Palak paneer – spinach cottage cheese gravy

Palak paneer is a very famous Indian curry made with cottage cheese and spinach. It is a healthy side dish for roti or phulkas as it has the nutritional benefits of spinach (palak) and paneer (cottage cheese).

Palak paneer tastes best when you use homemade paneer in it. It is very easy to make and I always prepare my own paneer at home. I simply cube them and freeze them, so that I always have them handy when needed. Fresh paneer makes a huge difference to any curry. You can check my homemade paneer recipe here.

People make palak paneer in many ways. I like mine flavorful and with a slight hint of tanginess rather than a very spicy curry. I do not add any garam masala or spice powder in my recipe. But, you may adjust the flavors as per your taste.

The recipe I shared here is my version that I love the most. I also do it in other ways, I will share them soon. Sometimes, I also add any vegetables like carrot, corn and beans to simply incorporate more vegetable goodness into the curry.

 

 

Paneer is a favorite in our home. We do not indulge often in it, but having it once in a while is definitely not bad 🙂 I have many paneer recipes in the blog, do check them out —

1. Dry mutter paneer
2. Mutter paneer – gravy
3. Tawa paneer – snack/starter
4. Kadai paneer
5. Paneer cake
6. Paneer biryani
7. Chili paneer – starter

 

 

Serve palak paneer with roti, naan, phulkas and any rice recipes like jeera rice, vegetable pulao and peas pulao.

 

Serves: 2-3

Preparation time: 15 mins Cooking time: 20 mins

 

For palak gravy:

Palak leaves or spinach – 2 cups (washed and roughly chopped)

Onion – 1 large (roughly chopped)

Green chilies – 2 (roughly chopped)

Tomato – 2 medium (roughly chopped)

Ginger – ½ inch piece (roughly chopped)

 

Other:

Paneer cubes (cottage cheese) – ½ cup

Grated paneer – ¼ cup (optional)

Onion – 1 small, chopped

Mutter or green peas – ¼ cup, cooked (optional)

Bay leaf – 2

Cumin seeds or jeera – 1 tsp

Oil – 1 tbsp

Salt – as per taste

 

Procedure:

1. Take a bowl and add all the ingredients under ‘for palak gravy’.
2. Add a pinch of salt and mix well.
3. Pressure cook for 3 whistles or until the vegetables are cooked. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.
4. Once it is cool enough to handle, blend them to a smooth paste. Palak gravy is ready.
5. Heat 1 tsp oil in a pan and fry the paneer cubes till they turn slight golden in color. Set aside. If you do not like fried paneer, you can skip this step.
6. Into the same pan, add the remaining oil.
7. Once hot, add the cumin seeds and bay leaf. Fry for few seconds.
8. Add the onion and fry till onion changes color.
9. Add the mutter and prepared palak gravy.
10. Season with salt, cover and simmer for 2-3 minutes.
11. Finally add the fried paneer cubes and crumbled paneer, simmer for another minute and remove from heat.
12. Palak paneer is ready to be served.

 

Notes:

1. You can add some water to the curry depending on the consistency you prefer. Mine was perfect without adding any water.
2. I like my palak paneer flavorful rather than spicy, so I do not add any spice powders. But, you may adjust as per your taste.
3. Sometimes, I even add boiled potato and carrots to reduce the amount of paneer.
4. Add a little lime juice to the palak while cooking. This retains the green color of palak.

 

You can check other healthy palak recipes in the blog — Palak pulao, Palak paratha, Palak kofta curry.

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