Palak Paneer is one of the most popular paneer dish….
Paneer (Indian cottage cheese) is cooked with spinach and spices in creamy and flavorful curry.
It pairs well with naan, paratha or jeera rice.
For my kids, the only way to eat spinach is if its cooked with paneer,
It was such a great way to sneak in the greens. They wouldn’t touch spinach otherwise but if there is paneer with it, they would happily eat healthy…
How to Make Palak Paneer
Everyone has their own way of making this dish and honestly, I also make it in a different way every time I cook it.
This particular recipe is very simple and I would call it home style palak paneer recipe.
I always use basic spices and simple ingredients.
For the curry, first blanch the spinach and then pureed it.
Once the spinach is boiled, add it to ice cold water. This helps in retaining the color of the spinach.
Ingredients
- A bunch of spinach
- 1 medium Tomato
- 5 -6 garlic cloves
- 1″ ginger
- 1 -2 Green chilies
- 1 Tbsp oil
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 1 Tsp garam masala
- 1/4 Tsp Red chili powder, or to taste
- salt, to taste
- 2-3 tablespoons heavy cream
- 225 grams paneer, cut into cubes
- 1/2 Tbsp kasuri methi, crushed,
- lemon juice, to taste
Procedure
- In a pot heat water, add spinach leaves to it.
- Blanch the spinach leaves for 2 to 3 minutes
- Take them out and put in ice cold water. This helps the leaves in retaining their green color.
- Allow it to cool
- In blender, add the blanched spinach . Make smooth paste , keep aside
- Grind Tomato, Garlic, Ginger and green chili, keep aside
- Heat a pan over medium heat, Once hot, add oil and then add ground paste of garlic, ginger, tomato, Green chili paste.
- Sauté for few minutes until it starts changing color.
- Then add the chopped onions
- Cook the onion for 2 to 3 minutes until soft and translucent.
- Add in the prepared spinach puree and mix.
- Once it starts boiling, add garam masala, red chilli powder and salt.
- Mix and cook for 1 minute.You may also add ½ teaspoon of sugar if you like.
- Now add paneer pieces.
- Lots of people like frying paneer before adding it to the curry.
I am not a fan since I like simple soft paneer. But if you want, you can pan fry the paneer cubes in oil until they are golden brown and then add to the curry.
Then add the heavy cream and mix.
Stir in the paneer and mix. Cream is added to cut down of the bitterness of the spinach leaves and also make it rich.
Let the curry simmer for 3 to 4 minutes. Switch off the flame, add lemon juice and kasuri methi and mix.
Serve palak paneer hot with naan or roti or rice.
Eat healthy, stay healthy, stay at home…
