This beautiful green gravy has become my favorite since the last couple of years. I was only a small town girl from South India and I have hardly ever eaten a curry with Spinach. Being with a Fauji (Army) husband means coming out of your comfort zone (by all means). It is to stay away from home and explore newer things in life- be it finding out how to cook with veggies you've never cooked with or how to cook a five-course meal in under an hour.
I'm introducing a new feature on this space - Veggie Wednesdays. I will be sharing vegetarian dishes and the recipe for it, every Wednesday. I hope you will look forward to it and try at home.
Pour in your suggestions, if any.
Palak Paneer
- Total Time: 0 hours
Ingredients
For onion paste:
- Onions – 2,medium,finely sliced
- Cashew nuts – ¼ cup
- Green chilies – 5,slit
- Water – 1 cup
For spinach paste:
- Spinach – 1 medium branch
- Water – about 5 cups
For curry:
- Paneer – 200gm, ½ inch cubed
- Oil – 3 tsp
- Ginger-Garlic paste – 1 tbsp
- Tomatoes – 1,medium, finely chopped
- Dried fenugreek leaves– 1 tsp
- Garam masala – 1 tsp
- Salt – to taste
- Cream (Malai) – 2 tablespoon or Milk - ¼ cup
Instructions
Preparation:
- Add the sliced onion, cashews and green chilies in a cup of water. Boil and simmer for about 15mins or until the onions are soft.
- When it is cooled down, grind to a smooth paste and keep aside.
- Blanch the spinach in about 5 cups of water. Boil and cook on medium heat for five minutes.
- Take spinach leaves out and put them into cold water. This helps in keeping the green color intact.
- When it is cooled down, puree the spinach. Do not add any water. If required, use a little from the water which was used to blanch the spinach.
Cooking:
- Heat oil in a pan and add ginger-garlic paste. Saute.
- Add chopped tomatoes and cook for 2 minutes.
- Add onion paste and cook for another couple of minutes.
- Add spinach puree and let it boil for a minute.
- Add salt, dried fenugreek leaves and garam masala. Mix well.
- Add paneer cubes and mix. Cook for 2 minutes.
- Add cream or milk. Stir and it is ready to serve.
- Prep Time: 0 hours
- Cook Time: 0 hours
Add a dollop of butter. Serve hot with Naan or rice.
shweta says
Since I am a vegetarian, I skipped the chicken biryani and came here to relish super awesome palak paneer! Loved it babe!
Novemberschild says
I think one of the most popular and healthy vegetable dishes you will find all over India is palak paneer.It is a complete dish. Spinach is a great source of vitamins and paneer gives the calcium and protein.
Rajlakshmi says
I have never tried with cashews ... I add a lot of white sesame instead. Will try it with cashew next time. Palak Paneer is a favourite in my house 😀
Nabanita Dhar says
This is one of my favourite dishes. I love how my mom makes it and it is quite similar to yours. keep cooking and sharing with us girl 🙂
Bellybytes says
Veggie Wednesday is a great idea. I'm vegetarian for the month of Shrawan and Palak paneer is one of my favourites too. I've never made it this way though . I'll give it a shot and let you know how yum it was. Looking forward to next Wednesday .
Alana says
Pinned this. Already feeling hungry.