Homestyle Palak Paneer Recipe
Palak Paneer is one of the most popular Indian curries around, and with good reason. This deliciously creamy and vibrantly green dish is made with paneer cooked in a mildly spiced fresh spinach sauce.
The base of the curry is prepared by blanching spinach leaves and then blending them into a smooth puree. This spinach puree is cooked with garlic, onions, herbs and spices to form the sauce or gravy. Paneer cubes are added at the end and gently simmered, keeping them soft and tender.
This delicious Palak Paneer is a family recipe that my Mom passed down to me. She has been making this recipe for our family for years, and I am so happy to get to share it with you here.
It is one of the most popular and well-liked spinach paneer recipe on the blog, not to mention our favorite at home. Packed with healthy nutrients like calcium, iron and vitamin C, this is a meal that I can feel good about eating.
In this recipe, I show you how to quickly blanch the spinach. This is done so that the dish has a nice green color, as well as for some health benefits.
Did you know that blanched spinach is healthier than raw? For this reason, I always recommend blanching spinach before using them in my collection of Palak Recipes.
Palak paneer pairs well with roti, naan, or paratha. If you are gluten-free, you can also serve it with cumin rice or biryani rice, saffron rice or ghee rice.
Blanch and Purée Spinach
1. Using a colander or strainer, rinse the palak (spinach) leaves (250 grams or 0.55 pounds), very well under running water.
2. Boil 3 cups water in a pan, microwave or electric heater. Add ¼ teaspoon salt to the hot water and stir.
Then add the spinach leaves to the hot water. Let the spinach leaves sit in the water for about 1 minute.
If doing this on a stove-top, be sure to remove the pan from the hot burner.
While the water is coming to a boil, make a bowl of ice water and set it aside. Just add 8 to 10 ice cubes to 3 cups of water to get cold water.
3. After 1 minute, strain the spinach leaves.
4. Immediately transfer the palak (spinach) leaves to the bowl containing ice cold water. This method of “shocking” the spinach helps preserve the vibrant green color of the spinach.
Allow the spinach leaves to stay in the cold water for a minute to stop the cooking process.
5. Drain the ice cold water and press the spinach to remove any excess moisture. Add the spinach in a blender or grinder jar with 1 inch chopped ginger, 1 to 2 garlic cloves and 1 to 2 chili peppers (green chillies).
You can use a hand-held immersion blender to make the puree if you prefer.
6. Make a smooth spinach purée by blitzing the ingredients together. There should be no need to add any water to make the purée. Set the spinach purée aside.
Make Spinach Gravy
7. Heat 2 tablespoons oil, ghee or butter in a pan or kadai (wok). In the photos below I used butter. If using butter, melt it on a low heat making sure that it does not brown.
8. Add ½ teaspoon cumin seeds and let them splutter.
9. Then add one small to medium-sized tej patta (Indian bay leaf).
10. Add ⅓ cup finely chopped onions (1 small to medium sized onion).
11. Sauté until the onions become golden.
12. Then add 1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic. Sauté till the raw aroma of garlic goes away, but stop short of browning the garlic.
13. Add ⅓ cup chopped tomatoes (1 small or medium sized tomato).
14. Stir and sauté the tomatoes until they soften.
15. Once the tomatoes are softened and you see fat releasing from the sides of the mixture, then add ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder, ½ teaspoon red chili powder (or substitute cayenne pepper or paprika) and a pinch of asafoetida (hing).
You can find asafoetida at your local spice store or on amazon, but if you don’t have it, you can skip it.
Also, please note that many commercially available brands of asafoetida are processed with wheat. If you are gluten intolerant, please be sure to purchase gluten free asafoetida.
17. Add the spinach purée to the pan.
16. Mix very well.
18. Mix well.
19. Add about ½ cup of water or as required. Mix and stir again.
20. Simmer the gravy for 6 to 7 minutes or more until the palak puree is cooked. Season with salt as required. The gravy will have thickened by now.
21. Stir and add ¼ to ½ teaspoon garam masala powder.
Assemble Palak Paneer
22. Stir again and then add the paneer cubes (200 to 250 grams cottage cheese) directly to the gravy.
You can also opt to lightly pan-fry the paneer cubes in some oil until they are lightly browned and then add them to the palak gravy. In this case, you don’t need to cook the paneer further.
23. Mix gently and turn off the heat.
24. Lastly add 2 tablespoons of light cream or cooking cream or low-fat cream. I used Amul brand cream. If using heavy whipping cream, then add 1 tablespoon of it.
You can also add 1 teaspoon crushed dry fenugreek leaves (kasuri methi) at this step, however this is optional.
25. Stir gently so that the cream gets uniformly incorporated into the gravy.
26. Serve Palak Paneer hot or warm with roti, naan or paratha or cumin rice or ghee rice. You can top it with some butter or cream also while serving.
Drizzle a few drops of lime or lemon juice on top along with ginger julienne. Enjoy!
Restaurant Style Palak Paneer
This recipe is a restaurant style version of palak paneer made with spinach puree, onions, spices and paneer. It does not include tomatoes and is one of the best restaurant style recipe that you can make.
This delicious recipe was shared by my dad who had got it from one of his Punjabi friend, who owned a popular dhaba in the Mumbai suburbs.
On occasions, my dad would get us palak paneer or Paneer Butter Masala and dal makhani from uncle’s dhaba and we would always relish it as kids. This dhaba is closed now, but the memories remain.
On some days, when we are in a mood to have restaurant-style food at home, I make this palak paneer recipe. The homestyle version that I have shared above is very different from this recipe.
The first difference is in the proportion of some ingredients included in this restaurant style recipe.
The second big difference is flavoring the dish with a unique charcoal smoking technique (known as ‘dhungar‘) that really make it a top notch recipe.
I also use this charcoal smoking method in dishes like Dal Tadka, Paneer Angara, Dal Makhani and Baingan Bharta. The gentle charcoal smoke adds a soft earthy tone that enhances the overall flavor of these dishes.
There is no tangy or sour ingredient that I add in this palak paneer recipe. If you want a bit of tang, feel free to add 1 small to medium tomato after sautéing the ginger-garlic paste. Alternatively, you can add a few drops of lemon juice or dry mango powder.
Serve the spinach paneer hot with tandoori roti, naan, chapati or jeera rice or biryani rice. It also pairs well with as simple steamed rice.
How to make Restaurant Style Recipe
Recipe 2
Ingredients You Need
For Spinach Puree
- 250 grams spinach or 8.81 oz
- 3 cups hot boiling water for blanching
- 2 cups water for ice bath
- 8 to 10 ice cubes
For Pan Frying Paneer
- 250 grams paneer or 8.81 oz
- 3 tablespoons oil
For Spinach Sauce
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
- 2 small tej patta or 1 medium to large tej patta (Indian bay leaf)
- ⅓ cup tightly packed finely chopped onions – 60 to 70 grams or 1 medium-sized onion
- 1 teaspoon ginger paste (1 inch peeled ginger crushed to a paste in mortar-pestle)
- 1 teaspoon garlic paste (6 to 7 small to medium peeled garlic, crushed to a paste in mortar-pestle)
- 1 to 1.5 teaspoon finely chopped green chilies – swap ½ teaspoon red chili powder or cayenne with green chilies)
- 1 pinch turmeric powder (ground turmeric)
- ½ teaspoon black pepper – crushed in a mortar-pestle – optional
- 1 teaspoon dry fenugreek leaves (kasuri methi) – for more hints of bitterness you can add overall 2 teaspoons of dry fenugreek leaves
- ½ teaspoon garam masala powder
- ¼ cup light cream or low-fat cream or 2 to 3 tablespoons whipping cream
Blanch Spinach
1. Rinse 250 grams spinach leaves very well in running water. Once they are rinsed, place them in a colander, so that the excess water drains off.
If the stems are tender, then keep them. But if they are hard or fibrous, then discard them.
1. Rinse 250 grams spinach leaves very well in running water. Once they are rinsed, place them in a colander, so that the excess water drains off.
If the stems are tender, then keep them. But if they are hard or fibrous, then discard them.
2. Boil 3 cups water in a pan. You can also boil water in an electric heater and then take it in a pan or bowl.
3. Add the spinach leaves in the water. Mix to combine and immerser the leaves in the water. Blanch the spinach leaves in water for 3 minutes.
4. When the spinach leaves are blanching, in another bowl, take 2 cups some water and add 8 to 10 ice cubes.
5. After 3 minutes, remove the blanched spinach leaves from the hot water and add them to the cold water. Stir gently so that all the leaves are immersed in the cold water.
After 1 minute, remove them with pasta tongs or using a strainer/colander drain all the water.
6. Place the spinach leaves in a grinder or blender jar.
7. Grind or blend to a smooth puree. No need to add any water while grinding or blending. If you prefer you can also blend the blanched spinach leaves to a slightly coarser puree.
Pan Fry Paneer
8. This step is optional but recommended as lightly golden pan-fried paneer cubes taste good.
Heat 3 tablespoons oil in a well-seasoned pan or non-stick pan. Place the paneer cubes (250 grams).
9. Turn over when one side is lightly golden and fry the other side.
10. Fry till the paneer cubes are light golden evenly. Avoid frying too much or for a longer time, as then the paneer cubes become dense.
0 Comments