When I spied this tasty looking dish in a modern way to cook, and noticed that it only takes 30 minutes to make, I was immediately sold. and suggested to the husband that I throw it together for dinner.

Initially the husband claimed he’d never had paneer before, until I reminded him of the numerous times he’d ordered sag paneer from the local Indian restaurant.

Anna suggests making your own paneer ( a ‘simple’ process of boiling milk, adding lemon juice to make curd then straining it through a muslin), I, however took the lazy route and opted for a slab bought from the shop. Following Anna’s advice, I soaked it in water for a while, to allow it to soften which help it to absorb flavours more easily.

The curry is super easy to make, and leaves you with a deliciously sweet and sour, sticky bowl of yum, that I served up with chappatis and mango chutney.

The verdict from the husband: ‘Mmmm, nice.’

The verdict from the cook: ‘That’s going in my ‘must cook again soon’ pile’

The verdict from the boy: ‘Yuck’. Well, what did you expect?

Recipe for sticky green bean and chilli paneer taken from Anna Jones’ book, a healthy way to cook. 

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1 medium onion
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil
• 500g green beans
• 1 tbsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp mild chilli powder
• 1 heaped tsp ground coriander
• 4 vine tomatoes
• a large thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger
• 1 lemon
• 1 tbsp runny honey
• 1 red chilli
• 200g paneer

Method

1. Peel and finely chop the onion and garlic. Put the coconut oil into a heavy-bottomed pan and place on a medium heat, then add the onion and garlic and cook for about 5 minutes, until soft and sweet and beginning to brown.
2. Trim the tops from your green beans.
3. Add all the dry spices, then turn the heat to low and stir for a little while to toast the spices and release their flavours.
4. Roughly chop the tomatoes and peel and roughly chop the ginger. Add them to the pan and cook for another 2-3 minutes over a high heat.
5. Add theg ree beans to the pan along with the juice of the lemong and the honey and stir to coat them with the spices. Add 100ml of water and cook for a couple of minutes until the beans have lost their rawness, all the water has evaporated and everything is well coated. This will take about 4 minutes.
6. Finely chop the red chilli. Drain the paneer and roughly cut into 2cm slices. Add them to the pan and stir to coat.
7. Season well with sea salt. Squeeze over the juice of the lemon, then chop the coriander and scatter it over. Serve with warm chapattis or flatbreads for scooping, mango chutney and some rice if you are really hungry.