A
North Indian favorite, Palak paneer is a delicious variation on saag. Palak
paneer a spinach based gravy with homemade cottage cheese is a popular and recognizable
dish in any Indian restaurants. It’s packed with goodness of spinach and loaded
with protein from paneer.
Try
this delicious recipe and you’ll be surprised how easy it is make!
Step by step palak
paneer recipe below
- Boil
3 cups water in a pan and add in ¼ tsp salt to the hot water. Then
add the rinsed palak leaves in the hot water. Let it boil for 1 minute and then turn
off the flame. Let it sit in the hot water for 2-3 minutes.
- Strain
the leaves and immediately add the palak leaves in a bowl containing ice cold
water. Let it sit for 2 minutes.
- Then
drain the ice cold water and grind the spinach leaves to make a smooth palak
puree. No need to add water while grinding. Keep the spinach puree aside.
- Make ginger garlic green chili paste.
- Heat
oil in a pan. Add cumin and bay leaf (tej patta). Add
in the minced onion. Saute till the onion become golden.
- Add ginger garlic and green chili paste. Saute just for a minute.
- Then
add turmeric powder, red chili powder and asafoetida/hing. Stir very well.
- Add the tomato puree, stir and saute the tomatoes till you see the oil releasing from sides of the mixture.
- Then
add palak puree and mix well. Add about ¼ cup water or as required. Simmer for
5 minutes or more until the palak or spinach is cooked. Season with salt. when the gravy starts to thicken, add garam masala and stir again.
- Add
the paneer/cottage cheese cubes.
- Stir
gently and simmer on low flame till the paneer cubes become soft. About 1-2
minutes. Lastly
add cream. Stir gently again. Switch off the flame.
Palak paneer recipe
below:
Prep
time
|
Cook
time
|
Total
|
20 min
|
10 min
|
30 min
|
Spinach
gravy cooked with paneer/cottage cheese and Indian spices.
AUTHOR:
Monali
RECIPE
TYPE: Main
CUISINE:
North Indian
SERVES:
4
INGREDIENTS (measuring cup used, 1 cup=237
ml)
For palak/spinach puree-
- A
bunch of fresh spinach/ palak (8 oz)
- 1
green chili, chopped
- 2
garlic clove
- ½ inch
ginger, roughly chopped
- Water as
required
- Ice cold water for blanching
For gravy-
- 2
tbsp. oil or butter
- ¼ tsp
cumin seeds/jeera
- A
pinch of asafoetida/hing
- 1
Indian bay leaf/tej patta
- 1
medium sized onion, minced
- 4
small garlic/lehsun, minced
- 1
medium sized tomato, grind to fine paste
- ¼ tsp
turmeric powder
- ¼ tsp
red chili powder
- Salt
as required
- ¼ to ½
tsp of garam masala
- Water
as required
- 7 oz/
200 gm of paneer/ cottage cheese
- 1
tbsp. of cream
For garnishing-
- 1-2
tsp of cream for topping the palak paneer
- Few
drops of lemon juice
- Few
ginger julienes
DIRECTION
- Rinse
the palak or spinach leaves very well in running water.
- Boil 3
cups water in a pan or microwave and add in ¼ tsp salt to the hot water. Then
add the palak leaves in the hot water. Let it boil for 1 minute and then turn
off the flame. Let it sit in the hot water for 2-3 minutes.
- Strain
the leaves and immediately add the palak leaves in a bowl containing ice cold
water. Let it sit for 2 minutes.
- Then
drain the ice cold water and grind the spinach leaves to make a smooth palak
puree. No need to add water while grinding. Keep the spinach puree aside.
- Palak
gravy:
- Heat
oil in a pan. Add cumin and bay leaf (tej patta)
- Add in
the minced onion. Saute till the onion become golden.
- Then
add ginger garlic and green chili paste. Saute just for a minute.
- Add
the tomato puree, stir and saute the tomatoes till you see the oil releasing
from sides of the mixture.
- Then
add turmeric powder, red chili powder and asafoetida/hing. Stir very well.
- Then
add palak puree and mix well. Add about ¼ cup water or as required. Simmer
for 5 minutes or more until the palak or spinach is cooked. Season with salt.
- By
this time the gravy will also thicken. Add garam masala and stir again.
- Add
the paneer/cottage cheese cubes.
- Stir
gently and simmer on low flame till the paneer cubes become soft. About 1-2
minutes.
- Lastly
add cream. Stir gently again. Switch off the flame.
NOTES
- The
method of blanching mentioned above helps in preserving the green color of
the spinach.
- If you
are using butter for tempering, melt it on a low flame. Make sure that the
butter does not brown.
- If you
are using oil for tempering, just top palak paneer with a tsp of butter while
serving; it tastes good!
- Vegans
can substitute paneer with tofu in this palak paneer recipe. It tastes good
with tofu as well.
SERVING SUGGESTION
Top
the palak paneer with some cream while serving. Also drizzle a few drops of
lemon juice on top along with ginger julienne. Stir and serve the palak
paneer hot with roti, plain paratha or rice.
|
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