Palak Paneer, the famous North-Indian curry, is a vibrant and delicious side for any Indian flatbread made with fresh spinach and paneer, the Indian cottage cheese.
Palak means spinach in Hindi, and paneer is the Indian cottage cheese. It’s a simple curry prepared with blanched spinach and cottage cheese, hence the name. Palak paneer is a healthy side with the goodness of vitamins and minerals from the spinach and protein from the paneer.
We prefer medium-spicy palak paneer so that the kiddo can also enjoy it. You can make this curry even on a weekday as the chopping involved is significantly less, and once you blanch the spinach, you can then whip up the curry quickly.
I usually don’t add any masalas to this recipe and keep it very simple. The only masala that I use here is kitchen king masala. This masala is readily available in all Indian grocery stores. You can use garam masala instead.
And I don’t add tomatoes to the palak paneer because I don’t want the gravy to be tangy and want to retain the spinach’s bright green color.
Here is my simple process.
- Blanch the spinach
- Saute onion, green chili, and cilantro.
- Blend the spinach along with sauteed ingredients.
- Prepare the tadka and simmer the spinach puree.
- Add the paneer and simmer again for few minutes, and done.
Process of Blanching:
According to the wiki, “Blanching is a cooking process in which food, usually a vegetable or fruit, is scalded in boiling water, removed after a brief, timed interval, and finally plunged into iced water or placed under cold running water to halt the cooking process. ”
For palak paneer, blanching the spinach helps to retain the color of the spinach. Here is how I blanch the spinach.
I bring the water to a boil and then add the spinach and make sure it is well immersed in water. Then I turn off the heat and cover the vessel with the lid and let it sit for 4-5 minutes. I drain the water and run it through cold water to retain the color of the spinach. Here is the blanched spinach.
Now without any further ado, let’s see how to make palak paneer with detailed step-wise pictures.
Ingredients:
- Organic Baby Spinach – 1 lb
- Kitchen king Masala – 2 tsps
- Salt – 2.tsps
- Water for blanching and ½ cup
- Oil – 1 tsp + 1 tsp
- Chopped cilantro – a handful
- Cumin Seeds – 1 tsp
- Chopped onion – ½ cup
- Green chilly – 2 (slit)
- Paneer – 10 oz pack
Prep-Work
- Blanch the spinach as mentioned above and let it cool. .I used the entire 1 lb organic spinach that I got from Costco.
- Chop the onions and green chili finely and chop the paneer into cubes.
Prepare the palak paneer.
- Heat the kadai and add the 1 tsp of oil. Now add the onions, cilantro, and green chili and saute until the onions are translucent. Let this onion mix cool.
- Blend the spinach and the sauteed onion, cilantro, and green chili into a smooth puree by adding ½ cup of water.
- Heat the kadai and add the remaining one tsp of oil. Once the oil is hot, reduce the heat to medium-low, add cumin seeds and the kitchen king masala and fry for 30 seconds. Make sure the masala doesn’t get burnt.
- Add the spinach puree and salt and let it simmer for a couple of minutes.
- Finally, add the paneer cubes and mix well.
- Let it simmer for about 3-4 minutes and turn the heat off. Garnish with finely chopped cilantro.
That’s it. Yummy palak paneer is ready. Serve hot with rotis.
Notes:
- Adjust the spice and salt level according to your preference.
- You can shallow fry the paneer cubes before adding them to the palak gravy. You can make paneer at home but you can use store-bought also. If your paneer is hard, you can soak them in hot water for 5 minutes or microwave them for 2 minutes.
- Instead of grinding the onion, cilantro, and green chili along with spinach, you can skip that and saute them along with kitchen king masala.
P.S.: If you try this palak paneer, please don’t forget to comment and rate this recipe. If you have any questions, please leave a comment, and I will get to it A.S.A.P. Make sure to follow me on my Pinterest for more healthy and delicious ideas! Follow me on Instagram or join my Facebook Group for more gardening and recipe updates! You can also sign-up for my newsletter for weekly updates.
Some more paneer recipe for you
Palak Paneer
Ingredients
- 1 lb Organic Baby Spinach
- 2 tsp Kitchen king Masala
- 2 tsp Salt or to taste
- ½ cup Water plus as required for blanching
- 2 tsp Oil divided
- 2 tbsp Cilantro chopped, a handful
- 1 Cumin Seeds
- ½ cup Onion
- 2 Green Chili slit
- 10 oz Paneer cut into cubes
Instructions
Prep-Work
- Blanch the spinach as mentioned above and let it cool. .I used the entire 1 lb organic spinach that I got from Costco.
- Chop the onions and green chili finely and chop the paneer into cubes.
Prepare the palak paneer.
- Heat the kadai and add the 1 tsp of oil.
- Now add the onions, cilantro, and green chili and saute until the onions are translucent. Let this onion mix cool.
- Blend the spinach and the sauteed onion, cilantro, and green chili into a smooth puree by adding ½ cup of water.
- Heat the kadai and add the remaining one tsp of oil.
- Once the oil is hot, reduce the heat to medium-low, add cumin seeds and the kitchen king masala and fry for 30 seconds. Make sure the masala doesn't get burnt.
- Add the spinach puree and salt and let it simmer for a couple of minutes.
- Finally, add the paneer cubes and mix well. Let it simmer for about 3-4 minutes and turn the heat off. Garnish with finely chopped cilantro.
- That's it. Yummy palak paneer is ready. Serve hot with rotis.
Notes
- Adjust the spice and salt level according to your preference.
- You can shallow fry the paneer cubes before adding them to the palak gravy. If your paneer is hard, you can soak them in hot water for 5 minutes or microwave them for 2 minutes.
- Instead of grinding the onion, cilantro, and green chili along with spinach, you can skip that and saute them along with kitchen king masala.
Nutrition
I am not a nutritionist. The nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. It varies depending upon the product types or brands.
yummy Gravy. wish to have with Naan.
Thanks :-)
That looks so rich Vidhya :) A perfect combination of health and taste right :)
Yeah FV.. Thanks a lot. :-)
Looks fantastic! Love the bright color and flavor combination! I’ve never tried Palak Paneer – so I’m pinning your recipe!! Thanks for participating in Lina’s Challenge :)
Linda
Fabulous Fare Sisters
Welcome to my space Linda. Thanks for the wonderful feedback. Thanks to Lina too for these great challenges.
Love the color, with a few naan bread on side, i can clean up the entire gravy!
Oh yeah absolutely. Just saw your garlic naan post. Man.. we should be somewhere closeby.. ;-)
Healthy, creamy and delicious!
Thanks Swapna.
Love the color of the gravy! Delicious!
Thanks a lot Freda.
Lovely color of the gravy! delicious!
Lovely color. Looks so delicious and creamy!
Thanks a lot Kushi. :-)
Love the luscious green coloured palak paneer…looks super delicious Vidhya :)
Thanks a lot Padma.
I love the colour of this too!I love spinachb and with paneer it must be lovely!
Yeah.. :-) Thanks Natascha
?????
Wow love the vibrant color of the greens… looks so delightful Sri….
Thanks Chitra. :-)
Love the gorgeous green! :) one of my favourites !
Thanks Trupti.
Love that bright green color :) Amazing Sri!
Thanks a lot CH.
My all time favorite..looks inviting
Thanks Kavita
welcome dear
An absolutely delightful recipe..lovely..
Thanks a lot Bhumi.
I love the vibrant green colour of your Palak Paneer. If you add some ground cashew paste, you get a fantastic creamy gravy. :)
Thanks a lot Aruna and thanks again for that wonderful idea. Will try that next time for sure.
I love Palak Paneer, but better option for me is Sarson Ka Saag :)
Thanks Alok.. Sarson ka saag yum perfect for this weather na..
Love Palak paneer. And this one here looks so vibrant, rich and creamy! YUM!
:-) :-) Thanks a lot Anu.
I love palak paneer, and this recipe looks especially good. Thanks.
Thanks leggypeggy. Glad you liked it. :-)
This looks great! One of my absolute favorite mains (not necessarily a side) at Indian restaurants is this dish — and I’m an omnivore. This and some garlic naan… YUM.
I’ve tried making this twice — both times it was good, but it didn’t hit true Saagishness for me. (To coin a word.) I’ll give your recipe a shot in the near future!
Thanks!
Thanks a lot. Yeah this with garlic naan is an amazing combo. Glad you enjoyed it and let me know when you try it out. Between let’s coin the word saagishness.. :-)