Palak Paneer

Many of the best loved vegetarian Punjabi dishes are the ones where paneer is combined with a vegetable. Paneer is widely used and very popular in Punjab due to the abundance of milk and milk products in the area. 


This combination of spinach and paneer is not only highly nutritious, but is a splendid blend of taste, texture and flavour. 

Ingredients:

Spinach leaves: 3 cups
Cottage cheese: 1 cup
Cooking oil: 2 tsp.
Cumin seeds: 1 tsp.
Onion (diced): 1 big
Ginger (chopped): 1 inch
Garlic (chopped): 4 cloves
Green chilli (choped): 1
Tomato (chopped): 1 big
Salt to taste
Red chili powder: 1 tsp.
Garam masala: 1/2 tsp.

Blanch the spinach and grind to a puree and keep aside. Blanching process: boil water in a pot and add the washed and cleaned spinach leaves and after a minute, remove the leaves and add to the ice cold water. Drain the water and grind. 

Grind the onion and garlic to a smooth paste and keep aside. Similarly, grind the ginger, green chili and the tomato to a smooth paste and keep aside. 

Heat the oil on medium flame and crackle the cumin seeds. Add the onion paste and begin to fry. Keep stirring and frying until the onion paste starts getting brown and cooked. 

Add the second paste: paste of ginger, green chilli and tomato. Mix well and add salt and red chili and fry. Keep stirring regularly so the masala does not stick to the base. 

When the masala starts turning little darker in shade and starts to leave oil at the sides, then the masala is done. 

Add the garam masala and give a stir. Add the cubed cottage cheese at this stage and mix everything well. Add little water to the curry if required. Cover and let cook for 5 minutes. 

Remove cover and cook for another 2-3 minutes. 

Add the spinach puree and mix well. Turn off the flame. DO NOT COVER. Never cover it even when reheating, it will lose its beautiful green color in the steam. 

Serve hot with chappati, laccha paratha or even Jeera rice. Enjoy !!