Palak Paneer

October 11, 2020October 18, 2021 TimesRide 0 Comments

Palak Paneer is a dish made with spinach and cottage cheese. In a mild, spiced smooth spinach sauce. Palak Paneer is a common Indian dish made from Indian cottage cheese cubes. Fresh spinach leaves, paneer (firm cottage cheese), onions, tomatoes, herbs and spices make this delicious, creamy dish.

The spinach is pureed and then blanched. Then it is cooked with spices and simmered with a paneer on low heat. Cream is added to cut down on the spinach leaves’ bitterness and make it rich as well. You may also make use of yoghurt or milk in place of cream, if you do not want to add cream.

This delicious recipe of palak paneer is the way we traditionally cook. For years, we have been making this recipe and now I’m so happy to share it here with all of you.

It is popular at our home and it is one of the most popular and well-liked paneer recipes on the blog too.

I show the method of blanching spinach in my Palak paneer recipe. This is done so that there is a nice green colour in the dish and it is also a healthy practise.

Before making any dish where the spinach leaves are used in large quantities and where a puree is made of them, I always advise blanching spinach. Blanching has many advantages.

For this Palak Paneer recipe, I also use my homemade paneer. It’s the best, really. The recipe of this will be also available shortly.

If you use store-bought paneer, however, just remember to soak it for 15 to 20 minutes in hot water and then use it in the recipe. The store bought paneer is really going to be soft then. Before adding it to the curry, many people prefer to pan fry their paneer. A lot of people prefer pan frying their paneer before adding it to the curry.

Vegan Version:

Can you make a vegan recipe? Of course, yes, take the same steps as you do. Use tofu instead of paneer (extra firm) and coconut cream or milk instead of heavy cream.

You may also add cashew cream. That will make the rest of the recipe the same.

Make Ahead Alternative:

You can make this recipe if you want to, up to 2 days in advance. Keep refrigerated. And heat it up well when it’s time to serve. You may need to add some water or milk to thin out the curry when re-heating.

This dish goes well with roti, naan, paratha or tandoori roti with this delicious palak paneer. Or eat it with saffron or ghee rice, jeera or biryani rice. Enjoy this super cool version of the recipe!

Preparation Time: 5 mins

Cooking Time: 15 mins

Serves: 2

Spinach: One Big Bunch (~ 900 grams)
Salt: ½ teaspoon
Cottage Cheese / Paneer: 250 g (Cut in small cube shape)
Green chillies: 2
Garlic Cloves: 8 – 10
Oil: 3 Tablespoon
Cumin Seeds: ½ teaspoon
Salt: ½ teaspoon
Lemon Juice: ½ Tablespoon
Fresh Cream: 4 Tablespoon

Remove the stems and wash Spinach (~900 g) thoroughly in running water. Blanch in salted (Salt – ½ teaspoon) boiling water for two minutes.
Refresh in chill water. Squeeze out excess water. Now grind into a fine paste along with Green chillies (2 to 3 nos.)
Cut the Paneer (250g) into (1 * 1 * ½ inch) piece.
Heat Oil (3 tbsp) in a pan and add Cumin seeds (1/2 tsp). When they begin to change colour, add Garlic/Lasan (8 to 10 cloves) and sauté for half a minute.
Add the spinach puree and stir. Check seasoning and add Salt (½ tsp).
Add water if required. When the gravy comes to a boil, add the Paneer and mix well. Stir in Lemon juice (1 tbsp)
Finally add Fresh cream (4 tbsp). Serve hot and Enjoy with parathas!