My mom is in town, which means I get the pleasure of eating home cooked meals made by someone else for a change. Yay for me! My mom doesn’t cook as often as she did earlier, but she is an awesome cook and anything cooked by her is always a treat. Thanks to her and her interest in cooking, my brother and I were exposed to different cuisines very early on in life. She is the reason for my love affair with food, and for that I will always be grateful.
Today for GMT, I am sharing her recipe for palak paneer- a spinach based curry with indian cheese cubes. While it is best to separately cook each element in the recipe since it helps to bring out more flavors, it is easier and quicker to just grind the ingredients together and then cook the mixture. It still tastes great, so if you are short on time or want to spend less time in the kitchen and more time with friends and family, this recipe works very well.
I made the paneer fresh at home but you can use store-bought paneer which is easily available at any indian grocery store.
This post would have gone up earlier in the day today but with mom around and my cousin, who was also here for a week, and who left today, time just flew and writing the post got delayed. I am a little sleepy now, so I will keep this post short and jump straight to the recipe.
- 7-8 garlic cloves
- 1½ tomatoes
- 1 small onion
- 2 bunches spinach, washed, drained and chopped
- 1 tbsp ginger paste
- 1-2 green chillies
- ¼ cup cilantro leaves (coriander leaves)
- 1 tbsp ghee/ clarified butter
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 1 tsp kasoori methi /dried fenugreek leaves
- 200-250 grams paneer, cut in cubes
- garam masala
- salt, to taste
- cream (optional)
- In a large pan, add the chopped spinach leaves, cover and cook on medium flame for a few minutes. When all the spinach is completely wilted and has turned bright green, remove the spinach leaves with a slotted spoon, reserving the liquid and transfer to a blender.
- While the spinach is still cooking, blend the cilantro, green chillies, tomatoes, onion, ginger and garlic in the blender to a smooth paste.
- Heat ghee in a pan and add the tomato onion paste. Cook on medium heat for 8-10 minutes till the oil separates. Add the cumin powder and mix well. Add the pureed spinach and using the reserved liquid clean the blender of any stuck pureed spinach and add the liquid to the pan.
- Season with salt. Cover and cook on low for about 10 minutes. Add garam masala, and dried fenugreek leaves.
- Add the paneer cubes and let simmer for 1-2 minutes on low.
- Add the cream, and gently mix it in. Remove from heat.
- Serve with flat bread/rotis/ parantha. You can garnish with cream, butter or julienned ginger.
I also want to eat this..
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I am almost done cooking this dish and it is already tasting delicious! thanks for sharing 🙂
I hope you liked it! 😀
Absolutely!!!
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Best palak paneer dish I ever made! I never really knew how to season it so was often making it bland, thanks for sharing!
Hey Sahiba!! First of all congratulations! Hope motherhood is treating you well and both you and the baby are doing great. I am so glad you liked it. Thanks for letting me know 🙂
I have tried some of them and have to save them for future use. These Palak Paneer recipe are really helpful