Palak Paneer
Palak paneer pairs soft cubes of fresh cheese with a smooth North Indian spinach gravy. The sauce should taste green and gently spiced, not bitter or overloaded with cream; hot roti or cumin rice is all it needs.
Ingredients
- 500 gspinach
- 350 gpaneer
- 1 onion
- 2 tomatoes
- 2 green chilies
- 3 clovesgarlic
- 15 gfresh ginger
- 2 tbspghee
- 1 tspcumin seeds
- 0.25 tspturmeric
- 1 tspgaram masala
- 1 tspkasuri methi
- 1 tspsalt
- 60 mlheavy cream
- 150 mlwater
Method
- Prepare an ice bath. Bring a large pot of water to a full boil and fill a bowl with very cold water and ice. Wash the spinach well and remove only the thick, stringy stems; tender stems add flavor and can stay.
- Blanch the spinach. Lower the leaves into the boiling water for exactly 60 seconds, then transfer them straight to the ice bath for 2 minutes. Drain and squeeze gently; this stops the cooking and keeps the puree bright instead of olive brown.
- Blend the green puree. Put the spinach in a blender with the green chilies, ginger, and half the water. Blend for about 45 seconds, until smooth.
- Build the masala. Heat the ghee in a wide pan over medium heat, add cumin, and let it crackle for 20 seconds. Add finely chopped onion and cook for 6 minutes until pale gold, then add minced garlic and cook for 45 seconds until its raw smell disappears.
- Cook the tomatoes and spices. Add finely chopped tomatoes, turmeric and 1 teaspoon of salt, then cook for 7 minutes, stirring, until the tomatoes collapse and the ghee shows at the edges; the salt draws out the juices and speeds this up. Stir in garam masala and crushed kasuri methi for 20 seconds; frying the spices briefly removes their dusty taste.
- Simmer the spinach gravy. Add the puree and remaining water, lower the heat, and simmer uncovered for 6 minutes. Stir often and stop when the sauce coats a spoon but still pours; prolonged boiling makes spinach bitter and dark.
- Finish with paneer. Cut the paneer into 2 cm cubes (soak packaged paneer in hot salted water for 10 minutes first and drain), fold them in and warm for 2 minutes, then turn off the heat and swirl in the cream. Taste the gravy and add a pinch more salt if it needs it. The paneer should yield under a spoon, not become rubbery; serve while the gravy is still vivid green.
FAQ
Yes, frozen leaf spinach works well and saves you the blanching. Use 350 g, thaw it completely and squeeze out as much water as you can, otherwise the gravy turns thin. Blend it with the chilies, ginger and half the water as in step 3, then simmer the puree for only 4 minutes, because frozen spinach is already cooked. The color will be a little duller than with fresh leaves.
Replace the paneer with 350 g firm tofu, the heavy cream with 60 ml unsweetened cashew cream, and the ghee with a neutral oil. Press the tofu for 10 minutes, pat it dry, cut it into 2 cm cubes and brown it for 4 minutes in a spoonful of oil before folding it into the sauce. Add the tofu at the same point as the paneer, in step 7. If you would rather have a vegan curry that needs no substitutions, cook Chana Masala.
Spinach darkens when it is overcooked or when it stays hot after blanching. Keep the blanch to 60 seconds, move the leaves into ice water immediately, and simmer the finished gravy gently for no more than 6 minutes. Mature thick stems can also add bitterness, so discard them. Do not boil the puree hard after the cream goes in.
Cool it quickly and refrigerate it in a sealed container for up to 3 days. Reheat slowly to 75°C and add a spoonful of water if the sauce has thickened. Freezing is possible for one month, though the paneer becomes a little more crumbly. Taste it after reheating, because cold dulls salt and you may need a pinch more.
Palak paneer uses spinach as the main green, while saag paneer can combine mustard greens, fenugreek, spinach or other leaves. Palak gravy is usually smoother and milder; saag is coarser and more pungent. Both are served with flatbread or rice, but their green base is not interchangeable in flavor. For another paneer dish with a smoky, grilled character, see Paneer Tikka.
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