What is palak paneer?
Palak Paneer dhaba style or Indian cottage cheese in spinach sauce is the easiest recipe of the whole world. This Indian spinach dish is a signature curry of many households. I love Punjabi vegetarian cuisine for the way it uses its ingredients to get the proteins. Although most people associate Punjabi cuisine with butter chicken and tandoori chicken, the rustic Punjabi household in villages uses its greens very well. Whether it is Sarson ka saag or Saag paneer, they ensure greens and ghee both reach your tummy. Dishes are pretty simple when you begin cooking them at home. All you need is some blanched greens, onion tomato puree and some cottage cheese. This green paneer recipe is one of the most famous recipes along with hariyali paneer tikka.
Spinach recipes are always easy to cook whether its aloo palak or palak tofu. You can make a spinach pilaf or paratha like a methi thepla.
This simple dish can rock your party along with some dal makhani. You also charm your kids into eating the absolute necessary greens. Spinach and paneer curry makes everyone happy. You can indulge in some low calorie air fryer gulab jamuns later. Voila! you have the magic wand! For vegans: you can make a palak tofu with some coconut yogurt and serve vegan dal makhani.
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Ingredients for palak paneer
- Spinach leaves
- Onion medium size
- Tomatoes diced
- cottage cheese
- curd or yogurt
Tempering:
- ghee/ clarified butter or oil
- cumin seeds
- Ginger paste
- red chilli powder increase if you like it extra spicy
- turmeric powder
- cumin powder
- garam masala
- green chilli optional
- salt as per taste
refer to recipe card for details.
Related recipes
How to make palak paneer recipe restaurant style?
1. Heat oil in a pan. Sauté paneer cubes. Keep it aside.This is an optional step, you can directly add fresh paneer/cheese pieces if you like.
2. Heat water in a pan and add fresh spinach leaves or baby spinach leaves to it. Leave it for 5 minutes.
3. Drain the excess water. Allow it to cool and puree it. Keep it aside.
4. Heat oil and add cumin seeds to it. Let it splutter. Add chopped onions, ginger & chillies. Cook over medium heat, until the onions are pink.
5. Now, add chopped tomatoes along with some salt. Let it cook until they soften.
6. Add spices and mix well. Let it cook. If you like eat really spicy, add some green chilly to the tempering.
7. Cook until the oil oozes out.
8. Now, add the spinach/palak puree.
9. Add 2 cup water. Let it come to boil.
Top tip: Make a palak gravy and freeze it for later.
- 10. Add fried paneer pieces and cook until the gravy thickens.
11. Serve palak paneer sabji hot with roti .
palak paneer recipe dhaba style | palak paneer recipe
Equipment
- Sieve
- Blender
- kadai/frying pan
Ingredients
- 400 grams cottage cheese
- 1 large bunch 250 gm of Spinach leaves
- 1 medum onion
- 2 teaspoon ginger paste
- 2-3 tomatoes diced
- 5-6 tablespoon ghee/ clarified butter or oil
- 2 tablespoon curd or yogurt
- 1 tablespoon cumin seeds
- ½ teaspoon red chilli powder increase if you like it extra spicy
- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin powder
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- 2-3 green chillies optional
- salt as per taste
Instructions
For the cottage cheese:
- Cut the cottage cheese into small cubes.
- You may fry/saute them slightly in 2-3 tablespoon oil.
- Keep it aside.
For the spinach sauce:
- Blanch the spinach and greens(if using amaranth and fenugreek)
- Blend the spinach coarsely using a stick blender/mixer.
- Optionally ,heat 2-3 tbsp. ghee in a pan, cook the spinach puree in the pan for 5-10 minutes or until it starts boiling,keep it aside.
For curry:
- Heat a pan and add ghee/oil to it.
- Add cumin seeds,green chillies, ginger paste to it and saute.
- Now add the onions and saute' till they turn pink.
- Add tomatoes and stir 2-3 times until they soften.
- Add the spices and let it cook for 5mins.(you may choose to turn off the gas,let the mix cool down and puree it).
- Add spinach sauce to the tomato/onion mix and let it come to a boil.
- Add 2 cups of water and let it boil.
- Now, add fried cottage cheese to this puree and let it simmer for 5-6 minutes or gravy thickens.
- Serve hot with 'Jeera' rice/steamed rice or 'tandoori Roti'/Indian flat bread
Notes
You can also use 2 bunches of spinach instead of Amaranth leaves if they are not available easily.
Replace paneer with tofu and ghee with oil to make it vegan. Do not add onions and garlic to the recipe to make Jain 'palak paneer' . You may skip the different spices and use curry powder instead,add garam masala if you like it spicy.
Nutrition
Substitutions & Variations
- If you do not have paneer at home, you can also use halloumi instead.
- Use tofu instead of paneer and oil instead of ghee, to make vegan palak paneer.
- You can also use Amaranth leaves/chaulai/rajgira/lal saag along with spinach if you have it handy.
- You can use baby spinach or frozen spinach leaves, too to make this recipe.
- Do not add onions and garlic to the recipe to make Jain palak paneer .Heat ghee in a pan and add cumin seeds, pureed tomatoes before proceeding with spinach puree.
- You can also add tofu and replace ghee with oil to make a vegan variation and call it Palak Tofu.
FAQs
2-3 days in refrigerator. Always reheat the left overs before you consume.
Yes because it is rich in iron, Vitamin A, K, zinc, manganese, omega acids, Vitamin B1,B2,B6 and E.
You can buy it easily from market or any local dairy. These days even Costco sells Paneer. However, if you want to make it at home. You will need full fat or full cream milk. Boil milk and add 3-4 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar or lemon juice to it. Separate the whey and strain the fresh homemade paneer. You need to remove excess water from it. Set it into blocks by placing a heavy vessel on top. Freeze it in freezer for longer duration or just in chill tray if consuming within a day or 2.Best make it before hand on a Friday night. Enjoy it over the weekend or mid week. Use the water to knead dough or add it to rice or dal while making it.
Palak Paneer curry is made with blanched spinach or palak while saag is a mixture of greens. We use greens like amaranth, fenugreek, other local leafy greens. You can blanch them in a similar fashion like good old spinach. However the taste may be little bitter.
Conclusion: delicious dhaba style palak paneer recipe is an Indian dish where we cook cottage cheese cubes in a smooth spinach sauce. It is a curry which showcases how we use greens in Indian cuisine to perfection.
Ramesh says
A testy combination of palak and paneer .
Vicky says
Thanks for sharing
rameshwar says
nice