Punjabi Homestyle Palak Paneer | Cottage Cheese in Mildly Spiced Spinach Sauce

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One of the most popular dishes from Northern India, Palak Paneer counts no less than an exotic curry, truly making for a healthy yet delicious accompaniment to any Indian style flat bread like Naan, Parantha or even plain rice. Every household follows its own recipe to make this delectable curry, the one I am going to share today is a pure homestyle one with no addition of cream or cashew paste (although you are free to add the same to make it more creamier and richer). One thing more, I like to have my spinach sauce a bit tangy, so, I have used a good amount of tomatoes for its tempering. For those who like the gravy plain and simple, can just reduce the quantity of tomatoes to half. Now moving on to the ingredients and recipe.....   

Palak Paneer | Cottage Cheese in Spiced Spinach Sauce

Ingredients

Washed and roughly chopped spinach - 6 cups
Paneer cubes (preferably homemade) - 1 cup
Garlic cloves (chopped) - 4 to 5
Ginger (chopped) - 1/2 inch
Onions (finely chopped) - 1
Tomatoes (medium size, finely chopped) - 3
Green chilies (roughly chopped) - 3
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Dry whole red chilies - 1
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp
Red chili powder - 1 to 2 tsp
Garam Masala powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - as per taste
Butter/Oil - 3 tbsp

Palak Paneer | Cottage Cheese in Spiced Spinach Sauce

Palak Paneer | Cottage Cheese in Spiced Spinach Sauce

Method

1. Bring a big pot of water to a boil.
2. Add in the chopped spinach and let cook for 6 to 8 minutes.
3. Drain the water and blend the spinach to a fine puree.
4. Next, in a kadhai or a pan heat some butter or oil.
5. Add in whole dried red chili and cumin seeds. Saute for 2 to 3 seconds after which add the chopped garlic, ginger and saute until they turns golden.
6. Now add in the chopped green chilies and onions.
7. Fry them until onions turn golden brown.
8. Add in all the dry spice powders along with salt and saute for a second or two.
9. Its time now to add chopped tomatoes.
10. Cook them covered until you see oil oozing out from the sides of the masala. This should take about 10 minutes.
11. Now pour in the spinach puree and let it cook covered on a low heat for about 15 to 20 minutes. It should get thick and all the extra water should get completely evaporated.
12. To finish the gravy, add the paneer cubes and let it cook for another 5 minutes.
13. Serve hot with chapati, naan, parantha or plain rice.

Palak Paneer | Cottage Cheese in Spiced Spinach Sauce

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- Anshu

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