Fancy way of wrapping up stuffed paneer in an envelope..Check the Paneer Envelopes with Spinach Orange Rice and Spinach creamy sauce..

Dear friends.. I cooked this wonderful looking and savory dish yesterday. Wanted to get a feel of having a meal in a flight. Something light in form of a baked wrap. So why not have it in style? Paneer Envelopes served with Spinach Orange Rice and Creamy spinach sauce. That's inspired from one of the Masterchef season-4 dishes.

Here's the recipe..

Paneer Envelopes with Spinach Orange rice and Creamy Spinach Sauce..

Ingredients for Envelopes 

All purpose flour (1 cup)

Baking powder (1/4 tsp)

Sugar (1 tsp)
Salt (1/2 tsp)

Ghee ( 2 tsp)

Milk ( 2-3 tbsp) for kneading the dough

Ingredients for stuffing:

Onions finely chopped (1) 

Tomatoes blended into paste  (3)

Cottage cheese / Paneer ( 1 or 1 and 1/2 cup )

Green chillies finely chopped (1)

Ginger garlic paste ( 1 tsp)

Garam Masala powder ( 1/4 tsp)

Dried Mango powder ( 1/4 tsp)

Coriander powder ( 1 tsp)

Cumin powder ( 1/2 tsp)

Turmeric powder (1/4 tsp)

Salt as per taste 

Red chilli powder (1/4 tsp)

Dried fenugreek ( 1/4 tsp) 

Ingredients for spinach rice

Rice(1 cup) soaked for 20 minutes 

Fresh Orange juice (1 cup)

Remaining portion of water (1 cup or more) to steam cook the rice.

Salt (1/4 tsp) 

Sugar (1 tsp)

Spinach blanched in boiling water in an open vessel with little salt and sugar ( 1 packet or 1 bundle of 1/2 kg) and blended into a paste ( leave around 1/2 cup paste for spinach sauce )

Ginger garlic paste (1/4 tsp)

Finely chopped onion (1/2)

Tomato puree (1/2 cup)

Cumin seeds (1/4 tsp)

Whole Garam Masala ( 3-4 cloves , 1 cinnamon stick, 4-5 black pepper corns, 1-2 bay leaves)

White pepper powder (1/4 tsp) 

Coriander powder (1/4 tsp)

Cumin powder (1/4 tsp)

Garam Masala powder (1/4 tsp)

Ingredients for spinach sauce

Blanched spinach paste ( 1/2 cup)

Butter (1/8 cup)

Sour cream or curd ( 2 tbsp)

Salt as per taste 

Sugar ( 1 tsp)

Procedure 

1) First let's make the envelope dough.

Mix all the dry ingredients first. Add ghee. Now add milk little by little and knead a soft dough. Apply little oil over it. Let it rest for 10-15 minutes.

2) Let's prepare the stuffing.

-Heat a nonstick pan. Add 2 tbsp oil in it. Add onions and little salt. Add ginger garlic paste. Let onions become golden brown. Add tomatoe puree. Let the oil separate out from it. Now add all dry spices.

-Let the mixture become little thick.

-Now add small pieces of cottage cheese / paneer.

-Sprinkle dried fenugreek.

Paneer stuffing is ready. Keep it aside. 

3) Preheat oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit.

4) Let's  continue with the envelope. Divide the dough into 2-3 balls. 

Take one at a time on a flat platform. Sprinkle some flour over the platform and roll it out with a rolling pin into a thin sheet.

5)Cut it out in a square shape with a pizza cutter.

6)Put thin strips vertically at about 1 cm distances to form stripped envelope pattern. Leave around 1.5 cm margin from borders. That will help to seal the envelope.

7) Grease both the sides of sheet with butter.

8) Let's start the filling now. Put a layer of spinach leaves so that the stuffing does not come out. Sprinkle some salt. Add the filling here. Add based on the sheet size. Again layer it with spinach leaves. Fold the sides one by one to form a closed envelope.

9) Repeat the same with the rest of the dough to prepare stuffed envelopes.10) Bake it in the oven for 25-30 minutes. Turn sides when you see it brown in color.

10) Once both the sides as brown, your paneer stuffed envelope is ready.

11) While the envelopes are getting baked, let's work on rice.

Mix your rice with orange juice and water. Add sugar and salt. Steam the rice. Meanwhile let's start with preparing spinach gravy for rice.

- Take 2 tbsp oil. Add whole Garam Masala spices and cumin seeds.

- Add onions and ginger garlic paste and let it turn golden. Add tomato puree.

- Let the oil separate out.

- Add spinach and all other spices. Let it cook for 5 minutes.

- Now add the cooked steamed rice in this gravy. Mix it well.

- Let it cook for 5 minutes.

- Your spinach rice is ready.

12) Let's prepare our spinach sauce now.

Take all the sauce ingredients in a blender and form a smooth paste.

Now all our elements are ready. So let's start with the plating.

Spread some sauce in the plate. Put the paneer envelope over it. Plate the rice wherever you wish. I also served beet root pickle ( beet root soaked in Vinegar and spices.) with it. 

I am so so sure that your loved and your loved ones would love it....

Happy cooking.

Enjoy,

Shweta