Beautiful green spinach based goodness with paneer cheese that has a special place in my heart since childhood
When I was a little girl, it was our family tradition to go to a local restaurant every Sunday night. It was a very nice restaurant that served Punjabi dishes. Punjab is a region in North India which is most famous for its amazing rich gravy based dishes, samosas, parathas, naan and so on. And this restaurant although miles away from Punjab, used to make one of the best Punjabi food. The restaurant was called "Sunflower" and I used to love eating Palak paneer there. I would have been the only 6 year old kid in the room, who was so excited about the dish. If spinach is cooked this way, you would want to eat it everyday. After I started my cooking journey, I slowly started perfecting this recipe and now I can finally say this will be one of the best Palak paneer dishes you will have!
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Servings : 4 people Prep Time: 15 mins Cooking time: 30 mins
Ingredients:
Shallots or red onion, chopped - 1 medium onion makes about 3/4th cup
Tomato, chopped 1/2 cup
Spinach - 4 handfuls or 6 cups
Paneer, cubed - 1 1/2 cup
Green Chillies- 1 or 2 depending on spice level- chopped
Cilantro , chopped- 1/4 cup
Yogurt, fresh - 1/2 cup
Wheat flour- 1 tbsp
Jeera or cumin seeds- 1/2 tsp
Cardamom- ground- 1/4 tsp
Tej Patta or dried Bay leaves- 2
Hing powder or Asafetida- 1/4 tsp
Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp
Kashmiri Chili powder- 1/4 tsp
Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp or depending on taste
Sugar - 1/4 tsp or just a couple pinches
oil- 4 tbsp
Chaat Masala (optional) - 1 or 2 pinches
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Steps
Blanch Spinach in boiled water for 5 minutes. Remove spinach using a pair of tongs and transfer into a cold bowl of water , preferably icy water, this helps to retain the color of the spinach.
Heat skillet on medium heat, add 2 tbsp of oil , add paneer and fry till golden brown. Remove paneer and set aside.
In the same pan, 1 remaining oil and heat. Add cumin seeds, Tej Patta, cardamom- fry till fragrant. Add garlic, ginger and chillies and fry for a minute.
Add onion and fry until golden brown. add tomatoes and add salt and sugar. Cover and cook tomatoes until oil starts separating.
Add Yogurt to bowl, add spices and whisk to combine. Add yogurt mixture and stir to combine.
Meanwhile, add blanched spinach, cilantro to blender and blend until smooth.
Add the blended spinach puree to tomato yogurt gravy and stir. Add salt and sugar. Cook for two minutes. Add paneer and cook for five mins.
Sprinkle whole wheat flour to thicken the gravy as it cooks.
Garnish with cilantro and serve with naan or rice.
Helpful Tip:
Fry some garlic in some oil or butter and pour over the palak paneer. Pack in a lunchbox and take to work for next day. The dish gets tastier with time.
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