructions
Prepare the cashews
- Place the cashews in a bowl
- Add hot water to cover the cashews
- After soaking for 30 minutes, drain the cashews
- Process in the food processor, adding water to create a medium consistency cream
- Set aside for later
Toast and grind the whole spices
- Toast the cumin over a medium flame until fragrant
- Grind the cumin to a medium to fine coarseness in a food processor
- Set aside for later
Combine the vegetables into a paste
- In the food processor, add the onion, ginger, garlic, and peppers
- Process to a paste in the food processor
Steam the greens
- Rough chop the greens
- Steam the greens in a double boiler until wilted, a couple of minutes, performing in batches as necessary
- Combine the steamed greens and process lightly in the food processor
Prepare the jars for canning
- Set up the four pint jars near the cooking area with their lids and rings handy
- In the bottom of each jar, place one of the green cardamom pods
Bringing it all together
- Heat the vegetable oil in a medium stock pot over medium heat
- Add the vegetable paste and cook for two to three minutes until the mixture is brown, adding additional oil as necessary
- Add the greens, cashew cream, and lemon juice and mix thoroughly
- Add the spices and season to taste
- For immediate consumption, add the paneer (see notes below on canning safety)
- Reduce heat to simmer
Canning the Saag Paneer
- Add canning rack to the instant pot and fill with ~2 inches of water
- Bring the 2 cups water to boil
- Distribute the saag evenly among the pint jars
- Cover the saag in each jar with the boiling water up to 1/2 inch headspace
- Wipe the rims of the jars clean as necessary
- Apply lids and screw the bands to finger tightness on the jars
- Using the jar lifter, lower the jars in to the instant pot
- Secure the lid of the instant pot and make sure the pressure valve is set
- Program the instant pot to cook under high pressure for 1 hour and 10 minutes, and make sure to disable the Keep Warm setting
Wrapping up the process
- After the instant pot has finished cooking, be sure to let it come down to ambient pressure using the natural release cycle, do not try to do the quick release cycle as this can cause liquid to be forced out of the jars and potentially break the seals
- Once the instant pot is safe to open, open it and use the jar lifter to pull the jars out and place on a towel too dry and cool down
- If the rings on the jars are loose, they can be finger tightened again, carefully
- Leave the jars to cool, you should hear the lids popping as the pressure creates a seal on the jars
- After the jars have cooled, the rings can be removed and the jars are now shelf-stable and safe to store in a pantry to be eaten later
- If any jar failed to seal, it is safe to either eat immediately or reprocess in the instant pot, though you may need to replace the lid since it did not seal properly
Notes
Selection of greens:
Pretty much any combination of greens can be used, as long as you end up with ~30 ounces of greens. I often use pre-chopped bags of mustard greens, baby spinach in place of regular spinach, or frozen fenugreek/spinach in place of fresh. Feel free to substitute your favorite greens, like kale, in as well.
Paneer and canning safety:
No government agency has tested pressure canning cheese for safety. There is a concern that such processing may not be sufficient to destroy the bacteria that can cause botulism poisoning. Because paneer is a fresh cheese and the saag mixture is relatively acidic, I take the risk and can the saag with the paneer added. However, this is not recommended and if you do this you do so at your own risk. The safest method remains adding the paneer after unsealing and reheating the saag at time of consumption.
The problem with the old school bakeware made of metal is that they rust.