Palak Paneer is the soul of an Indian heart and the most bragged-about dish around the world. Made from fresh spinach, Indian cottage cheese, onion, tomato, and Indian spices. It will win your heart & soul ;)!
I am a Muslim from India who chooses to wear the hijab(headscarf). So, when I came to the US and started interacting with the people of the community at work, school, and public places, the majority of times the conversation started with ‘Oh I thought India is Hindu’ then somehow it ended up being about food and more food.
Folks in America might not know much about India's religious diversity, our different cultures, and clothing but they certainly know what Palak Paneer or Saag Paneer is! I believe the conversation that starts about food always ends on a good note. Though we might have different skin colors, shapes, attire, cultures, and languages, we all somehow connect through food. Food is truly a language of love!
What's Palak Paneer?
Palak Paneer is such a wonderful combination of fresh spinach, Indian cottage cheese, tomatoes, and Indian spices. Simple, yet packed with flavors and nothing but goodness. Loved and adored all around India!
What's in Palak Paneer?
Palak translates to Spinach and Paneer translates to Indian Cottage Cheese. Saag translates to leafy greens. So, Saag can be made with a combination of any green leafy vegetable.
Palak paneer is widely made of pureed Spinach & Paneer all around India. My recipe is easy to follow and guaranteed to tingle your taste buds! Better than your next-door Indian restaurant ;).
Dairy & Produce
- Spinach: Frozen spinach won't give that authentic Indian palak paneer taste as the fresh one does. I highly recommend using fresh spinach for this or any palak paneer recipe.
- Paneer-Indian Cottage Cheese: paneer is always available at any local Indian grocery store in the US. You may make it vegan by using firm Tofu.
- Onion & Tomatoes: I believe that caramelized onion and tender tomatoes are the key ingredients of my recipe.
- Ginger-Garlic Paste: Making homemade ginger-garlic paste is super easy and it lasts for a long time for many wonderful meals. I have seen ginger-garlic paste at many major grocery stores' produce sections as well. The choice is yours :).
- Cilantro: I highly recommend using fresh cilantro. Do not substitute if you don't care to add it.
- Oil or Butter: I like using a combination of oil and butter for this recipe. However, using either of them equally makes the dish taste great!
- Heavy Cream or Cashew: heavy cream or cashews are our personal favorite. Try both ways and see which one you like the best ;). Don't recommend using both ingredients together. It ruins the beautiful taste of spinach.
Spices
Garam masala made from the four listed spices below takes this recipe to the next level. It is completely optional but if you truly want to experience great tastes, try it with this whole spice blend.
How to Make Palak Paneer
- Blanch the spinach in the boiling water for about 2 minutes or just until the leaves start to wilt.
- Transfer blanched spinach into a large bowl of cold water. The cold water bath helps retain the bright color of spinach. Take the spinach out of the water. Squeeze all the excess water from the spinach.
- Heat oil in a heavy bottom pan on medium heat and add cumin seeds. Once the cumin seeds start to change color or pop, add onion & whole red chilis. Cook it until the onions are translucent or soft.
- Add the ginger-garlic paste, chopped tomatoes, turmeric, salt, cumin-coriander powder, whole ground spices, dried fenugreek, and chili powder. Add cashew now if substituting for heavy cream.
- Mix it well and let it cook until the tomatoes soften and the oil starts to separate.
- Take it off the stovetop and let the mixture cool down.
- In a large skillet, heat some oil on medium heat. Add cubed paneer to it and turn the heat down to low. Cook until golden brown. Stir in between so paneer cooks evenly.
- In a blender or food processor, take blanched spinach, tomato-onion mixture, and cilantro. Blend it until a smooth consistency.
- Heat butter in the same pan we cooked the onion and tomatoes. Add spinach mixture. Cook it on low heat until warm or approximately 3 to 4 minutes.
- Add heavy cream and stir well until well combined. Add fried paneer and cook for a minute or two on low heat.
- Serve it hot with Naan, plain rice, or Indian roti.
More Indian Vegetarian Recipes
- Aloo Palak
- Dal Tadka
- Stuffed Peppers
- Zucchini Stir Fry
- Eggplant Paneer Masala
- Stuffed Eggplants
- Bhindi Kadhi
- Rai Wale Aloo
Kitchen Tools You’ll Need:
Palak Paneer | Spinach with Indian Cheese
Ingredients
- 1.5 pounds Spinach
- 8 oz Paneer , Cut into cubes
- 1 large Onion , Chopped
- 2 medium Tomatoes , Chopped
- A handful of Cilantro
- 1 teaspoon Cumin Seeds
- ½ teaspoon Turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon Kashmiri Chili powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons Cumin-Coriander powder
- 2 Tablespoons Ginger-Garlic paste , or minced 5 garlic cloves & 1-inch ginger
- 3 Tablespoons Oil , more to fry Paneer
- 1 Tablespoon Butter
- 1 to 2 Whole dried Red Chilis , optional
- 1 Tablespoon Kasoori Methi-Dried Fenugreek leaves
- ¼ cup Heavy Cream
- 5-6 cups Water to blanch the Spinach
- 2 cups Cold water for after blanching bath for Spinach
- 1 teaspoon Salt or to taste
Garam Masala Blend
- 1 small stick of Cinnamon
- 4 Black Peppercorns
- 2 Cloves
- 2 Cardamom Pods
Instructions
- Blanch the spinach in a large pot of boiling water for about 2 minutes or just until the leaves start to wilt. Set the timer for 2 minutes.
- Transfer blanched spinach into a large bowl of cold water. The cold water bath helps retain the bright color of the spinach. Take the spinach out of the water. Squeeze all the excess water from the spinach.
- Grind Cinnamon, Black Peppercorn, Cloves, Cardamom Pods into fine powder in a coffee or spice grinder for garam masala. Set it aside.
- Heat oil in a heavy bottom pan on medium heat and add cumin seeds. Once the cumin seeds start to change color or pop, add onion & whole red chilis. Cook it until the onions are translucent or soft.
- Add the ginger-garlic paste, chopped tomatoes, turmeric, salt, cumin-coriander powder, whole ground spices, dried fenugreek, spice blend, and chili powder. (Add cashews now if substituting for heavy cream.)
- Mix it well and let it cook until tomatoes soften and the oil starts to separate.
- Take it off of the stovetop and let the mixture cool down.
- In a large skillet, heat some oil on medium heat. Add cubed paneer to it and turn the heat down to low. Cook until golden brown. Stir in between so paneer cooks evenly.
- In a blender or food processor, take blanched spinach, tomato-onion mixture, and cilantro. Blend it until a smooth consistency.
- Heat butter in the same pan we cooked the onion and tomatoes. Add spinach mixture. Cook it on low heat until warm or approximately 3 to 4 minutes.
- Add heavy cream and stir well until well combined. Add fried paneer and cook for two minutes on low heat or until Paneer softens.
- Serve it hot with Naan, plain rice, or Indian roti.
Notes
- Frying Paneer is completely optional.
Kumar om says
Lovely recipe. I have tried many many of your recipes and they all turn out lovely! My kids used to love only restaurant North Indian dishes. Being a South Indian, I could never capture that. But with your recipe, my kids are enjoying home food. Thank you!!
Anonymous says
I have been waiting for this recipe. Looking forward to trying it soon!
Safiya says
I hope you get to try it!