Palek Paneer
Adapted by Anna Sanyal from Quick Indian Cooking by Mallika Basu.
a cook's life
The Smell of Ginger: Anna Sanyal
As we stand in Anna Sanyal’s tidy Weinland Park kitchen, it’s obvious that the lawyer is as efficient and well-organized in this space as she appears to be in the rest of her life. On the fridge hangs an impeccable meal plan for the week. Nearby, spices are labeled cleanly in repurposed spaghetti sauce jars.
Though Anna cooks a variety of cuisines in her kitchen, Indian fare is one of her favorites. Raised by a single Bengali father in the suburb of Gahanna, Anna’s family hails from the eastern Indian state of West Bengal. She discovered a love of cooking while in her early 20s and quickly began to explore Indian food as a way to connect with her South Asian roots.
The busy professional works long hours, serves on the boards of three legal organizations and most of her rare spare moments are spent on professional or personal obligations. Creative time in the kitchen helps her feel grounded and refreshed, Anna explains.
On the day that I visit, Anna is reheating her homemade chicken tikka masala and palak paneer in the oven. She had previously frozen the dishes after cooking them for a celebratory dinner for a friend. Meanwhile, she cooks a pea and carrot pulao on the stove and fixes an Indian-inspired chickpea and cucumber salad that will be served alongside.
The chicken tikka masala is a signature dish of Anna’s, often requested by friends. Adapted from a recipe by Monica Bhide, an Indian-American food writer, Anna prefers to serve the protein at the heart of the entrée in shredded chunks instead of cubed. Additionally, she prepares two to three times the gravy called for in the original version as she thinks its best with significant sauce. “It has Greek yogurt, a little bit of half and half and butter,” she says. “It’s really delightful.”
Anna’s palak paneer pairs hearty Indian cheese with a spinach-based sauce. The dish has roots in the north Indian state of Punjab, where spinach grows plentifully. Her pulao, or rice, is cooked in a spiceseasoned broth. Today, Anna adds carrots and peas, although sometimes she opts for chicken or shrimp instead. The smell of ginger, bay leaf, cinnamon and star anise melding consumes the kitchen.
“Usually when I’m entertaining I’ll cook Indian food because people just kind of expect it,” Anna says in reference to the dinner parties she and her friends enjoy organizing. Some of the gatherings have raised money for causes important to the group.
When hosting, the well-organized cook will shop early in the week, spend a night prepping ingredients, and then prepare each dish late in the week in advance of a weekend party. And it isn’t an event without one of Anna’s signature cocktails served alongside. “The last time it was St-Germain and lemonade topped with sparkling wine and mint,” she says.
Anna likes to shop at Patel Brothers on Sawmill Road for South Asian staples. “I tend to buy a lot of spices from the Indian store because they are a better value,” Anna says of the seasonings sold in sandwich-bag-sized plastic packages. “I’m pretty obsessed with my spices,” she says with a smile.
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