PALAK PANEER

Hi All,

Palak Paneer is one Indian greatest food I ever tasted. Though there are many variations in palak paneer recipe, this one is easy and quick to make. Since I don’t like fresh cream as toppings in any of my dishes I avoided it.But you can drizzle fresh cream on top to make the gravy rich in taste and similar to restaurant style.

Blanching palak helps to retain the fresh colour of gravy and also blanching helps to remove some of the chemicals too.

But don’t over boil the palak leaves , just two minutes in hot water is enough.

Here comes the yummy recipe of palak paneer,

COOKING TIME :  20 mins.

SERVINGS : 4 members.

INGREDIENTS :

Paneer – 200 gms.

Ginger – ½” Piece

Garlic – 5 pods

Cumin – ½ tsp

Onion – 1

Tomato – 1 ½ (medium sized)

Bay leaf – 1

Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp

Asafoetida – a pinch

Garam masala – ½ tsp

Salt – for taste

Butter – 2 tsp.

TO GRIND :

Palak leaves – 2 bunch ( around 4 cups).

Green chillies – 5

Garlic –  5 pods

Ginger – 1/2” piece.

METHOD :

1) Boil 2 cups of water till boiling point .

2) Add palak leaves , leave for 2 mins and strain the water , immediately add the leaves to ice water for 2 mins and strain that water too.

3) Grind blanched leaves along with ginger, garlic and green chillies ( grinding ingredients) to fine puree.

 

 4) Chop onions, tomatoes, ginger, garlic to small bits.
 5) Heat butter in pan, bay leaf, add cumin, ginger, garlic, onions and saute till translucent.

6) Add tomatoes and saute till mushy.

 7) Add turmeric powder , asafoetida and give a quick saute.

8) Now add palak puree, salt , water and give boil for 5 mins till gravy thickens.

 9) Finally sprinkle garam masala and mix once.

 10)             Cube paneer to medium sized pieces, and if required fry the paneer for a minute till brown (this prevents from paneer from breaking in gravy).

 11)             Add paneer cubes to palak gravy and boil for 30 seconds, remove flame and serve hot.

12)             Serve hot with roti, chapati and pooris too.

 NOTE  :

1) Never over boil palak , over boiling will change the colour.

2) Adding fresh cream at final stage is purely optional, it will enhance the taste and also gives a restaurant taste. But I skipped it as we don’t like the flavour of fresh cream in gravies.

HAPPY COOKING!!