Palak Paneer thoran

My family (except me) hates paneer. Period.

I have tried many a recipes (some tasty, some disasters) to make them like this calcium rich & nutritious item in the food group. All my attempts were utter failures, and I ended up eating all of them which showed on my waistline for a while.

And then one day I decided to camouflage paneer in my palak thoran (palak cooked with grated coconut) instead of the usual scrambled egg. Alas...finally I succeeded!! Very happy that I tried out this combo...this goes well with rice as well as with hot chapathis.

Ingredients

Palak - 2 small bunches
Finely chopped big onion or shallots - 1/2 cup
Crushed garlic - 1 clove
Crushed ginger - 1/2 inch piece
Curry leaves - 4-5
Frozen paneer cubes - 6-8
Green chilly - 2, slit (as per your tolerance)
Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
Turmeric powder - 2 pinches
Mustard seeds - 1 pinch
Oil - 1 tbsp

Method

Wash palak thoroughly under running water, and then finely chop.
Soak the frozen paneer in water for atleast 10 min. This will make the paneer soft and easy to smash.
In a heated kadai, add oil and crackle mustard once hot.
Throw in the chopped onions, chillies, ginger, garlic & curry leaves and saute everything till the onions are translucent.
Now add the chopped paneer, turmeric powder, grated coconut & the smashed paneer.
Saute well (do not close with lid) until its dried up and the palak & paneer is cooked.

Serve hot with chapatis or rice.