Best Homestyle Palak Paneer
Paneer (Indian Cottage cheese) cooked in a creamy and delicious green sauce made from Spinach to make this best Palak Paneer recipe ever. Qucik, Easy, delicious, and last but not least super healthy.
Ingredients
- 1.5 tablespoon oil any neutral taste oil will work like canola, avocado etc
- Pinch of asafoetida also called hing, optional
- 1 big onion chopped into small pieces around 2 cups chopped
- 2 big tomatoes chopped into small pieces
- 1 lb Paneer I used Apple farms Paneer block
- Boiling water in a pot enough to soak Paneer pieces
For Spinach puree
- 3 big handfuls of spinach
- 10 to 15 whole cashews
- ¼ cup milk I used 2%fat milk, you can even use 1% or no-fat milk
- ½ cup water
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 or 2 green chillies completely optional, skip for mild spice level
Ground spices
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
- 2 teaspoons ginger garlic paste
- ½ teaspoon coriander powder
- ½ teaspoon cumin powder
- ½ teaspoon red chilli powder
- ½ teaspoon garam masala powder
- Salt to taste
Whole spices
- 1 Star anise
- ½ teaspoon Shah jeera black cumin seeds
- 2 cloves
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
Instructions
Preparation
- If you are using store-bought paneer, as a first step, dice the paneer into cubes and soak them in hot water for a minimum of 20 minutes. You can also add a little salt to this water if you want paneer to soak up more flavor. Paneer will be soft and ready to use by the time you finish other preparations and cooking.
- Dice one big onion into small pieces.
- Dice two big tomatoes into small pieces.
- Blend washed spinach, cashews, ½ teaspoon of cumin seeds, milk, and ½ cup of water into a puree and keep aside.
How to make Palak Paneer
- Heat 1.5 tablespoons of oil in a pan and add one star-anise(optional), ½ teaspoon of shah jeera(black cumin seeds) 2 cloves, hing(asafoetida), and ¼ teaspoon of turmeric powder. Fry them for few seconds till you get a nice aroma.
- Next, add diced onions and a little salt to help the onions cook faster. Saute the onions on medium-high heat until they turn golden brown.
- Then reduce the heat to medium and add 1.5 teaspoons of ginger garlic paste, ¼ teaspoon of coriander powder, and ¼ teaspoon of cumin powder and mix well. Saute the spices for a minute.
- Next, add diced tomatoes and a little salt and cook covered until the tomatoes are completely cooked and oil is separating to the sides. Don't forget to stir in between for every couple of minutes to avoid burning.
- Then add the soaked paneer pieces to the onion-tomato mixture and cook for 3 to 4 minutes. This will help the paneer pieces to soak up the flavor and get moister.
- Now add the blended spinach puree, salt to taste, ¼ teaspoon of red chilli powder, and ¼ teaspoon of garam masala powder and mix well.
- Cook uncovered for 5 minutes while stirring in between. Check the taste and adjust the seasonings. Do not cook for more than 5 minutes after adding spinach puree to preserve the nutrients and beautiful green color.
- Switch off the heat and serve hot with roti, naan, chapati, paratha, or rice.
- Note: If not serving immediately, Please cover the dish with a tight lid to preserve the beautiful green color. If you don't cover with a tight lid, then the Palak paneer will slightly darken but the taste will still be the same and awesome.
Notes
- This super creamy palak paneer is mild to medium on spice levels if you skip green chillies. So please increase the spice levels if you prefer, by adding more coriander powder, cumin powder, and red chilli powder.
- Adding the milk to spinach puree and cooking UNCOVERED for no more than 5 mins after adding spinach puree are the secrets for getting that beautiful green color to this Palak Paneer.
- Cashews are added for a creamy texture. If you want to avoid cashews, then you can either skip them or replace them with a little half and half or cream for a creamy texture.