Often people avoid green vegetables. And green vegetables are considered boring and tasteless.
But there are few cuisines which are not boring and tastes delicious. Palak Paneer is one such splendid cuisine, which not only looks delightful but also tastes awesome. Palak is the Indian Hindi word for Spinach and Paneer is the Indian version of Cottage Cheese. In most of the foods, be it fast food, or western version , Spinach and Paneer when combined makes the food look beautiful and creates a yummy taste. Palak Paneer is a food fromNorthen states of India like Punjab, UP, Kashmiri and Delhi. And is served with Jeera rice or plain rice. This cuisine is made using main ingredients Spinach, paneer and few spices. It is easy to prepare and can be seen in the menu of special ocassions. Paneer is easily available in stores anywhere be it India or other countries, if not then it can also be prepared at home. I will include a post on making paneer at home. But when you are short of time, buying readymade paneer from store is best option. The creamy texture of spinach with paneer is a very good combination.




Ingredients:
Spinach - 2 Large bunches or frozen spinach 500 grams
Paneer (Cottage Cheese) - 200 grams
Onion - 1
Butter - 3 tablespoons
Bay leaves - 3 -4
Cumin seeds - 1 teaspoons
Black pepper powder - 1 2/ teaspoon
Tomatoes - 2 either diced or puree ( I recommend Puree for good gravy)
Ginger- Garlic Paste - 1 tablespoon
Green Chillies - 1/2 teaspoon
Coriander Powder - 1 teaspoon
Turmeric Powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Red chilli powder or caynne powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Asafoetida - a pinch
Garam masala powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Oil - 1 tablespoon
Fresh Cream - 1/2 cup
Whole Wheat flour - 2 tablespoons (optional- only if you find the spinach gravy or cream very thin in consistency).
Salt - to taste.






Method:

1. If using frozen spinach thaw and blend it just for a minute so spinach has a creamy texture but without becoming pasty. OR
2. Mix green chilli paste and ginger-garlic paste with spinach. Add little water (if you are using spinach leaves).
   
3. Pressure-cook the above mixture for 7 to 8 minutes. Remove before the first whistle.
4. Cut cheese into small cube shaped pieces. Keep 3 cubes for decoration.
5. Blend the tomatoes to make puree.
6. Mix coriander, turmeric, garam masala, black pepper powder and red chili with tomato puree and set aside.
7. Mix whole-wheat flour with heavy cream and set aside. ( This step is necessary only if you find the spinach puree and cream to be thin in consistency) . Normally green vegetable retains some water to it, so does dairy product. As a result, while cooking they tend to leave more moisture or water , hence adding wheat flour will help it thicken.
8. Cube the paneer in about half inch pieces and deep fry them on medium high heat just for few minutes so paneer become very light gold in color, take paneer out on paper towel so extra oil can be absorbed.
9. Heat the oil in a saucepan. Add the butter to it and onions to it. Saute till it turns pink.
10. Add hing and cumin seed. After cumin seeds crack, add the tomato puree mixture, and let it cook for a few minutes until the tomato puree is about half in volume.
11. Add the spinach, and let it cook on low medium heat for about 10 minutes covered.
12. Add heavy cream mixture and let this cook another four to five minutes.
13. Add paneer and fold it gently with spinach and let it simmer for a 2-3 minutes.
14. Keep the pan or tawa or whichever utensil you are using for cooking palak paneer , closed with a lid or plate to avoid the spinach to splatter and thus leaving you with boils or any mishap. Or to , you can also bake it on oven over 180 degree C for 30 minutes.
    
15. Transfer the spinach to a serving dish and spread the tomato slices over the top, and cover the dish so tomato slices get tender with the steam from the spinach.

Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Serves: 4 persons
Shelflife: 1 day
Serving suggestions : Serve hot with steamed hot rice or jeera rice.


Note:

• You can replace the heavy cream with 1 1/2 cups of milk.
• Keep the pan or tawa or whichever utensil you are using for cooking palak paneer , closed with a lid or plate to avoid the spinach to splatter and thus leaving you with boils or any mishap. Or to , you can also bake it on oven over 180 degree C for 30 minutes.
• Normally green vegetable retains some water to it, so does dairy product. As a result, while cooking they tend to leave more moisture or water , hence adding wheat flour will help it thicken.
• Cream is added to make the taste of Palak paneer intresting and taste. Since most of them dont like the taste of green vegetables especially kids. Adding cream will enhance the taste and make it look delightful.
  

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