Paneer, the name synonymous with every vegetarian household, or shall I say every household in India. It is a kind of cheese made by curdling milk with a fruit or vegetable derived acid, like lemon juice, and then separating the curds from whey.
Indians’ love for paneer and chhena can be seen and felt through the various dishes that are made from Paneer, ranging from curries to different iconic sweets. Predominantly being a vegetarian country, the importance of paneer in Indian cuisine prevails not only because of the number of dishes that can be made out of paneer, but also because of its numerous health benefits. Paneer is one of the main source of protein for vegetarians and helps in regulating weight as well as maintaining normal blood sugar level. This can be a possible reason that by and large paneer is embraced in almost every state in the country and almost every state has various unique ways to prepare paneer dishes.
However, today, the recipe that I am going to share is a very common paneer dish that everyone of us is used to. Palak Paneer is a regular dish for every Indian household and interestingly every time I tasted Palak Paneer, I realized the dish was uniquely and subtly distinct from the previous one. Going by this fact, can it be concluded that cooking which is nothing but the by-product of your imagination cannot be bounded by any rule.
Well, not digressing further, this Palak Paneer recipe is also little different from the usual Palak Paneer that we generally get to eat. In this recipe I have experimented with the successful combination of spinach, garlic and curd, which somehow never failed with my taste buds, and even with people who have tasted this recipe. The presence of curd allows a little tangy taste which is always welcomed by Indian taste buds.
So, here is the uncommon recipe for our very common Palak Paneer.
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Recipe: Palak Paneer/ Indian Cottage Cheese in spinach sauce
Preparation Time: 12 – 15 minutes Cooking Time: 45 minutes on low flame Equipment used: Blender, a non-stick frying pan and a cooking spoon Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients:
- Around 200 gm palak
- 400 gm paneer or Indian cottage cheese
- Around 1/8 cup or 20 garlic cloves for preparing spinach/ palak puree and ½ tablespoon chopped garlic for cooking
- Around 1 inch X 0.5 cm ginger slice
- 1/2 cup curd
- 1 green chilli
- A medium sized onion, sliced
- One chopped tomato
- 1/8 teaspoon jeera powder
- ¼ teaspoon Indian garam masala powder
- Salt to taste
- Sugar to taste
- 2 tablespoon oil
Method:
- Cut the stems from the spinach leaves. This will allow you to have a smooth spinach puree required for this recipe
- To get rid of any soil particles from the leaves, wash the spinach by soaking the spinach leaves in water for a while and then strain water from spinach
- Blanch spinach leaves by putting it in hot water for 2 minutes and then immediately put the leaves in cold water
- Now to make puree, transfer the spinach in a blender, along with curd, ginger, garlic and green chilli
- Blend the ingredients to a smooth paste
- Heat a pan and then add two tablespoon oil
- Add chopped garlic once the oil is hot
- Once garlic is sautéed, add sliced onion pieces and cook them till they turn golden brown
- Add chopped tomato once the onion pieces turn golden brown
- When the tomato pieces are tender, add spinach puree into the pan
- Cook it till the extra water evaporates. This is the way to ensure spinach puree is completely cooked
- Adjust the thickness of gravy by adding water
- Now add jeera powder/ground cumin seed and Indian garam masala powder followed by paneer cubes. Cook the curry for a minute or two
- Add salt and sugar to taste
- Switch off the flame and serve the curry hot
Cut the stem of spinach and then soak it in water to wash the leaves. After leaves are washed, blanch the leaves.
Transfer the leaves in a blender along with curd, garlic, ginger and green chilli
Heat oil in a pan. Add garlic in hot oil.
Add onion once the garlic is sauteed.
Add tomato, once the onion turns golden brown.
Add spinach puree once the tomato is tender.
Once the spinach puree is cooked, add ground cumin and ground garam masala.
Add paneer cubes, followed by salt and sugar
Tips:
- Compared to vegetables and fruits, it is difficult to remove the soil particles from leaves or leafy vegetables. To get rid of soil particles, longer you keep the leaves soaked in water, better the chances of getting clean leaves
- In case you see lots of soil particles after first wash, wash the spinach again by following the same process
- You can use any regular cooking oil. In my case I have used mustard oil
- As the gravy contains curd, it is important to add sugar to balance the sour taste
- For added taste you can add cheese or milk cream after removing the pan from flame
- Cooking is fun and not chore. Enjoy the entire process of cooking palak paneer on low flame
