To blanch spinach, heat water in a pot and add palak leaves. Take out after 2 minutes when spinach starts to wilt and add to ice cold water. Set this aside.
To a pan, add in some oil. To this add cashew, ginger, garlic pods, green chillies and chopped onion. Sauté until the onions turn tanslucent. Now, add in chopped tomato. Add a little salt and sauté for a minute until they turn soft. Turn off the heat. Allow it to completely cool down and transfer to a blender.
Now, drain out the spinach and add to the blender. To this add half a cup of water. Blend to a very smooth paste.
Tadka for Palak Paneer:
Add oil/butter or ghee to a pan as per your preference. I’m using oil.
To this add cumin seeds and a few dry red chillies.
Once these get lightly toasted, add in some turmeric powder, red chilli powder, coriander powder and cumin powder.
Give it all a nice mix for a few seconds so that they get lightly toasted in oil. Make sure not to burn them.
Now, add the palak puree. Add in some water to adjust the consistency. Give it all a nice mix. Add in required salt to your taste.
In a minute or 2 it starts to boil. Add in some powdered garam masala. Give it a mix.
Add in the paneer cubes. Alternatively, you can also lightly shallow fry paneer in a little oil until light golden brown and then add.
Gently fold in the gravy to cover the paneer and turn off the heat.
At this stage, you can optionally add some cream or butter.
Palak paneer curry is ready to be served with roti, naan, paratha or jeera rice.
Recipe Video
Notes
You can use homemade paneer or store-bought paneer for this recipe. Homemade paneer tends to be softer in texture compared to store bough one.
Adjust spice levels to suit your taste.
This recipe can be made with any greens of your choice.
Vegan Version: you can substitute the paneer with pressed extra-firm tofu. Use oil to cook everything, and swap the cream with cashew cream or coconut milk.
To make Cashew Cream, blend 1/3 cup of raw cashews with 1 cup of water in a high-powered blender. You will have more than you need for this recipe. Store the rest.
If spinach is bitter, optionally you can add 1/2 teaspoon of sugar.
If you like, you can also pan-fry the paneer cubes in a little oil until golden brown before adding them to the curry.
Adding lemon juice at the end makes sure the iron from spinach is absorbed by the body. You can use it to your preference.