Spinach Saag over Rice

** Thaw the spinach overnight or up to 48 hours ahead. If you didn’t do this, no worries. Remove packaging and place spinach in a microwaveable dish. Power on high for 5 minutes, stopping every 60 seconds to rotate and try to break in smaller chunks. It doesn’t have to be completely defrosted.

Combine rice, water and ½ of the salt in a small pot. Bring to a boil over high heat then stir well. Cover tightly and reduce to low. Steam for about 17 minutes or until rice is tender and the water has evaporated. Turn off the heat and let it sit, covered, until ready to serve.

Peel and dice the onion as small as you can.

Peel and mince the garlic and ginger too (that said, you can leave the skin on the ginger if it looks thin and moist). Mince the serrano too, removing the seeds if you don’t like it spicy. You can get started on the garlic, ginger and chile each separately then keep mincing them together until they’re in quite small pieces.

Add ½ of the oil to a large, flat bottomed sauté pan and heat over medium.

Add the onions, ginger, garlic and chile. Here's the important part: sauté the mixture until it's evenly toffee-colored and quite soft, it will take about 15 minutes.

Add the garam masala, turmeric and cayenne. Stir the spices constantly for 1 minute.

Add the spinach and stir well, incorporating the spiced onion mixture into the spinach. Add the remaining salt and ½ cup of water, stir, and cook about 5 minutes with the lid off (unless your spinach has frozen chunks, the put a lid partially on until its fully defrosted, then do 5 minutes with it off).

While it’s simmering, dice the paneer into cubes or batons. Stir into the spinach and heat for 4 minutes to warm through.

Turn the heat off. Add the yogurt, a little at a time to keep it from curdling, stirring constantly until its combined.

Plate a scoop of rice and top with spinach saag and paneer. Call Chef Alison because she’s ready to eat her favorite meal with you!