Palak Paneer

Palak paneer is on every authentic Punjabi menu – whether at an Indian restaurant or at home.

Palak paneer is creamy, fresh, flavorful, and the paneer adds amazing diversity to the smooth texture of the spinach. I don’t know that I can get enough of the stuff. Then again, I feel that way about anything that has spinach or paneer in it. As kids we ate two types of saag – palak and sarson. Palak is spinach and sarson is mustard greens…which if you haven’t had sarson da saag, oh are you missing out!

This recipe is easy, fast-ish, and amazing. I think you’ve realized by this point when we say that something is fast to cook we’re still talking about an hour, so it’s a bit relative. The other thing that’s unique about lots of Punjabi recipes is that there’s no exact way to make them because of how ancient the recipes are. We tend to cook based on eyeballing ingredients and the notion of whether it smells “right”, so each recipe is somewhat different and unique to the cook. So make sure to taste it as you go along and add in spices based on your palate.

I normally like to serve this dish with fresh paranthas or roti, but you could easily stop by your local takeaway on the way home and pick up some fresh naan. I normally also pair this with a dry sabji and some raita.

Love Punjabi recipes as much as we do? Try these:

Palak Paneer

Course: Main CoursesCuisine: PunjabiDifficulty: Easy

Servings

6

servings

Prep time

15

minutes

Cooking time

1

hour 

5

minutes

1

hour 

20

minutes

Cook Mode

Keep the screen of your device on

Ingredients

• 2 lb fresh or frozen spinach leaves

• 2 inch piece of ginger

• 5 cloves garlic

• 3 tbsp vegetable oil

• 1/2 lbs fresh paneer, cubed

• 5 tbsp butter

• 2 tbsp whole cumin seed, ground

• 1 medium-sized onion, finely minced

• 2 serrano chilies

• 1/2 tsp turmeric

• 1 tsp cayenne pepper

• Salt, to taste

Equipment/Specialty Items

• Cumin SeedsCumin Seeds

Directions

• Bring 1/2 cup of water to a boil.
• Add in spinach, ginger, and garlic. Cook for 10 minutes.
• Once cooled pour into a blender or food processor. Puree and set aside.
• In a nonstick skillet, heat 1 tbsp of vegetable oil.
• Add paneer and cook until browned on all sides. Set aside on a paper towel to absorb extra oil.
• In a large nonstick saucepan, heat butter and remaining oil over high heat.
• Add cumin and deep brown till fragrant. Approximately 1 minute.
• Add onions, saute until brown. Approximately 5-10 minutes.
• Add in chilies, saute till fragrant. Approximately 2 minutes.
• Add in turmeric and cayenne, saute for 1 minute.
• Reduce heat to medium-low.
• Add in pureed spinach. Cover and cook for 15 minutes. Stir to ensure it doesn’t stick to the bottom.
• Salt, to taste.
• Reduce heat to low. Add in paneer.
• Cook for 20 more minutes, or until the spinach turns a dark green.
• Serve:
• Serve hot with phulkas.

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