Palak paneer is a North Indian spinach and cheese curry that is sure to satisfy vegetarians and omnivores alike. Delicate paneer in a rich and flavourful sauce.
This is not the creamy bright green version. This is palak paneer done restaurant style. Big, bold Indian curry. Hit you over the head flavours. Not subtle. Not at all. If you are looking for the bright green version this is not it.
Restaurant style. That’s what this palak paneer is about. Made like they do in Indian restaurants. Using the tricks and techniques they use.
It may seem a little different to you. But it’s how they crank out your dinner in 10 minutes. And once you get this style down you can make anything they can. Seriously.
Frozen spinach for restaurant style palak paneer
I’m not a fan of frozen vegetables. Corn and peas I can put up with. I really can’t stand anything else. Except frozen spinach in restaurant style curries. It works. I don’t know why. But it works.
I’m all about fresh. Fresh scratch cooking. So telling you to use frozen spinach is not something I do lightly. But restaurants do it. And it is tasty. I use fresh spinach in a lot of recipes. But here frozen is best.
But you have to drain the thawed spinach. Get rid of the water. Or it’s overpowering. Just give it a squeeze and it’s good to go.
Paneer is the perfect cheese for curry
Cheese curry. That just sounds odd. I know. Who in their right mind would want that? Turns out I do. And probably so do you.
Think about India. They are something like 30 percent vegetarian. And the other 70 percent have some vegetarian tendencies. So they know vegetarian. Probably better than any other country in the world.
And they came up with paneer. It works. It doesn’t really melt. It’s not like mozzarella. It holds together kind of like tofu.
And it’s bland like tofu. It slides in. Not assertive. A supporting character that takes on the flavours of the curry. Like chicken breast. It’s there. You like it. But it’s more about texture than flavour.
Enjoy palak paneer like you would any other curry
If you are vegetarian this is obvious. But if you aren’t maybe not so much. This is a curry. Like any other curry. Except there’s paneer instead of a different protein. So enjoy it like you would any other curry.
I like it best with parathas. But I love parathas so that’s no surprise. A big spoonful of palak paneer on a bit of Indian flat bread. So good.
You can serve it with rice as well. Along with a nice lentil dish. That’s good living too.
However you serve it palak paneer is sure to please.
palak paneer
Ingredients
The spice mix
- 2 tsp Indian restaurant spice mix - recipe link below
- 1 tsp kashmiri chili powder
- 1 tsp kasoor methi - dried fenugreek leaves
- 1/2 tsp garam masala
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
palak paneer
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 tbsp onion - finely diced
- 2 tbsp green chili - seeded and finely diced
- 3 tbsp cilantro leaves and stems - finely diced
- 4 oz frozen spinach - the finely diced stuff
- 1 tbsp garlic ginger paste - recipe link below
- 15 oz curry base - recipe link below
- 1/2 tbsp tomato paste - plus enough water to get to the consistency of passata
- 1/6 lemon - juiced
- all of the spice mix
- 10 oz paneer - cut into bite size pieces
Instructions
The spice mix
- Combine all the spice mix ingredients. Set aside.
Palak paneer
- Be ready. Have your curry base simmering on the stove. Make your spice mix. Chop all the ingredients and have them at the ready. This is going to go very fast. You don't have time to mess around.
- Thaw the spinach. Drain it well.
- Heat a skillet over medium heat.
- Add the oil. When it shimmers add the onion and green chilies. Cook, stirring constantly, until the onions just start to brown on the edges. This takes 2-3 minutes.
- Add the garlic ginger paste and cook until it stops sputtering, about 1 minute.
- Lower the heat to medium low. Add the spice mix. Cook, stirring constantly, for about 30-45 seconds. You want to bloom the spices in the oil. You don't want to burn it. If you burn the spices, start again. There's no fixing it.
- Add the diluted tomato paste and cilantro. Stir to combine and cook for about a minute.
- Turn the heat up to medium high. Add 3 oz of the curry base. Stir to combine and cook until it it starts to crater. Little holes will appear. See the guide to Indian curries to understand what this means if you aren't sure.
- Add another 6 oz of curry base. Stir to combine and cook until it craters.
- Now add the remaining curry base. Cook until it craters and reduce the heat to low. Add the spinach and stir to mix. Simmer for about 5 minutes. Add the paneer and warm through. If the curry seems dry add a bit more curry base.
- Add the fresh lemon juice. Stir to combine. Serve. Enjoy!
My wife and I made this and the butter chicken for friends of ours (we hadn’t made any glebekitchen recipes before), and everyone *loved* it. Thank you so much. We’ve never made Indian dishes that tasted this good. This weekend we’re going to try the korma with some neighbors.
Delighted to hear that! Glad everyone enjoyed it. Hope the neighbours enjoy it too. It’s fun cooking in this style. Messy. But fun:-).
Served this recipe last night with paratha. Delicious. Good balance, spinach AND spices. Couln’t find paneer in the south of France, used Feta, this worked pretty well. Talking about spinach, would love your recipe of Hara Bhara Kebab. Breaking my teeth on this one. Works once in a while. Looking for something efficient. Tasty. Crispy. And predictable. Romain’s style 😉
Glad you enjoyed it. I don’t actually have a hara bhara kebab recipe I’m afraid. I’ll give that some thought. Tall order. Tasty. Crispy. Predictable:-)
I love this recipe, in the uk it most relates to sag. Which is an indian curry with spinach. I have made this with mushrooms instead of paneer when i havent been able to get to the supermarket, and it tastes just as good. This is also the curry sauce i used most recently when creating a salmon wellington, salmon marinated in indian spices, seared than covered in sag and folded with puff pastry! So tasty!
That salmon wellington sounds absolutely incredible!
Romain, where to begin..
Your recipes and techniques have revolutionised the way I cook. Not just indian, but everything else too. I have been into cooking for 20 years but if anyone asks me for a “mentor”, it would be you. It’s not possible for me to describe the impact you’ve had on my cooking, but you could ask my friends as they have all salivated over many of these dishes as the aromas have spread around the kitchen. I wanted to comment on this dish in particular because it’s my all time favourite, but after having moved back to Copenhagen from London it’s not possible to find any indian food that meets the standard I’m accustomed to. My first attempt at this was a revelation – and it’s only become better. I did it once with frozen spinach (thawed and drained) but prefer using fresh blanched spinach that has been squeezed to remove as much water as possible. Along with the tadka dal these are now my go-to recipes whenever I need to cook to impress. No one in Denmark can cook indian food the way this website teaches. If I can request anything without sounding ungrateful, I would love to see your take on homemade paneer. It’s relatively simple and the results are usually amazing, but I would like to see your approach. Also can’t wait to try out the new hotel style you’ve been posting about lately.
All the best!
Jesper,
What a wonderful comment. I am so glad I could be a part of your cooking adventures and I’m especially glad you are cooking food you can be proud of (and impress all your friends).
My dad used to make paneer when I was growing up but this isn’t something I’ve carried on with. I will start looking into it though.
Cheers from Ottawa!
If I substitute the frozen spinach for fresh should I cook it first or just put it in when I add the paneer?
If you’re using fresh spinach it’s a good idea to cook and drain it well before using it. Otherwise the spinach flavour will dominate/overpower.
Another fantastic meal. It tasted just like a restaurant palak paneer dish, perhaps even better. Thank you. Looking forward to trying the next one.
Glad you liked it and thank you for taking the time to comment!