Palak paneer

In northern India, palak paneer is one of those dishes you find in almost every roadside dhaba and on plenty of family stoves. In Punjab, where spinach grows in the fields through the winter, it is cooked briefly, blended and simmered with onion, ginger and garlic into a thick, creamy sauce. Into that go cubes of paneer, a fresh cheese that holds its shape when heated. Late autumn is a good time to make it here too, because outdoor spinach at the market has dark, sturdy leaves with plenty of flavour.

The trick to a bright green sauce is simple. Blanch the spinach very briefly, plunge it into iced water and only add it to the spice base right at the end. Cook it for long and you get a dark, slightly bitter sauce. The base of onion, tomato and spices, on the other hand, needs time. The onion should go golden, and the tomatoes cook until the ghee pools at the edge of the pan. That is when the spices are cooked through and the sauce tastes rounded.

Most big supermarkets now sell paneer next to the feta, and Asian grocers always have it. Fry it briefly so it gets a golden side, then drop it into warm salted water. That keeps it soft while the sauce finishes. Dried fenugreek leaves, kasuri methi, are the small extra that makes palak paneer taste like your favourite Indian restaurant. They smell faintly of hay and maple syrup and are worth having for dal and butter chicken too.

To eat, tear off a piece of naan and use it to scoop up sauce and cheese. A well-chilled salted lassi is the drink to go with it. Leftovers reheat gently the next day with a splash of water. If you are cooking for a crowd, make the sauce in the morning and fry the paneer just before you sit down.