Brief Introduction: Palak Paneer is one of the most famous North Indian dishes often made in almost every home in India. Spinach as such is one of the greens which has a lot health benefits. Spinach is one of the greens which are rich in vitamins and minerals. No other green has as much Vitamin K as much Spinach contains. Magnesium, iron, folic acid are some of the other healthy constituents of Spinach. Spinach is very helpful in DNA synthesis, energy production and in body building. As i young my mother struggled to make me eat spinach. Spinach was put in my food in various forms but I always knew what to put aside on my Plate and always ate the rest. I guess Popeye the sailor man and Palak Paneer are the two things which made it easier for my mother to help me eat more of Spinach. Palak Paneer is very very easy to make and since Spinach is grown all throughout the year, it also makes the ingredients easily available for this dish. There are various ways of making this dish. One of it is by blending the spinach leaves making a paste and mixing it with paneer or cottage cheese. The other is one where the spinach leaves are directly mixed with cottage cheese so that you get the leaves as it is while having it. I will be talking about the one my mother used to make- by blending the leaves with spices so that i do not get the leaves directly in my mouth.
Palak Paneer:
Ingredients Required:
- Two fifty grams of spinach( washed and cleaned)
- Two fifty grams of paneer or cottage cheese sliced into cubes
- One medium sized onion finely chopped
- One medium sized tomato finely chopped
- One tea spoon Of cumin seeds
- One tea spoon of turmeric Powder
- One inch grated fresh ginger
- Seven to eight garlic cloves (five to six finely chopped rest will be used for the palak paste)
- Three green chilly
- One tea spoon of red chili powder
- Half tea spoon of asafetida
- One tea spoon of Garam masala powder
- One tea spoon of dry fenugreek leaves(Kasuri Methi)
- Two table spoons of clarified butter(ghee)
- Two table spoons of heavy cream
- One table spoon of lemon juice
- Three cups of hot water
- Three cups of ice cold water
- Salt to Taste
How to make Palak Paneer:
- Boil three cups of water. Once hot add the washed and cleaned spinach leaves in it along with salt and cover the vessel for two to three minutes so that spinach partially cooks and becomes soft.
- Take another vessel with three cups of ice cold water. Strain the hot water and add the spinach leaves in ice cold water and leave the leaves for another two to three minutes. This helps in spinach not loosing its green color.
- Strain the water and add the leaves to the blender along with three to four garlic cloves, three green chilies, and one inch of ginger and mix it into a fine paste.
- Take a pan heat it add two table spoon of clarified butter and shallow fry the paneer cubes. Once done transfer to a different plate.
- Use the same pan add one tea spoon cumin seeds to it. Let it crackle.
- Add half spoon of asafetida to the same.
- Add one spoon of turmeric powder, one tea spoon of red chili powder, one tea spoon of garam masala and roast it.
- Once done add finely chopped onion, cook until golden brown.
- Once done add finely chopped tomato and cook it for thirty seconds until the masala completely blends with the onion tomato paste.
- Now add the palak paste and mix well.
- Add the panner cubes into it and mix well.
- Cover the vessel and cook for two to three minutes
- Add two table spoon of cream mix well.
- Palak Paneer is ready to be served hot.
Conclusion:
Palak Paneer best goes with Naan, roti, phulka and other Indian breads. It can also be served with rice if more water is added in the gravy to make it more watery. Hope you like this recipe. Please do try it at home.
