Palak Paneer- The Famous North-Indian vegetable curry

Palak Paneer

As I keep continuing with my journey of cooking various Indian recipes in a different and unique way, this time I wanted to cook one of India’s most loved vegetarian recipe, Palak Paneer. Palak Paneer is a very popular North Indian dish prepared with spinach and Paneer. This traditional and popular green vegetarian recipe is a rich, smooth and creamy curry where the paneer cubes are cooked with onion, tomato and spinach with the addition of rich Indian spices. This creamy curry makes a great accompaniment with rotis, paratha, naan or hot steamed rice. It tastes the best with butter naan or butter parathas.

After having cooked this popular recipe, I advanced one more step and gained more confidence in cooking vegetarian recipes as I have always been into cooking non-vegetarian recipes. So this is just the beginning as I will come up with more vegetarian recipes for all the vegetarian lovers but in my own unique way.

Ingredients:

• Paneer – 250 gm (I gave it a triangular shape)
• Spinach – 2 big bunches(discard the coarse stems) – blanch in hot water for 2 minutes and make a paste
• Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
• Onions – 2, finely chopped
• Green chillies – 4, finely chopped
• Ginger paste – 1 tsp
• Red chilli powder – 1 tsp
• Roasted Cumin-Coriander powder – 1 tbsp
• Tomatoes – 2 big (blanched in hot water, peeled and pureed)
• Garam masala powder  – ½ tsp(make a powder of 2 cloves, 1 cardamom and 1” cinnamon stick)
• Kasuri methi – ¼ tsp
• Butter- 100gms
• Salt to taste

Method:

• Add oil in a heavy bottomed vessel and add cumin seeds and let them splutter. Add the onions and green chillies. Sauté them till light brown. Don’t burn them.
• Add garlic paste and fry further for 3 minutes. Add red chilli powder and roasted cumin-coriander powder and combine well.
• Now add the tomato paste and let it cook for 5-6 minutes on medium heat. Add the palak paste and let it cook further for another 4-5 minutes.
• Add the sliced paneer cubes and combine. Cook covered on low heat for 3 minutes. Add the palak water and salt and cook on medium heat for 10-12 minutes.
• Finally add the butter, garam masala powder and kasuri methi and mix well. Reduce flame, cover and cook for 2 minutes.
• Serve hot with butter naan or rotis or steamed rice.

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• Ingredients of Indian Cooking – Green Chillies
• Recipe for Paneer Veg Nibbles
• Paneer ki Bhaji