Palak Paneer Recipe Restaurant style

Palak Paneer is a world famous Indian dish consisting of cottage cheese / Indian Cheese / Paneer in a thick paste made from pureed spinach, onions and tomatoes, and seasoned with garam masala and other spices.

This dish is not very spicy and full of flavour, its creamy texture along with the soft paneer makes it very popular in India as well as in many foreign countries. It is one of the highly requested vegetarian food items in restaurants and dhabas. And it’s very easy to make it at home as well, so today we are going to make this pride of Indian Cuisine at home – so let me present to you Palak Paneer restaurant style 🙂 which you can eat anytime when your heart desires at home  instead of waiting to go to a restaurant.

This dish can be eaten with roti,  Homemade Naan, Lachha Paratha  or even jeera rice.

Step by Step Video for ‘Palak Paneer’ Recipe (Scroll Down for detailed & printable recipe)

[Ingredients for making Palak Paneer]

Prepping

1. Roughly Dice up the onions tomatoes and green chillies keep aside in a bowl.

Method for making the Spinach Puree

1. Rinse the Spinach leaves very well in running water. Keep the stems which are tender.
2. Fill a kadhi or wok with water until half way and bring it to a boil.
3. Now add the spinach leaves and boil it for a 1-2 minutes.
4. Now turn of the flame and remove the spinach and add cold water on it.
5. And immediately give a ice bath so to stop over cooking the spinach and to retain the fresh green color.
6. Once cool add it to the blender. No need to blend right now just keep it aside.

Method for making the Onion Tomato Puree

1. In a wok add a little oil and once hot add the cinnamon stick, cloves, black pepper wait for 30 seconds and then add the Cumin seeds.
2. Once the cumin starts sizzling add the Ginger Garlic and cook for 1 minutes.
3. Now add the onions and green chillies and cook 3-4 minutes or until the onions start looking golden brown in color. You can sprinkle a little salt enough for the onions right now.
4. Add the tomatoes and cook for 2-3 minutes.
5. Once the tomatoes are softened add the Cumin, coriander, red chilli powder, salt dried Fenugreek leaves and Cilantro. Mix and cook for 3 minutes.
6. Now lower the flame and add the curd. Mix well and cook for 1 minute.
7. Turn off the flame and let this mix come down to room temperature.
8. Once at room temperature add it to the same blender with the spinach. And blend well.

Method for making the Palak Paneer Gravy

1. In the same kadai or wok, add a little oil and once a little hot add the spinach, tomato and onion puree.
2. Add garam masala and fresh cream. Mix well and cook for a minute.
3. After a minute add the paneer and mix well and cook for one more minute.
4. Now turn of the flame and add lime juice ( it helps in digestion)
5. Serve hot with roti, naan, paratha or jeera rice.

Tips From Alpa

1. I always prefer to soak the spinach in room temperature water along with some salt for 15- 20 minutes. This helps the impurities come off the spinach easily when you rinse the leaves under running water.
2. I always store the water in which we blanched the spinach as it has flavour and nutrients from the spinach. This water can be used as a base for soups, any curry dishes or even for kneading the dough.
3. Never cover the spinach while boiling or cooking, or the spinach will start to look  dark and dull.
4. Remember to add the lime or lemon juice in the end, it helps in digestion and also promotes iron absorption.

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