Name: Palak Paneer Recipe | Spinach with Cottage Cheese Recipe
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 40 min
Ingredients: 2 Cups Spinach (Keerai) (Tightly Packed. 1 Cup - 250ml); 200 gms Paneer; 2 Tomato; 1 Big size Onion; 3 Garlic cloves; 1 tbsp Ginger Garlic Paste; 1 tsp Cumin Powder; 1 tsp Coriander Powder; 1 tsp Red Chili Powder; 2 Green Chili; ¼ tsp Turmeric Powder; 1½ tsp Salt (Adjust As Needed); 1 tbsp Fresh Cream (Optional); 1 tbsp Kasoori Methi (Dry Fenugreek Leaves); 1 inch Cinnamon Stick; 2 Cardamom; 2 Cloves; 1 Bay Leaf; 1 tsp Cumin Seeds; 2 tbsp Butter

Palak Paneer

4.5 from 2 votes

Palak Paneer Recipe | Spinach with Cottage Cheese Recipe, paneer in a thick paste made from puréed spinach and seasoned with ginger, garlic, garam masala, and other spices. Palak Paneer is usually served with Roti/Naan or Jeera Rice. A very healthy at the same time scrumptious Paneer Gravy!

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

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Reading Time: 7 minutes

Palak Paneer, Soft paneer or Indian cottage cheese are cooked in spinach along with mild spices and garnished with rich cream. This Palak Paneer is a best combination for Roti/Chapati and even for pulao. It is one of the most popular Paneer variety along with Paneer Butter Masala and Kadai Paneer. Most of us love paneer, especially kids. Paneer recipes are always rich and so yummy and a perfect accompaniment for any Indian Breads. This Palak Paneer is also a popular Paneer dish served in many restaurants.

It is always a difficult task for many parents to make kids eat greens. Eating spinach atleast once a week is so good for health. My mom used to make Keerai kuzhambu or Keerai Kootu or Thuvaran every Tuesday and Friday. But my kids always have an aversion of eating greens. Most of the time, I would make puree of spinach and mix with the rice so that they don’t have an option of taking spinach out of their food. This Palak Paneer is a perfect way to make kids eat greens without a grim in their face. The Paneer added to the spinach puree makes them love this recipe!

Tips for making Palak Paneer:

Cleaning Spinach: Take water in a large bucket or vessel. Add the spinach leaves and let it rest in water for atleast 10 mins. In this resting time, any sand/dust in the leaves gets settle down. Then we can take out the floating leaves gently without mixing the water
Cooking Spinach: Always cook spinach uncovered. Covering spinach makes lose its color
Do not overcook Spinach. Over cooking makes the Spinach tastes bitter. If you accidentally over-cooked, then add a teaspoon of sugar while grinding to compensate the bitter taste
Frying Paneer is optional. We can add freshly cubed paneer as it is to the spinach gravy.
Soften Paneer: If the fried paneer cubes are hard, soak in warm water till the masala is getting prepared and then take out the paneer cubes from warm water and add it to the masala
Serving. Palak paneer is served hot with a side such as roti, naan, paranthas, makki di roti, or boiled rice. It can also be served with onions on the side for a more traditional approach
Vegan Version: Replace Paneer with Tofu. Also instead of fresh cream, you can use coconut milk or cream
Refrigerate the Gravy: We can make the spinach gravy and store the gravy in refrigerator even for a week. We can then take the gravy, heat it and then add paneer or cooked chole and enjoy the masala.

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Recipe Card for Palak Paneer:

Instructions with Step by Step Pictures:

I used store bought Paneer Cubes. If you have paneer bar, cut them into 1/2′ inch cubes. We can use the paneer cubes as such or we can fry it a little in the pan with a teaspoon of ghee. This is not mandatory. We can also soak the refrigerated paneer cubes in hot water for 5 minutes and then we can use it directly. But, I personally prefer to fry it a little so that they have a very good aroma. Take a pan and add a teaspoon of butter and fry the paneer cubes till they become slightly brown color

Chop the leaves of the spinach and wash it in cold water first. Then heat a pan of water and add salt to it and allow it to boil. When the water starts to boil, add the spinach leaves and allow it to boil for 2-3 minutes. The spinach will cook in no time. Do not close the pan as closing the pan would make the spinach loose its colour. Once the spinach is boiled for a couple of minutes, use a colander to drain the water and immediately rinse it with cold water to prevent the discolour of spinach. The green colour and texture of the spinach is more important for this dish

Finely chop the onions and garlic cloves and keep it ready. Cool off the spinach and grind it to a paste in a mixer. Boil another cup of water in a vessel and remove from flame. To that add tomato and cover it with a lid.

After 5 minutes, take out the tomato, remove its skin and add it to the mixer and grind it to get the puree

Heat a pan with butter or cooking oil. Add bay leaf, cinnamon stick, cloves and cardamom and fry for a second. To this add cumin seeds and when the cumin seeds starts to sputter, add chopped garlic and fry for 10 seconds

Then add chopped onions along with a pinch of salt and keep the flame medium and saute the onions till they become light brown colour. Next, add ginger-garlic paste and turmeric powder and mix well

Then add crushed methi leaves powder and to this add tomato puree and keep the flame low. Also add cumin powder, coriander powder and red chilli powder and mix well.

When the oil starts to ooze out of the gravy, add the spinach puree and add necessary salt and mix well. Allow the gravy to boil in low flame for 5-6 minutes. Add fresh cream and mix well

Finally add paneer cubes and mix well in the spinach gravy and allow the palak paneer to boil in low flame for 5 minutes and then switch off the flame.