I Love Palak Paneer (Spinach and Cheese Curry)

Submitted by Karen Elizabeth

"This luscious spinach and cheese dish comes from Northern India, the home of paneer, a fresh cow-milk cheese similar to ricotta. It's sold near the feta and haloumi in supermarkets, either of these two cheeses can replace paneer here, but the results wont be exactly the same. When I made this, I did use a soft feta, which melted into the spinach and gave me the most creamy rich curry you can imagine. I also upped the amount of the garam masala, to give a hotter result, and I sauteed some shrimps in garlic and butter, and served them with the curry, we enjoyed an excellent meal! The recipe is taken from Australian Womens Weekly, New Curries UPDATED to add ( thank you Peggy :) ), that previously step 2 said to add half the spinach at that step, I've changed it to say, add all the spinach."

 

• Ready In: 30mins
• Ingredients: 10
• Serves: 4-6

ingredients

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon cumin seed
• 1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
• 2 teaspoons garam masala
• 1 large onion, chopped finely (200 gr)
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 500 g spinach, trimmed and chopped coarsely
• 180 ml cream
• 200 g paneer cheese, cut into 2 cm pieces

directions

1. Heat oil in large frying pan; cook spices, onion and garlic, stirring, until onion softens.
2. Add lemon juice and spinach: cook, stirring, until wilted.
3. Blend or process spinach mixture until smooth, return to pan, stir in cream.
4. Add in paneer, cook over low heat, uncovered, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes or until heated through.
5. Serve on steamed rice.

Reviews

[Dreamer in Ontario]

I've enjoyed palaak paneer when I've had it in a restaurant but I've never made it myself. This recipe doe not disappoint. It's delicious. Made for ZWT8

 

[Jociecee]

Better than any restaurant version and a lot thriftier! I loved this recipe and it will become a part of my rotation. Yummy! Thanks for a great recipe!

 

[omadarlin]

YUM! I made a double batch ... and good thing, too. Next time won't bother to chop the spinach and will serve it with something to add a little heat (for those who like heat). I made my own paneer using "Homemade Paneer" (#207389), also in a double batch. Thank you for the recipe!

 

[Da Huz]

We made a 4 different Indian dishes a few days ago, and this was definitely our favorite! Our food processor isn't the greatest, so the texture of our sauce wasn't quite as good as it could have been, but it was still delicious. One of our cookbooks recommended frying the cheese first, which we did. Adds a little more depth of flavor.

 

[ILikeToEatYummyFood]

This recipe really hits the spot. I'm not sure it tastes just like a restaurant, but it's good and satisfies my need. This is the second time I've made it. The first time I was lazy and added a little water to help my spinach wilt. I processed it roughly (like many of the photos) and used the full amount of cream. The result was pretty soupy and the consistency wasn't what I was looking for. It tasted more like creamed spinach with some indian spices. This time I didn't add any extra water, fully processed it, and added small amounts of cream until it was consistency I was looking for. I'm very happy with the outcome. I also had some Power Blend salad mix that I needed to use up, so that was my base for the second batch. I'd still plan to use spinach in the future to be more authentic, but I'm happy to know that it works well with other greens as well.