The Palak Paneer curry is one of the most popular Indian curries around, and for good reason. This creamy, vibrantly green dish is made with paneer and mildly spiced spinach. Make this delicious vegetarian main dish at home! It’s quick and easy to prepare!
This spinach paneer recipe is one of the most popular and well-liked on the blog, as well as one of our favorites at home. This meal is full of nutrients like calcium, iron, and vitamin C, which makes me feel good about eating it.
How to Make Palak Paneer
1. Using a colander or strainer, rinse the palak (spinach) leaves (250 grams or 0.55 pounds), very well under running water.
2. Boil 3 cups water in a pan, microwave or electric heater. Add ¼ teaspoon salt to the hot water and stir.
Then add the spinach leaves to the hot water. Let the spinach leaves sit in the water for about 1 minute.
If doing this on a stove-top, be sure to remove the pan from the hot burner.
While the water is coming to a boil, make a bowl of ice water and set it aside. Just add 8 to 10 ice cubes to 3 cups of water to get cold water.
3. After 1 minute, strain the spinach leaves.
4. Immediately transfer the palak (spinach) leaves to the bowl containing ice cold water. This method of “shocking” the spinach helps preserve the vibrant green color of the spinach.
Allow the spinach leaves to stay in the cold water for a minute to stop the cooking process.
5. Drain the ice cold water and press the spinach to remove any excess moisture. Add the spinach in a blender or grinder jar with 1 inch chopped ginger, 1 to 2 garlic cloves and 1 to 2 chili peppers (green chillies).
You can use a hand-held immersion blender to make the puree if you prefer.
6. Make a smooth spinach purée by blitzing the ingredients together. There should be no need to add any water to make the puree. Set the spinach puree aside.
Make Spinach Gravy
7. Heat 2 tablespoons oil, ghee or butter in a pan or kadai (wok). In the photos below I used butter. If using butter, melt it on a low heat making sure that it does not brown.
8. Add ½ teaspoon cumin seeds and let them splutter.
9. Then add one small to medium-sized tej patta (Indian bay leaf).
10. Add ⅓ cup finely chopped onions (1 small to medium sized onion).
11. Sauté until the onions become golden.
12. Then add 1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic. Sauté till the raw aroma of garlic goes away, but stop short of browning the garlic.
13. Add ⅓ cup chopped tomatoes (1 small or medium sized tomato).
14. Stir and sauté the tomatoes until they soften.
15. Once the tomatoes are softened and you see fat releasing from the sides of the mixture, then add ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder, ½ teaspoon red chili powder (or substitute cayenne pepper or paprika) and a pinch of asafoetida (hing).
You can find asafoetida at your local spice store or on amazon, but if you don’t have it, you can skip it.
Also, please note that many commercially available brands of asafoetida are processed with wheat. If you are gluten intolerant, please be sure to purchase gluten free asafoetida.
16. Mix very well.
17. Add the spinach purée to the pan And Mix well.
18. Add about ½ cup of water or as required. Mix and stir again.
19. Simmer the gravy for 6 to 7 minutes or more until the palak puree is cooked. Season with salt as required. The gravy will have thickened by now.
20. Stir and add ¼ to ½ teaspoon garam masala powder.
Assemble Palak Paneer
21. Stir again and then add the paneer cubes (200 to 250 grams cottage cheese) directly to the gravy.
You can also opt to lightly pan-fry the paneer cubes in some oil until they are lightly browned and then add them to the palak gravy. In this case, you don’t need to cook the paneer further.
22. Mix gently and turn off the heat.
23. Lastly add 2 tablespoons of light cream or cooking cream or low-fat cream. I used Amul brand cream. If using heavy whipping cream, then add 1 tablespoon of it.
You can also add 1 teaspoon crushed dry fenugreek leaves (kasuri methi) at this step, however this is optional.
24. Stir gently so that the cream gets uniformly incorporated into the gravy.
26. Serve palak paneer hot with roti, naan or paratha or cumin rice or ghee rice. You can top it with some butter or cream also while serving.
Drizzle a few drops of lime or lemon juice on top along with ginger julienne. Enjoy!
