Palak paneer (पालक पनीर) is a vegetarian dish which originates from the Punjab region of northern part of India. Soft Paneer cubes simmered in not so spicy spinach gravy make this recipe a dish full of nutrients. This palak paneer recipe is an excellent example of nutrition packed meal, thanks to spinach and paneer. Who says veg food does not have proteins?
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Palak Paneer
A healthy vegetarian curry with paneer smeared in the saucy gravy of spinach, giving the best of spinach and paneer goodness. This recipe is easy to follow.
Normally kids don’t eat greens (at least my daughter runs away from veggies), making palak paneer and giving to kids is a good way to feed greens to kids (most kids do love paneer).
Palak paneer, is another paneer dish which tops the charts in north indian cuisine, alongside kadai paneer and shahi paneer.
In an Indian wedding menu, palak paneer will likely be in the menu in 1 of 3 wedding menus (especially if the wedding is in winter season when spinach is widely available in India).
What is palak paneer?
Paneer = Indian Cottage cheese and Palak = Spinach. Palak paneer is a curry made from spinach and paneer as the main ingredients. First blanch the spinach. Then form a puree out of that spinach. Then cook it in spices, and lastly top it with paneer.
Saag Paneer vs Palak Paneer
Palak paneer is not same as saag paneer. Outside india, I have seen restaurants using term “saag paneer” and they serve palak paneer.
However, saag means “green leafy vegetables”, which can be mustard leaves, fenugreek/ methi leaves or any other edible leaves, or even a combination of one of more vegetables, including spinach too.
Saag is very generic term, and palak is very specific. Next time you see “saag” in the menu of a restaurant, ask them to specify which green leaves are being used in that saag.
How to make best and easy palak paneer
This palak paneer recipe is something which I have been using for years now and every time has been well received by foodies.
In my recipe, I have blanched the spinach and then make a pure of the spinach. I top this spinach puree with ginger, garlic and tomato paste.
After making puree, I cook this in spices, like garam masala, cumin seeds, turmeric, coriander powder and asafoetida.
In the last, add paneer cubes and let it cook for few mins. As you can see its easy to follow recipe of palak paneer.
More than often, I use homemade paneer, the reason is that the homemade paneer is soft and does not have any chemicals. In case, you are using store bought paneer, I will recommend that you leave the paneer in warm to hot water for about 15 mins. This process will make paneer soft.
In this recipe, I have not use any cream, but in case you find spinach bitter, you can balance taste by adding cream in the gravy at the step in the recipe before paneer is added.
Serving suggestion for Palak Paneer
Palak Paneer goes well with any Indian bread, be it naan, paratha or puri or even steamed or jeera rice.
This palak paneer recipe
- Is great way to get your greens
- This paneer curry is gluten-free (when not adding asafoetida)
- Spinach paneer curry is extremely tasty and can be a meal during any day of the week.
- Has low calories and carbs, making it a winner.
Method
- First of all wash the spinach leaves thoroughly in water and drain the water.
- Boil 4 cups of water in a pan and once it starts boiling, add spinach leaves to it. After 5 minutes take out the leaves and immediately put them in icy cold water. This step is necessary so that spinach leaves retain its green colour. After 2-3 minutes drain the leaves in a colander so that all the water drains out.
- Transfer these spinach leaves to a blender jar and blend the leaves to make a smooth puree without adding any water. Transfer this puree to a bowl and keep it aside.
- In the same Jar, add chopped tomatoes, green chillies and ginger. Blend to make a fine paste of it.
- Take a Pan / Kadai and put it on medium heat. Add oil to it and once oil is warm, add asafoetida and cumin seeds to it.
- When they are brown, add chopped Onion to it and saute till its golden brown in colour. Now add all the spices and saute again for a minute.Add Tomato paste at this stage and roast till it starts oozing oil.
- Add spinach puree and add about 1/2 cup of water to it. Simmer the heat and let it boil for 6-8 minutes.
- Add Paneer cubes and again cook it for 5-6 minutes more. Switch off the flame.
- Palak Paneer is ready. Transfer this onto a serving bowl and garnish with grated paneer and dried Red chillies.
Serving suggestion
Serve this paneer curry with butter naan or any Indian bread.
You can keep this paneer refrigerated for couple of days. If you want to freeze, you can freeze the gravy and then later on when required, de-freeze it, and add paneer (last step of the recipe).
Recipe Card
Palak Paneer (Paneer in Spinach based gravy)
Ingredients
- 300 grams Spinach
- 250 grams Paneer / Indian Cottage Cheese Cut into 1.5Inch cubes
- 1 Onion Medium Size – Finely Chopped
- 3 Tomatoes Medium Size – Chopped
- 2 Green chillies
- 1 Inch Ginger Can use ginger paste, if you do not have fresh ginger
- 1.5 Teaspoon Cumin Seeds
- 2 Teaspoon Coriander Powder
- 1 Teaspoon Turmeric Powder
- 1/2 Teaspoon Red Chilli Powder
- 1.5 Teaspoon Salt As per taste
- 1 Teaspoon Garam Masala Powder
- 1/4 Teaspoon Asafoetida
- 1.5 Teaspoon Oil You can use Ghee too for better taste
- 1 Tablespoon Paneer / Indian Cottage Cheese Grated – For Garnishing
- 1 Dried Red Chillies For Garnishing
Instructions
- First of all wash the spinach leaves thoroughly in water and drain the water.
- Boil 4 cups of water in a pan and once it starts boiling, add spinach leaves to it. After 5 minutes take out the leaves and immediately put them in icy cold water. This step is necessary so that spinach leaves retain its green colour. After 2-3 minutes drain the leaves in a colander so that all the water drains out.
- Transfer these spinach leaves to a blender jar and blend the leaves to make a smooth puree without adding any water. Transfer this puree to a bowl and keep it aside.
- In the same Jar, add chopped tomatoes, green chillies and ginger. Blend to make a fine paste of it.
- Take a Pan / Kadhai and put it on medium heat. Add oil to it and once oil is warm, add asafoetida and cumin seeds to it.
- When they are brown, add chopped Onion to it and saute till its golden brown in colour. Now add all the spices and saute again for a minute.Add Tomato paste at this stage and roast till it starts oozing oil.
- Add spinach puree and add about 1/2 cup of water to it.
- Simmer the heat and let it boil for 6-8 minutes.
- Add Paneer cubes and again cook it for 5-6 minutes more. Switch off the flame.
- Palak Paneer is ready. Transfer this onto a serving bowl and garnish with grated paneer and dried Red chillies. Serve this hot palak paneer with rice or naan.
Notes
- You can substitute Paneer with Tofu for a vegan option.
- You can shallow fry the paneer cubes before adding them into the gravy.
- Do not blanch spinach leaves for more than 5 minutes otherwise they will loose all their nutritional value.
- Some people may find spinach bitter, in such case, add a bit of cream to balance the taste.