One of my favourite things to eat in spring is a foraged saag paneer. Saag, as opposed to palak, which is spinach, is greens, and I love to make this Indian dish with any kind of greens I can forage from the garden, and from my walks. Nettles and cleavers are two of my favourite spring time greens, coming just when you need them the most, after a long winter - and often as hayfever season is starting up. Nettles are rich in nutrients and antioxidants. Cleavers too - and both are full of vitamin C, which is great for hayfever season. I also use any other greens I can find in the garden - broccoli leaves, kale, and silverbeet also go in the pot.
Nettle though... gosh I love it. It doesn't grow wild in Australia like it does in the UK, so I usually have to beg people for it, asking if anyone in the community has it in their garden. This week I had a huge bag turn up that I swapped for eggs. I'm always talking people into eating it, and I'm never sure that they do - I think they're totally mad not to! Nettle has been on my altar all week as I study it and think about what to do with it. I must get more so I can dry it and add it to soups for extra nutrition in winter.
To make saag paneer, I fry spice and a few huge tablespoons of fresh ginger in coconut oil. Think turmeric, garam masala, cummin and coriander. Then I add a can of tomatoes (or a few fresh ones, chopped) and then stuff the pot with as many greens as I can. In this mix, I also put a few straps of garlic leaves, but you might like to fry some garlic in the initial spice fry.
Whilst it might seem a lot, all those greens will wilt down. Once wilted, I whizz it up in a blender until it's as smooth as I can get it. It then goes back in the pan whilst I cook the rice, and I add a little stock powder as well. I also add a pinch of chilli to my own personal taste. Now here's something I do with my saag panneer that isn't particularly traditional either - I add some coconut milk, about half a can. It makes it super creamy and delicious - not necessary coconutty, but just lovely and creamy.
Then, I add the cubed paneer. I get mine from the Indian grocers, or make it if I have the time (it's just lemon juice and milk). Sometimes, if I don't fancy the dairy or are cooking for vegans, I'll use tofu instead. After heating it through, it's done - served with brown rice and homemade lime pickle, I totally believe it's the best foraged saag paneer ever. All the better for being full of medicinal plants foraged locally and that didn't cost me a cent. I totally love doing different things with these kinds of plants, ones that most people don't think 'oooh, dinner' - there's treasures in nature that are absolutely worth experimenting with, don't you think? And this sure beats the old nettle soup, that's for sure. Yum!
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Love the idea of adding nettle and cleaver to a saag or palak dish. Lovely post. I can imagine the nettle taste really suiting the flavor in this combination. Thanks for sharing another great idea.
I'm never sure if it's saag paneer or palak paneer! I understand saag to be greens and palak to be spinach but maybe you can correct me? Trust me, it's AWESOME!!
Wild stinging nettles are common here. The very first time I came upon them I pulled out several plants and the reaction I had to their sting lasted several hours, the pain, numbness, and rash it produced was no fun.
I took the time to really look over the plant so that in the future I would be able to identify this plant and make sure I was wearing a pair of gloves and a long sleeve shirt before pulling it out and discarding it.
The nettles you gather and add to this dish can't possibly be this type, can they?
I enjoy trying different dishes, but I'm not sure I would try a dish made with these little bastards.
Omg yes!!! They are definitely a pot herb..as soon as you cook they lose their sting. You can trynettle soup.. onion, potatoes, nettles, stock. Brilliant!
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Well that's some inspiration in a short post. The almost cucumber like freshness of the nettle must have really gone well with the Indian spices. I have never thought of doing that before, but I will now. Awesome stuff as always @riverflows. :)
I think you'd really like it! You can just follow a recipe for saag or palaak paneer if this doesn't make sense for you - I left out the exact recipe as it didn't seem important. You have so many wild pot herbs over there in Spring, including ramsons and broad leaf plantain - I can just imagine a wild uk saag paneer!
I love nettle too and I love this recipe. I'm kind of stuck with nettle soup, haha. This also reminds me that I have a nettle powder that my mom made and gave me. I should use that more...I'm just hopeless when it comes to stuff like this. But I have actually cooked a bit more lately. I have a Vitamix now, a birthday gift, so it's easier for me now to just mix kind of anything together 🙂 I made some green pea hummus yesterday that I was quite happy about. Baby steps 🙂
Oh that looks yum! Here in Thailand all the Indians (thankfully rather a lot of them) make all kinds of "spinach" variations using whatever is local, green and not too bitter. Thankfully that's also rather a lot. We don't eat tofu cos of the GGMO and nasty enzyme thingy, but have been known to order the odd paneer dish form our local Indian takeaway. Hmmm - suddenly I have a hankering for spicy and fragrant dahl markhani. 😋
I have never heard of nettles being used in saag/palak paneer type dish. This is very creative and it looks delicious. It has me wondering when the last time was I actually saag/palak from mustard greens or spinach.......well it's been ages.
I too mix foraging with store bought greens to make a palak-ish dish. Amaranth is still the go-to free leafy green around these parts. When/if we make it to the USA, I'd love experiment with stinging nettles. Nice work chef, love this dish, just throw me a chapati.
I almost missed this thing of beauty. I love this kind of dish but I have only had it with spinach. You really took it up a notch with foraged greens. Drooling!!!
I have only had spinach. I can't forage but it's inspiring all the same.😋
It's nice with beetroot leaves, kale and broccoli leaves too. So even if you can't forage, it's a nice dish to be inventive with..
saag is whats up..
there this Indian place by me and you can get chana saag or paneer saag and one ither i can't think of-i aleays go chana and am vegan but they messed up before amd put cream in it or something 😢🌱
oh no - they shouldn't put cream in - gross!!!! I can eat a bit of dairy but would rather not, but cream is extreme. and not needed!