Saag Paneer Calzone/Spinach Paneer Curry Calzone (whole wheat)

love Italian food! Love eating it and love cooking it. Love the different layers, flavors complex yet simple, exotic yet rustic just like Indian food. You can sense the rich culture and the legacy from the food .
Our (indians) love for indo-chinese is well known but another cuisine that has come in from across the shores and become a part of the cuisine... is Italian. With its pastas and pizza and other goodies and use of herbs, five star restaurants as well as hole-in-the-wall stores near every street now have some kind of “pizza” on their menu! It keeps the essense of pizza that is a thick bread smothered in tomato ketchup topped with melty cheese, but almost always has a local (desi) touch to it whether it be use of paneer or chicken! Lots of fusion recipes have been born, you can easily find panner pizza even butter chicken pizza in any pizza hut franchise in india - I have few on my blog too. This time around I took my classic saag paneer recipe and tucked inside a calzone and the result was a beautiful marrige of two of my favorite cuisines - a fusion food heaven!
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Paneer Calzone (whole wheat)

Friday is my most favorite day of the week. You have the whole weekend ahead of you. Also friday nights are mostly pizza nights( which my little daughter loves)... which means Pizza Hut delivery or if we have the enthu hubby and I make it together at home. Last friday I thought I should do something different and decided to make a Calzone. Of course I had to put in a desi touch to it. I remember a while back they introduced a Calzone on the Pizza Hut menu. I saw the commercials and flyers and always wanted to try it but unfortunately they never came up with a vegetarian version.
A calzone ("stocking" or "trouser" in Italian) is a sort of folded over pizza or turnover with filling. It is originally from Naples, Italy. It is made of ingredients similar to pizza, folded over and shaped like a crescent sealed on one edge, and baked. The typical calzone is stuffed with tomato and mozzarella, and may include other ingredients usually associated with pizza toppings (sourced from Wikipedia).

I love the half moon envelope shape... they make for a cute and fun  presentation.
Calzone may be filled with a variety of vegetable combinations, cheeses and meats of choice. It is typically served with marinara sauce on the side for dipping. Here, I made them with my whole wheat pizza dough recipe (so they are healthier) and for the filling I used  the world famous indian cheese paneer sauted with some tandoori spices. The spicy tangy filling was definitely the highlight of this yummy calzone. It was a great dinner and made a yummy filling lunch the next day. They will be fun to take on picnics too and great as an after school snack for kids. We had this as an evening snack, but it was quite filling and so yummy that we ate more than what you you typically call snack portion :D. So much so that we didn't eat any dinner. It is an easy and interesting one pot meal and is simply delicious.

I know I am going to make this often.

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