Palak Paneer / Cottage Cheese in Spinach gravy

Palak paneer is a mild, delicious green curry with Indian cottage cheese cubes and pureed curried spinach. An authentic Indian protein packed dish to have with rice or flat bread.

What a delight to have on cold wintery days!

Palak Paneer, a Punjabi dish by origin, is a staple in Punjabi dhabas and very popular in  Indian restaurants worldwide. But what excites me most is when my daughter asks me to make it.     When most kids run away from spinach weirdly enough mine asks for the green curry. The only condition she has is do not make it too pasty like chutney. She likes the stems and dangling wilted leaves seen in the palak paneer instead.

WHY SHOULD YOU BLANCH THE GREENS FOR SPINACH TOFU CURRY?

Blanching retains the beautiful green color of the curry. The cooking process of introducing high heat and cooling it immediately which stops the cooking and shocks the vegetable thus retaining the color.

To a certain extent blanching removes the bitterness from the greens.

SHOULD I GRIND THE SPINACH ?

You don’t have to grind the spinach simply saute a little and leave it as and this can alternatively be turned into a delicious stir fry.

Serving suggestions:

Traditionally Palak Paneer / Cottage Cheese in Spinach gravy is served warm with flat breads like chappathi, phulkas, naan or plain white basmathi rice and a dollop of ghee or butter on the side.

Goes well with any flat bread or any rice varieties and some plain sallow fried spiced potatoes.

INGREDIENTS SUBSTITUTES :

• Paneer / Indian cottage cheese – Tofu or any vegan meat is good alternative for paneer. Left over cooked or fried chicken cubes also tastes good in this recipe.
• Spinach– replaced by any other greens like kale, collard or mustard greens works well. Basically any type of green that can be cooked tastes good can be used here in this recipe. 
  • Note : A few sprigs of cilantro added along with the greens to this curry will enhance the taste.
• Spices – lesser the better. I do not add any garam masalas to this Spinach andpaneer curry as it is a mild flavorful curry where the flavors of green should stand out.
  • Chili powder – You can completely avoid chili powder instead use chili flakes for making the curry.
• Flavoring – Tomato will definitely make the curry look brownish and steal the green color. Instead for tartness add lime juice while serving.
• Seasoning – Any dry herbs added in the place of dried fenugreek leaves(Kasuri methi)blends with the curry like mint, thyme rosemary etc, but it will definitely alter the original taste.
• Apart from this if want a much creamier flavorful version adding a tsp or two of coconut milk in the end helps. For the non vegans adding a tbsp of heavy cream, a dollop of ghee, butter, heavy cream will definitely enhance the flavors of the curry .

Other spinach recipes to try :

Spinach tofu curry

Lobster spinach bake

Chicken roulade

Spinach and lentil curry

Hope you like it.

Meena