Palak paneer

Palak paneer

Palak paneer is one dish I’ve had quite a lot of times at restaurants and I’ve made it at home a few times too. But the palak paneer that I prepared today was just out of this world! It turned out so perfect, we’re still biting our fingers. Don’t let the shoddy image let you think otherwise, trust me.

These days I’ve turned to vahchef’s recipes on youtube. He already has some 250+ recipe videos under his belt and he seems to have built a strong following on youtube. His name is Sanjay Thumma and he also runs this website call vahrehvah.com. I’ve tried his pizza (both base and sauce), custard and a few other recipes and they have all turned out perfect. Needless to say I am a huge fan. He has a very laidback, simple style of presentation, gives precise instructions including some precious tips and most importantly, he makes cooking look very interesting and fun. If he had a better voice, I would’ve almost had a crush on him. I mean come on he can cook, he has a goofy sense of humour and he can cook!

So here’s the Palak paneer recipe I used, based on vahchef’s recipe of palak paneer.

For Palak paneer, you need

1. Palak (spinach) – 1 big bunch or 2 medium size bunches, washed well and very roughly chopped
2. Paneer – 100 gms, cubed
3. 1 big onion, finely chopped
4. 1 tomato, finely chopped
5. Ginger – 1 inch, crushed
6. Garlic – 5 pods, crushed
7. Kasuri methi (dried methi leaves) – 1 tsp
8. Turmeric powder – a pinch
9. Chilly powder – to taste
10. Coriander powder – 1 tsp
11. Jeera (cumin) powder – 1 tsp
12. Whole jeera (cumin) – 1 tsp
13. Cream – 2tbsp
14. Lavang (cloves) – 3
15. Dalchini (cinnamon) – 1 small piece
16. Salt to taste
17. Oil

Method of preparation:

Take a large pot and boil lots of water. Once the water is boiling, add the roughly chopped spinach and let it cook, WITHOUT the lid for a minute or two, that’s all. Cooking without the lid, stops the discolouration and gives us a yummy looking rich dark green looking palak paneer. Remove the cooked spinach and keep it aside to cool. Reserve the water.

Meanwhile, take a thick bottomed pan and heat some oil. Once the oil is hot, add cloves, cinnamon and whole jeera seeds. Once the jeera starts popping, add the onions with the proportionate amount of salt and saute on low-medium flame for about 5-7 minutes. The key is to make the onions nice soft and tender so that we don’t get chunks of onion in the palak paneer. Once that is done, add the turmeric powder, tomatoes, ginger, garlic, chilly powder, coriander and jeera powder. Crush the kasuri methi in your palms and add it to the sauce. Saute this for 7-10 minutes, till the tomatoes turn really soft and are not lumpy.

Whirr the cooled spinach leaves in a blender and add a little reserved water, if necessary, to make it into a fine paste. Add this paste to the onion-tomato sauce and cook till you see oil droplets separating from the gravy. Add the paneer cubes. Add the cream, mix well and let it simmer for a minute or so.

Eat it with paratha or fulka rotis.

Related posts:

1. Paneer bhurji I tasted my first paneer bhurji at the then swanky...
2. Spinach(Palak) and onion soup Ya ya so I am in one of those short-lived...
3. Gobhi ki subzi The 7 day recipe marathon at Nupur's has been great...
4. Thai red curry Thai red curry vegetarian For some reason I didn't...
5. Chana dal ~ Diwali special snack Today is Vakbaras and the Diwali marathon has officially...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.