Palak Paneer

Palak Paneer is a very popular Indian recipe. It is a traditional North-Indian delicacy and a very integral part of the Punjabi cuisine. It is also one of my favorite dishes.

You will enjoy cooking this wonderful combination of spinach and cottage cheese. It cooks quickly without addition of water or loss of nutrients, the cottage cheese becomes soft and moist and the dish itself looks very appetizing bright green with white. Try it !!!

Preparation Time : 15 minutes

Cooking Time : 15 minutes

Serves : 4

Ingredients :

1 bunch spinach

200 gms paneer (cottage cheese) cut into small squares

1 medium sized onion finely chopped

1 medium sized tomato finely chopped

1 tbsp ginger garlic paste

1 tsp chilli powder

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

1/2 tsp coriander powder

1/2 tsp cumin powder

1 tsp sugar

salt to taste

2 tbsp fresh cream (optional)

Method :

• Clean and wash the spinach nicely
• Boil the spinach with a little salt and cool it. Do not add any water while boiling it as spinach releases a lot of water while cooking.
• Then mash it in a mixer and keep aside.
• Heat oil in a pan. Add ginger-garlic paste and stir-fry for a minute
• Now add onions and stir-fry till golden brown
• Now add the finely chopped tomatoes and fry again till the tomatoes blend nicely with the onions.
• Now add all the spices and fry for a minute or two.
• Then add the spinach and little water if needed and cook for 4-5 minutes
• Now add the paneer squares to the gravy and cook until done
• Finally add fresh cream (optional) and give a good stir
• Serves with hot Indian chapatis or plain parathas.

Note: You could also shallow fry or deep fry the paneer before adding it to the spinach gravy. But, I don't like using a lot of oil in my cooking and hence kept it simple.