Palak Paneer is a traditional vegetarian cuisine from Punjab. It is Indian cottage cheese in palak or spinach puree. Palak paneer does not contain many spices or masalas like other Indian currys. Paneer is lightly cooked to preserve its rich green color and nutrients. It has high iron content.It can be served along with Indian rice or Flat breads like chapati, nan, roti etc. I am a spinach hater so i used very little spinach in this dish.
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Preparation time- 20 mins
Ingredients
Paneer/ Indian Cottage cheese- 250 gms
Paneer/ Green Spinach- 500 gms to 1 kg
Green chilly- 1 no
Refined Oil- 3 tbsp
Fresh cream- 1/2 cup
Garlic- 4 nos finely chopped or according to your taste
Water as required
Cumin seeds- 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Method
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Wash and clean spinach leaves.I took baby spinach. I used only 500 gms of palak and made a semi gravy palak paneer. You can use upto 1 kg of spinach for 250 gms of paneer. Boil water required to cook spinach. When water boils add spinach and cook for 10 mins. Then strain the spinach and run cold water. This helps to retain the green color.
Heat Oil in a pan. Lightly fry paneer cubes til they are golden brown. Remove paneer and keep aside.
Keep the flame in medium. Add cumin seeds into the same oil and saute. Then add finely chopped garlic. When the raw smell of garlic is lost add spinach puree.
Add water as you need and allow it to boil. Then add fried paneer cubes in it. Wait for a minute or two & remove from flame. Add fresh cream & serve it hot.
PS:-
- I used a standard 240 ml measuring cup.
- You can avoid fresh cream all-together or use a tbsp or two.
- You can add whole spices if you want, but for authentic taste avoid them or use minimal.
- I used sunflower oil for cooking.