Palak Paneer is one of the most popular paneer dishes cooked with spinach and spices. This flavorful curry is most commonly made paneer dish in Indian homes and is well accompanied with any Indian bread and rice. My mother always wanted us to eat more greens and she used to make more often this scrumptious curry at home than other paneer curries. The reason behind that is spinach was considered healthier than the other creamy versions of paneer. And the taste of this curry made us fall in love with spinach!
Let’s try this simple version of palak paneer!
Health benefits: Spinach is an extremely nutrient-rich vegetable. It packs high amounts of carotenoids, vitamin C, vitamin K, folic acid, iron, and calcium. And Indian cheese are rich in protein and good for bones and teeth.
Cuisine: Indian Course: Vegetable/Main course Preparation time : 10 min Cook time: 30-40 min Serving: 3-4
INGREDIENTS FOR 2-3 SERVINGS :- Below are the required quantities for each ingredient for 2-3 servings:
- 350 grams spinach
- 4 oz/400 gms paneer (Indian cottage cheese), cut into cubes
- 1 ½ tbsp ghee/ olive oil (I prefer ghee)
- 2 large tomatoes
- 1 large onion
- 1 Inch ginger
- 2-3 green chilies
- 3-4 large garlic cloves
- 2 tsp jeera/cumin seeds
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 dry red chilly
- 1/2 cup water, or as needed
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1/4 teaspoon red chili powder, or to taste
- salt, to taste
- 1/2 tablespoon kasuri methi
- 1 tbsp butter
INITIAL PREPARATION:-
- Making Tomato paste: 2 Medium tomato + 3 green chillies + 1 Inch ginger + 3-4 garlic cloves + 3-4 cashew nuts – blend them well and set aside.
- Onion paste – 1 medium sized onion blend with 10 ml water
- Spinach Paste- Put spinach leaves with a pinch of salt and water either in microwave or sauce pan. Blanch the spinach leaves for 3-4 minutes until soft. Drain out the water from the spinach.
- To a blender, add the blanched spinach to make a smooth paste and set aside.
- Cut paneer in a proper cubed form as shown in the picture & set aside. Look the preparation in the pic (2) below. Lets start cooking!!
STEP BY STEP RECIPE WITH PHOTOS:-
- Heat a pan at medium flame, pour a spoon of ghee to it, add the cumin seeds, dry red chilly and bay leaf wait until they’re done spluttering.
- Add onion paste. Stir fry until the paste become light brown, soft & translucent and oil oozes out from the paste. This might take 5-8 mins.
- Add tomato puree to the pan and cook the mixture 10 mins so that paste becomes thick. Then add coriander powder, turmeric powder, red chilly powder & salt. Mix them well & make a thick aromatic paste. Now add garam masala & kasuri methi (pic 3)
nikkieskitchen
nikkieskitchen
- Add Spinach puree to the pan and saute them for 5 mins. Put some water & cover the pan, leave it to simmer over low flame for at least 15 mins. The spinach will bubble a lot. Stir at regular intervals to avoid sticking at the bottom. Add butter to the mixture.
- Add cubic paneer to the curry and mix them nicely & cover it for 5-10 mins.
- Add water & salt if needed and cook for further 5 min on low flame. (if you want dry, cook it for 10 min). Switch off the flame, add butter again in the curry.
- Garnish with cream or grated paneer and serve hot with steamed Rice or bread.
Delicious Spinach curry is now ready to eat!! Enjoy the supper!
Happy cooking 🙂
Sharing is caring :-
- You may cook dish in ghee to bring richness in taste.
- In the pot of boiling water, add little salt and then spinach leaves to it. Blanch the spinach leaves for 2 to 3 minutes until soft. Take them out and put them in ice cold water. This helps the leaves in retaining their green color.
- Consistency of gravy depends on your taste. Add water accordingly.
- If you like, you can stir-fry the paneer cubes before adding them to the curry.
- If you feel it needs more salt, you may add more later.
- Also try Tam Tam Paneer- Navratri special (4 of 9)
Recipe in one picture:
nikkieskitchen 