Palak paneer is an extremely tasty and flavorful recipe made up of paneer in a ground spinach gravy. It looks too green to be flavorful, but packs a pretty punch when you taste it. And the best part is that kids love it too. It pairs well with naan, roti or jeera rice.
Spinach/palak
Spinach puree lends the curry its body and flavor. The trick is to retain the green color of the spinach leaves while adding just enough spices to make it a yummy dish. It is better to compromise on color than on the taste, isn’t it? So add just enough spices to bring up the flavor but at the same time, retain that vibrant green color. Omit some spices like turmeric and chili powder to keep the green color intact.
Another method that helps retain the color is blanching the spinach. Blanching means cooking something in boiling water for a few minutes and then plunging it in cold water to “shock” it and stop the cooking process. So make sure you blanch the spinach before you puree it.
And please make sure that you grind the spinach well, or else the color won’t be as vibrant. I once tried to grind the spinach in my food chopper. It did chop up the spinach well, but it didn’t make it a fine paste. So once I added it to onion-tomato mixture, it resulted in a colorful, unappetizing mix in the pan. I had to grind all of it in a blender once again into a fine paste, which did bring out the green of the spinach and fixed my problem.
Paneer
Paneer is a soft cheese and it is not aged. It has become such a popular ingredient of Indian cuisine that it is hard to find an Indian restaurant menu without a paneer dish, especially here in US. It is a very versatile ingredient and enhances the flavor and texture of many dishes and is an excellent protein option for vegetarian diets.
Fresh, homemade paneer is the best option for the palak paneer. I used homemade paneer in this recipe. You can also use store-bought paneer. If using store-bought paneer, soak the cubed pieces in warm water for around 10 minutes, drain and pat dry before using in the curry. I you prefer, you can also shallow fry paneer in a little oil before adding to the recipe.
Make the curry
To make the curry, blanch and puree spinach leaves. Heat oil in a large pan and add cumin seeds, cloves and ginger&garlic.
Saute finely diced onion and once it starts turning light brown, add finely diced/pureed tomatoes and let it turn soft.
Add the spices and saute till oil is visible at the sides. Add the spinach puree and mix well. Let it cook well for a few minutes.
Add the paneer pieces, and a little cream. Mix well. Serve with naan or roti or jeera rice.
Palak paneer
Ingredients
- 2 bunches Spinach, remove large stems
- 3 Green chilies
- 250 gm Paneer, cut into small squares
- 3 Cloves
- 1 tsp Cumin seeds
- 2 tsp Ginger-garlic paste
- 1½ large Onion, finely diced
- 1½ medium Tomato, finely diced or pureed
- ¼ tsp Turmeric powder(optional) (See Notes)
- 1½ tsp Coriander powder
- ½ tsp Cumin powder
- A pinch Nutmeg powder
- ½ tsp Chili powder (optional) (See Notes)
- ½-1 tsp Grama masala
- 1 tbsp Kasuri methi
- A little Coriander leaves, finely diced
- 2-3 tbsp Cream
- Salt to taste
- Oil
Instructions
Prep work
- Boil some water. And keep another bowl of ice water and slotted spoon ready.
- Add salt to the boiling water and the cleaned spinach/palak leaves.
- Let it boil for 2-3 minutes.
- Immediately transfer the leaves to ice water using the slotted spoon.
- Once the leaves are cool, drain out the water.
- Grind the leaves to a very fine paste along with some green chilies. Keep aside.
Making the curry
- Heat oil in a large skillet, add cloves, and cumin seeds.
- Add ginger-garlic paste and let the raw smell disappear.
- Add the onion, and let the onion turn slightly brown. You can add a little salt for faster cooking.
- Add the tomato and let it turn soft.
- Add the coriander powder, cumin powder, and nutmeg powder. Turmeric powder and chili powder are optional.
- Mix well and let it cook till the oil starts to separate. Sprinkle some water to prevent burning, if you think the mixture is getting too dry.It also helps bring the oil out faster.
- To get a smoother gravy, you can either grind the onion and tomato mixture or skip this step and go to the next step. If you grind it, add a little oil to the same pan and pour the ground mixture back in.
- Add the pureed spinach leaves, ½ cup or so of warm water, salt and let it cook for a few minutes on medium-low flame.
- Stir the mixture often.
- Add finely diced coriander leaves, kasuri methi and garam masala and mix well.
- Add the paneer pieces, lightly mix into the gravy and let it cook for a few more minutes. (If a couple slices of paneer crumbles into the gravy, it tastes even better.)
- Add the cream, mix well. Check the salt. And switch off.
Notes
- Omit turmeric and chili powder to make the curry greener in color.
- Add more green chilies, if you want to increase the spice level.