Palak paneer recipe | How to make palak paneer | Best palak paneer recipe | Recipe of palak paneer with step by step instructions

Palak paneer recipe | How to make palak paneer is much loved Indian vegetarian, gluten free dish that is made combining palak and paneer. Here palak means spinach & paneer is indian cottage cheese.

Palak paneer is delicious, easy to make, North Indian style prepration of a curry where paneer is simmered in creamy, smooth and delicious spinach(palak) gravy. Also it’s delicately flavored with few basic indian spices.

Serve palak paneer with hot chapati, roti, naan or with jeera rice, sprouted moong bean salad and Bathua raita.

Palak paneer recipe | How to make palak paneer vegan?

You can always make this recipe vegan by replacing ghee(clarified butter) with oil, indian cottage cheese/paneer with extra firm tofu and cream with coconut cream or any vegan cream or just add any vegan yogurt. The rest of the recipe would be same.

One more interesting combination of spinach with lentils Dal palak/Sindhi sai bhaji is delicious curry worth trying from my blog.

If you are looking for more Paneer recipes, do check out the following on the blog –

Paneer Jalfrezi

Paneer Frankie/Kathi roll/paneer wraps

Paneer ke ande

Step by step instructions and pictorial presentation to make Palak paneer

First clean and wash the spinach leaves well under running water.

Fill a bowl with ice cold water and keep aside for later use.

To blanch spinach leaves, heat enough water with salt in a wide pan and drop cleaned spinach leaves for 2 minutes.

Switch off the flame and immediately remove leaves but don’t discard the water. We will use this to adjust the consistency of gravy.

Immediately put leaves in ice cold water bowl.

This step will allow to retain the beautiful green colour of leaves. Remove it from water and keep aside to cool.

Once cools down grind this in mixer. Do not add any water while grinding.

Meanwhile mince ginger, garlic and green chilies together. In a pan add oil and heat it.

Add chopped onions and saute it. After a while add minced ginger, garlic and chilies. Saute it till raw flavor is gone and it turns slightly brown.

Now it’s time to add spices like haldi, dhania powder, red chili powder and salt. Mix well.

To this add grated tomatoes and saute till it’s incorporated well. Finally add pureed spinach and mix well.

Allow to simmer for 5 to 7 minutes, in between stir it continuously. Add blanched spinach water to adjust the consistency you want.

Chop the paneer pieces into cubes and shallow fry it in very less oil till it achieves golden brown color.

After that add paneer pieces in the gravy and let it soak all the flavors for 2 minutes.

in addition to that add fresh cream or curd/yogurt in the last and switch off the flame

For tempering :

For tempering take ghee.  Heat it and add finely chopped garlic. Once it turns pink, add cumin seeds/zeera, dried whole red chilies and kashmiri lal mirch.

Pour this tadka on the top of palak paneer gravy. Serve hot with missi roti, chapati or naan or steamed rice.

Notes :

1. Don’t over-cook your paneer while shallow frying, that makes it chewy.

2. You can completely skip the step of shallow frying paneer and use it as it is directly in the recipe.

3. We love using a dash of curd/yogurt in the palak paneer instead of fresh cream sometimes. You may add or omit this.

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Palak paneer recipe | How to make palak paneer

Palak paneer is delicious, easy to make, North Indian style prepration of a curry where paneer is simmered in creamy, smooth and delicious spinach(palak) gravy. Also it's delicately flavored with few basic indian spices.

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time25 minutes mins

Course: Main course, Lunch

Cuisine: Indian

Keyword: Best palak paneer recipe, Easy palak paneer recipe, How to make palak paneer, Palak paneer

Servings: 3

Author: Lata Lala

Ingredients

• 2 bunches - Palak leaves
• 250 grams - Paneer/ Indian cottage cheese
• 4 - Garlic cloves
• 1 inch - Ginger piece
• 2 big size - Tomatoes grated
• 2 - Onions finely chopped
• 2 - Green chillies
• 1 tsp - Kashmiri Red chilli powder
• 1 tsp - Dhania powder/Coriander powder
• To taste - Salt
• 1 tbsp - Ghee/clarified butter
• 1 tbsp - Fresh cream

For tempering

• 1 tsp - Ghee/clarified butter
• 2 - Whole dried chillies
• 2 - Garlic cloves chopped
• 1/2 tsp - Kashmiri Red chilli powder

Instructions

• First clean and wash the spinach leaves well under running water.
• Fill a bowl with ice cold water and keep aside for later use.
• To blanch spinach leaves, heat enough water with salt in a wide pan and drop cleaned spinach leaves for 2 minutes.
• Switch off the flame and immediately remove leaves but don't discard the water. We will use this to adjust the consistency of gravy.
• Immediately put leaves in ice cold water bowl.
• This step will allow to retain the beautiful green colour of leaves. Remove it from water and keep aside to cool.
• Once cools down grind this in mixer. Do not add any water while grinding.
• Meanwhile mince ginger, garlic and green chilies together. In a pan add oil and heat it.
• Add chopped onions and saute it. After a while add minced ginger, garlic and chilies. Saute it till raw flavor is gone and it turns slightly brown.
• Now it's time to add spices like haldi, dhania powder, red chili powder and salt. Mix well.
• To this add grated tomatoes and saute till it's incorporated well. Finally add pureed spinach and mix well.
• Allow to simmer for 5 to 7 minutes, in between stir it continuously. Add blanched spinach water to adjust the consistency you want.
• Chop the paneer pieces into cubes and shallow fry it in very less oil till it achieves golden brown color.
• After that add paneer pieces in the gravy and let it soak all the flavors for 2 minutes.
• in addition to that add fresh cream or curd/yogurt in the last and switch off the flame

For tempering :

• For tempering take ghee.  Heat it and add finely chopped garlic. Once it turns pink, add cumin seeds/zeera, dried whole red chilies and kashmiri lal mirch.
• Pour this tadka on the top of palak paneer gravy. Serve hot with missi roti, chapati or naan or steamed rice.

Notes

1. Don’t over-cook your paneer while shallow frying, that makes it chewy.

2. You can completely skip the step of shallow frying paneer and use it as it is directly in the recipe.

3. We love using a dash of curd/yogurt in the palak paneer instead of fresh cream sometimes. You may add or omit this.

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