A palak paneer recipe that keeps its bright green colour: blanched spinach blended with onion, tomato and spices, with golden pan-fried paneer and a little cream.
Palak paneer is spinach cooked down with onion, tomato and spices, with soft cubes of paneer, India’s fresh, mild cheese. It is one of the most popular vegetarian curries in North India and on Indian menus everywhere.
The common complaint at home is colour: it comes out olive rather than emerald. The fix is simple.
How to keep palak paneer green
Blanch, shock, then cook briefly. One minute in boiling water sets the colour; ice water stops the cooking. Then the spinach goes into the curry only for the last few minutes. Most of the flavour comes from the onion-tomato base, so you lose nothing.
Palak, saag and sarson
Palak means spinach. Saag is a broader word for cooked leafy greens and, in Punjab, often means mustard greens (sarson ka saag). On restaurant menus in the US, “saag” usually means a spinach-based curry like this one. Our menu has chicken saag and lamb saag made in that style alongside palak paneer.
About paneer
Paneer doesn’t melt, so it holds its shape in a curry. Browning it adds flavour; soaking it in warm water afterwards stops it turning rubbery. Firm tofu is a good dairy-free swap, with oil instead of ghee and coconut cream instead of cream.
Recipe
Palak paneer that stays green
Ingredients
Spinach
- 1 lb (450 g) fresh spinach, tough stems removed
- 2 green chillies
- Ice water
Curry
- 8 oz (225 g) paneer, in ¾-inch cubes
- 2 tbsp ghee or oil, divided
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
- 1 tomato, finely chopped
- ½ tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- ½ tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp garam masala
- ½ tsp kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves)
- 3 tbsp cream
Method
- Blanch the spinach. Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Add the spinach and chillies for 1 minute only, then lift them straight into ice water. Drain, squeeze lightly and blend to a smooth purée with a splash of the cold water.
- Brown the paneer. Heat 1 tbsp ghee in a pan and fry the paneer until golden on two sides. Lift it into a bowl of warm salted water, which keeps it soft.
- Cook the base. Add the rest of the ghee and the cumin seeds. When they sizzle, add the onion and cook until golden, about 8 minutes. Add the ginger-garlic paste for a minute, then the tomato, turmeric, coriander, chilli and salt. Cook until the tomato breaks down and the oil separates.
- Add the spinach. Stir in the spinach purée and a few spoonfuls of water. Simmer for only 3–4 minutes; long cooking turns spinach dull and olive-green.
- Finish. Drain the paneer and stir it in with the garam masala, kasuri methi and cream. Warm through and serve with roti, naan or jeera rice.
Home-style recipe from the Biryani Pot Indian Bar & Grill Journal. It is not our restaurant's own recipe; for that, visit us.