I hope you enjoy this Palak Paneer.
Just like any other cuisine, Indian cuisine has also made a match between spinach and fresh Indian cheese called paneer. Paneer is always best when it is homemade. Paneer as such doesn’t have much taste, but if you combine with other spices and flavors, it becomes delicious.
Palak paneer is also a restaurant favorite; you can see it in the menu without fail. As you know Indian cuisine is not limited to the dishes you encounter in US restaurants. It has lots of varieties just like the many languages prevalent in India.
Palak paneer is part of the North Indian style of cooking. In North India, spinach or Palak is available in plenty during the winter season. However, saag paneer is entirely different from palak paneer, as for the former one any type of greens can be used instead of spinach or palak. The authentic Saag Paneer is made with mustard greens, and paneer is added crumbly.
Whereas in palak paneer, spinach is cooked into gravy with spices and paneer is added as such or fried. I added fried paneer since it holds a better shape after cooking. You can make this curry rich by cooking with ghee and by adding heavy whipping cream. I prefer not to add heavy cream as it dilutes the wonderful green color.
In order to maintain the green color, I used only green chilies for spiciness, ginger and one tomato for the tanginess. Spices like cumin, dried fenugreek leaves were also added. Adding black pepper and lemon juice at the end of cooking will give an extra boost of flavor. I didn’t do that step.
For this dish, I blanched the fresh spinach and pureed with green chilies then added it to pureed sauteed onion and tomato, and spiced it up with cumin powder; gram masala dried fenugreeks leaves, coriander powder and a pinch of chili powder, then added fried paneer and mixed it in. You can use frozen spinach, however, I don’t recommend it as canned spinach has salt and preservatives already added.
I served this dish with chapati/Indian flatbread. You can serve with any bread or flatbread but in order to get full Indian meal look for chapati or Nan.
Try it yourself it won’t disappoint you. If you liked this recipe, you might also enjoy this Veg Sorak Curry
If you’ve tried this Palek Paneer recipe or any other recipe on askchefdennis.com please don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know where you found it in the comments below, I love hearing from you! You can also FOLLOW ME on Instagram @chefdenniseats and @chefdennistravels, Twitter and Facebook.
Palak Paneer (Spinach cooked with Fresh Indian Cheese)
Ingredients
- 1 bunch of fresh spinach
- 1 ½ cups paneer cut into 12 mm. (½″) cubes
- 2 tbsp oil
- ¾ cup finely chopped onions
- 2 cloves garlic grated
- piece ginger grated, 1″
- 1 green chili finely chopped
- ¼ tsp turmeric powder haldi
- ¼ teaspoon red chili powder
- 3 tablespoon fresh tomato or 2 of tomato paste.
- salt to taste
- ½ teaspoon coriander powder
- ½ tsp garam masala
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- ½ tablespoon Kasturi Methi/ dried fenugreek leaves
- 1 ½ cup Water for blanching
- 2 tbsp Heavy cream optional if you want rich you can add this
- ½ lemon juice optional
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper optional
Instructions
- Blanch the spinach in a sauce pot with boiling water for 2 to 3 minutes.
- Drain, refresh with cold water and keep aside to cool for some time.
- In a small pan heat ghee and fry the paneer pieces until the sides becomes slightly brown. Keep this fried paneer in hot water until you ready to use.
- Blend in a mixer to a smooth purée with green chili and keep aside.
- Heat the oil in a thick bottomed pan , add cumin seeds and onions and sauté on a medium flame till they turn translucent. To this add fresh tomato and cook once again until it become mushy. Then make puree of this onion and tomato and set aside.
- Heat a medium sauce pot and add tomato onion mixture, ginger -garlic paste and turmeric , coriander powder, garam masala and red chili powder and cook for about 2-3 minutes until oil starts to leaves the mixtures.
- Add the spinach purée and water mix well and cook on a medium flame for 2 minutes.
- Add the salt, and crushed dry fenugreek leaves, heavy cream (if using) and mix well.
- Add the paneer, mix gently and cook on a medium flame for another 1 to 2 minutes.
- Serve hot.
- *You can add lemon juice and black pepper at the end to enhance more flavors.
Heidi
Hi from Germany. Swathi, after being lucky to buy fresh paneer I bought fresh spinach too and made your recipe – it was so delicious. Lemon juice and fresh black pepper just before serving – absolutely awesome.
So thank you for this recipe!
Swathi
Thanks Heidi for trying and getting back with your feedback. I appreciate very much.
EA-The Spicy RD
Would love to learn Indian cooking and this recipe looks amazing. Thanks so much for sharing!!
Priya Ranjit
Beautiful guest post with a lovely Indian recipe to die for…… Swathi is a great friend and a versatile food blogger, thanks Swathi for introducing me to a lovely chef. Chef its nice to be in your site and you do have some great recipes here.
julie
Yummy palak paneer..Great guest post ,Swathi & Chef Dennis 🙂
Lynn
Heading over to Swathi’s now, looking forward to checking out her creations.
Paneer has always intrigued me, made it once and the hubby loved it. Hoping to find more ways to flavor fully use it! Thanks for your tasty looking share 😉
Muna Kenny
Enjoyed reading this post and glad to see Swathi here! Palak Paneer looks so delicious, I like the combination of the spicy spinach gravy combined with the soft texture of the paneer.
Swathi
Thanks Muna glad you like it.
Candace
This looks delicious! Great post, Swathi!
Swathi
Thanks Candace
Lail | With A Spin
Looks delicious.
Kimby | a little lunch
Thanks for your guest post, Swathi! I enjoyed learning about the regional variations and also your suggestion to fry the paneer to hold it’s shape. Chef Dennis described your cooking perfectly — a symphony of flavors!
Swathi
Thanks Kimby
Cher
Wow – another great guest post! Printing this one now….
veena
lovely blog you have Chef Dennis.. Perfectly done Palak Paneer
Kath
I love Palak Paneer so much! Maybe I can try making Swathi’s recipe. It looks terrific!
Swathi
Thanks Kath, do try it.
Swathi
Hi Chef Dennis,
Thanks for your kind words. I am elated to do a guest post on your blog. I hope your readers will like this recipe.
Swathi