Palak Paneer

An authentic north indian dish. it is rich with minimum spices and and has lovely rich colour.

Course Main Dish

Cuisine Indian, North Indian

Keyword curry, NorthIndian, paneer, spinach

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 35 minutes

Servings people

Calories 317kcal

Ingredients

250 gm spinach leaves (remove stem, clean and wash)
200 gm fresh cottage cheese (paneer cubes)
6 onion (medium size, one onion finely chopped and rest cut into big pieces)
1 tomato (medium size, pureed)
10 nos cahewnuts
2 tbsp melon seeds (magajtari)
2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
5 cloves garlic (i have used green garlic cloves also as they are available during winters. It is optional)
1 whole dry red chilli
1 tsp shahi jeera
1 tbsp green chilli paste
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp kitchen king masala
2 stick cinnamon
2 bay leaf
salt as per taste
water
4 tbsp oil

Instructions

Boil water in a large pan. Add salt and a pinch of turmeric to it and then add the spinach leaves and let it blanch for 2-3 mins. Then take spinach out of water and drain on the seive. Pour cold water on it. This will stop the heating process and hence will prevent spinach from getting black. It will help retaining its green colour. Keep aside and let it cool.
Now take another pan and add the big chopped onions, cashewnuts, melon seeds and garlic cloves.
Add one cup water to it. Boil them till the onions become soft and water is dried. Let it cool .
Now make paste of the spinach and the onion mixture seperately.Puree one tomato. keep aside.
Heat oil in a wok. Add the shahi jeera. When it crackles add the green chilli paste ( i have used here whole green chilli) and the whole spices (cinnamon, bay leaf, cloves and red chilli)
Add chopped onions to it and saute till golden.
Add ginger-garlic paste and saute till the raw aroma is gone.
Add tomato puree and saute till the oil seperates.
Add onion and cashew paste to it and mix well and saute it for 3-4 mins.
Add kitchen king and garam masala and mix well.
Add spinach puree to it and mix well.
Add cottage cheese cubes to it and salt as per taste. Add half a cup of water and simmer for one min. Your palak paneer is ready to serve. (This process of adding spinach puree can be done while serving the dish and it will have this nice green color.)
Garnish with grated paneer.
Serve it with rotis/kulchas/parathas/naan or simple jeera rice and with onions and pickles etc.

Notes

Note:

Remove spinach within 3-4 min after putting it in boiling water for blanching.
Immediately drain hot water and run cold water over spinach. This will stop the cooking process further and hence will help in retaining green color of the spinach.
While blanching spinach (or any green leafy vegetable) add pinch of salt and turmeric. As turmeric has septic property and hence will take care if there is still some impurity after washing green leafy vegetables.
Add always spinach puree last or if possible while serving. Just cook it for 2-3 mins as it is already cooked while blanching. This will make sure that if has nice green color.
You can fry cottage cheese and add if not calorie conscious.
For vegan version just add tofu instead of paneer.
If you want "aloo palak" then just add boiled and diced potatoes instead of cottage cheese.
Do not add lots of garam masalas or brown masala or red chilli as they will make the green spinach color brownish and you will not get nice green color.Add only green masalas to it.

Nutrition