Palak Paneer (Cottage Cheese in Spinach Gravy)

The love for paneer in my home is unparalleled. By now u all might have guessed that! So here goes another one of our favourite dishes with paneer. The best part of this dish is it requires minimum ingredients and gives maximum taste!

Ingredients:-

• Spinach (Palak-- about 500gms)
• Cottage Cheese/Paneer (300-400gms)
• Onions (medium sized-- 3)
• Green Chillis (2-3)
• Garam Masala Powder (1-2 tsp)
• Turmeric Powder (a pinch)
• Whole spices like cloves,cinnamon,mace,cardamom (a few)
• Ginger-Garlic Paste (1-2 tsp)
• Butter

Method:-

I make varied versions of the same dish and this time i skipped tomatoes for the gravy. Pureed tomatoes can be added and sauteed along with onions if you please.

Wash spinach thoroughly and boil them in some water till they become tender and shrink in size. To retain the greenish color , put them immediately in cold water and puree them to a paste. Set aside.

Soak paneer in hot water for 10-15 minutes to remove impurity. In case of frozen paneer this soaking also helps in making it soft and succulent !

Chop onions in quarters and puree them along with Green chillis.

In a wok add  little butter and saute the  whole spices. (Sometimes to save time, i grind them along with onions and green chillis). Now add the onion-chilli paste and turmeric powder. Stir fry till the mix becomes golden brown and add the ginger-garlic paste. Saute the mix and let the rawness of the ginger-garlic evaporate. 

Now add the Garam masala powder along with salt and saute for a few more minutes.

Add the pureed spinach and little water ( if required) and cook for a few minutes till the required consistency is achieved.

Finally add the cubed cottage cheese and mix them well with the spinach gravy. Let the gravy simmer in low flame for a few more minutes

Add a dash of butter and take it off flame. Serve hot with rotis, parathas or even hot n steaming rice !