How To Make Palak Paneer Recipe | Restaurant Style Punjabi Palak Paneer

Palak Paneer is a popular Punjabi & North Indian curry made of blanched spinach and soft paneer. This restaurant style spicy Punjabi palak paneer recipe prepares yummy curry by cooking deep fried paneer cubes in healthy spinach gravy, which is sauteed with finely balanced curry spices in aromatic ghee. Additionally, this recipe uses milk cream to bring in rich creamy texture. Serve this spinach paneer curry with equally delicious paneer paratha for scrumptious meal.

Palak Paneer Recipe:
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Serves: 2 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 large bunch or 4 cups chopped Spinach (Palak)
• 1/2 cup Paneer (cubed into 1/2-inch pieces)
• 1/2 inch piece of Ginger, finely chopped
• 1-2 Green Chillies, seeded and chopped (or to taste)
• 1 large Onion, finely chopped
• 4-5 cloves of Garlic (crushed or paste)
• 1 teaspoon Lemon Juice
• 1/2 teaspoon Kasuri Methi (dry fenugreek leaves), optional
• 3 tablespoons Fresh Cream
• 1/4 cup + 1/3 cup Water
• 2 tablespoons + 1 tablespoon Oil or Ghee
• Salt to taste

 Method:

• Clean and wash spinach in water to remove any soil or impurities. To blanch the spinach, boil it in salted water for 2 minutes.
• Drain it using a big perforated spoon or a strainer.
• Immediately transfer drained spinach into cold water and keep for a minute.
• Drain excess water and transfer blanched spinach to the medium size jar of a mixer grinder. Add ginger, green chillies and 1/4 cup water and grind until smooth puree.
• Heat 2 tablespoons oil or ghee in a non-stick pan or kadai over medium flame. Add paneer cubes and shallow fry them until the sides turn light brown. Transfer them to a plate and keep aside. You can remove excess ghee or oil from it by placing them on absorbent kitchen paper napkin.
• Heat remaining 1-tablespoon oil the same pan over medium flame. Add finely chopped onion and stir fry until it turns translucent. Add crushed garlic and stir fry for 20-25 seconds.
• Add spinach puree and salt. Stir and cook for 2-3 minutes.
• Add 1/3 cup water. mix well and bring it to boil. Stir occasionally in between.
• When gravy starts to boil, add shallow fried paneer cubes and cook for 3-4 minutes.
• Add lemon juice, kasuri methi and mix well. Turn off the flame and mix milk cream.
• Transfer it to a serving bowl and serve with tandoori roti, plain paratha or butter naan.

Tips and Variations:

• Make best palak paneer with tofu by adding shallow fried tofu cubes. If paneer cubes are not available and you still want to enjoy goodness of this Punjabi curry, then prepare it with only tofu cubes.
• If you want to have very soft paneer that mixes well with gravy of palak, then soak them in hot water for 10 minutes after shallow frying.
• Add milk cream only after turning off the flame as it may curdle if added before.
• Add more water in step-8 and adjust seasoning according to taste to make more amount of gravy in curry.
• This simple and easy recipe uses shallow fried paneer cubes to improve the flavor and texture of curry. However, you can avoid shallow frying them to reduce the calorie of a dish.

Taste: Creamy and spicy

Serving Ideas: Apart from serving tasty Punjabi palak paneer gravy with various Indian breads like kulcha, butter naan and lachha paratha, it can also be enjoyed with steamed rice or jeera rice and boondi raita.