Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Palak Paneer (Spinach and Cottage Cheese)

This is one dish which is tasty but at the same time, nutritious too :) It comes with the goodness of green leafy palak(spinach) and the heavenly paneer(cottage cheese)! This is also quick to prepare and can be served in 30 minutes! Now, do you need any more reason??

Palak Paneer


What I Used -



Palak - 1 bunch
Paneer - 15 cubes (of 1 cm)
Onions, chopped - 1
Tomatoes, pureed - 2 to 3

Ginger-garlic paste - 1 tsp
Dhania powder (Coriander seeds' powder) - 1 tsp
Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp
Red chilli powder- 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
Oil - 1.5 tsp



How I Made It-


  • Cook Palak in an open pan (to retain green color) with just enough water to cover it. This takes about 15-20 mins on low-medium flame.
  • Drain most of the water and allow it to cool.
  • Thaw the paneer cubes for about 30 mins. We can do this at the beginning itself to save some time. 
  • In a kadai, heat 1.5 tsp of oil, saute onions and ginger-garlic paste until you don't sense the raw smell at all.
  • Add pureed tomatoes.
  • Add a little salt now. Allow this to cook for 5 minutes.
  • Blend the cooked and cooled palak in a food processor and add this juice.
  • Add Red chilli powder, Dhania powder and Garam masala and adjust salt.
  • Mix well and cook together for 5 minutes.
  • Add the paneer cubes directly to the palak gravy and cook for 5 more minutes. 
    • Generally, I do not like to fry the paneer cubes unless absolutely necessary. If you'd like to fry them first, then keep them immersed in hot water for 5-10 mins so that they remain soft inside.
This is a North-Indian delicacy and goes well with both roti-varieties and rice.

You can sprinkle 2 tsp of shredded Mozarella cheese on top for a kick! :P Certainly, this is not a part of the traditional recipe!


When I'm lazy to make roti (Indian bread) or cook rice, I just eat it with multi-grain bread and it tastes yummy and very filling :)



6 comments:

  1. Yo! I don't like to fry the paneer too. But it tastes much better when it is toasted. Paneer has enough natural oil inside it, so all you have to do is put it on a frying pan to brown, without adding any oil to it. Just turn it around with tongs so it is evenly cooked on all 6 sides. I'm normally very lazy and content with doing this for 4 sides. :D It tastes so much better that way! You can do this while your palak cooks.

    Also, don't throw away the water you drain out from cooking palak. That has all the nutrients and taste which palak gives out. Use that instead of adding fresh water to your tomato paste/spices etc. Makes it taste better. :)

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  2. Thanks, Pri :) If you can enhance the taste without adding oil/fat, then it's great! I will definitely do it next time I use paneer :)

    And yes, I used the palak stock while extracting juice from tomatoes and making sure all the tomato juice is transferred from the mixer to the kadai. I thought all Indian women do that anyway (in an attempt to be economic ;)

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  3. Hey i jus now got palak n was planning to do palak paneer... Here u are with the recipe... great.. will do it n post u the outcome...

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  4. Nice! See, I know exactly what you want :)

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  5. Hi DV, Palak Paneer done... Came out well... I guess this is going to be the only way for me to eat that green leaf ;)

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  6. Same pinch :D I like it this way too:) the other keerai variety I like is drumstick leaves. Murunga keerai made with dal ( it wud be dry) is one of my favorites:)

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