A few weeks ago on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon, and I was afforded the luxury of cooking in the spring sunshine. I picked up where I left off with the second recipe from Sabrina Ghayour’s Bazaar, ‘chickpea, spinach, paneer and preserved lemon stew’, a dish I’d chosen a few weeks ago. I’d already bought the paneer and spinach back then, and now the spinach was calling out to be used.
I only had one 100g bag [spinach] left, though, so I needed to source another 400g. Of course, things are never so simple, and on my way back from Church (yes, another blog post for another day), I popped into Tesco Express and grabbed two 250g bags of baby spinach. Overkill? Possibly. But maybe you can never have too much spinach.
However, after putting it all together, I don’t think that spinach was a big issue. Yes, probably there was too much. But also I think that perhaps preserved lemons are an acquired taste 🙃. They were intense, but somehow not interesting. I’m not even sure I know what I mean by that. I suppose what I am clear on is this: I cannot really see myself making this dish again. Not without some serious adjustments.
Maybe I’d leave the preserved lemon out entirely, which, I admit, probably defeats the whole point of the dish. Maybe I could chop them up into smaller pieces, eating half a preserved lemon in one go, might have been a little too much! But I wonder if I could replace them something fruitier and sweeter, to provide contrast without that sharp, bitter hit. Or perhaps just a tiny bit of grated lemon zest?
I’ll play around next time I have a bag of spinach on hand.
Have you cooked with preserved lemons before? Do they grow on you? Or do you have a clever way of softening their intensity? I’d love to hear what you’d do differently.
Ingredients:
Vegetable oil
2 onions, finely sliced
1 heaped teaspoon turmeric
2 tablespoons dried mint
1 whole garlic bulb, cloves peeled
500g baby spinach
400g can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
250ml boiling water
6-8 preserved lemons, halved
225g paneer, cut into 12 cubes
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions:
Heat a splash of vegetable oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the sliced onions and cook for 6-8 minutes until softened.
Stir in the turmeric and dried mint, cooking for an additional minute.
Add the peeled garlic cloves to the pan and cook for a few more minutes to soften them slightly.
Incorporate the baby spinach, covering the pan and allowing it to wilt.
Season the mixture generously with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Add the chickpeas and boiling water to the pan. Reduce the heat to low, partially cover with a lid, and let it simmer for 20 minutes until the sauce thickens slightly.
Adjust the seasoning to taste, then add the preserved lemons and paneer cubes.
Continue to cook for another 15 minutes.
Serve the stew hot, accompanied by naan bread or rice.
This recipe is taken from Bazaar: Vibrant Vegetarian Recipes by Sabrina Ghayour, page 123
