Palakpaneerveganized Recipes

PALAK PANEER RECIPE | SPINACH PANEER

Steps:

• Pluck only the young & tender spinach leaves and discard the stems as they may leave a bitter taste. If using baby spinach you can use the stems as well.
• Add them to a large pot of water. Rinse them well few times & drain to a colander.
• Allow the water to drain completely otherwise it will let out lot of moisture while cooking.
• Heat half tablespoon oil in a pan. Saute green chilies, cashews and spinach for 3 to 4 mins until the leaves wilt off thoroughly & raw smell of spinach has gone away. [OR another option is to blanch the palak in 4 cups of hot water with ¼ tsp salt for 2 mins. Then immerse in ice cold water. Drain completely.]
• Cool this completely. Blend this along with ¼ cup water to a smooth puree. The puree should be smooth and thick. You may add 1 to 2 tbsps more water to help in blending.
• Heat 1 tablespoon butter and half tablespoon oil to the same pan, Once they melt, add cinnamon, cardamoms, cloves & cumin seeds.
• When the spices begin to sizzle, add onions and fry till they turn transparent to golden.
• Next saute ginger garlic paste for 1 to 2 minutes or until you begin to smell it nice.
• Then add tomatoes with salt. Saute until they break down and turn mushy.
• Add garam masala & saute until the masala smells good. This may take 2 mins. (for a smoother curry refer notes)
• Pour ¾ cup water and cook covered until onions are completely soft. There should be some water left in the pan. (for consistency check video)
• Lower the flame, add kasuri methi and pureed spinach. Mix well and cook until it begins to bubble for about 2 to 3 mins. If the curry is too thick you may add a few tbsps of hot water.
• Avoid overcooking. Add paneer & mix well. Turn off and remove to a serving bowl. Optionally garnish with cream.
• Serve palak paneer with naan, roti or Jeera rice.

PALAK PANEER RECIPE

Steps:

• Rinse the palak or spinach leaves very well in running water. Tender stem are fine. If the stems are stringy, then discard the stems.
• Boil 3 cups water in a pan or microwave or electric heater. Add ¼ teaspoon salt to the hot water and stir. When the water comes to a rolling boil, switch off the flame. Add the spinach leaves in the hot water. Let the palak leaves sit in the water for about 1 minute.
• After 1 minute, using a pasta tong, take the leaves.
• Immediately add the palak or spinach leaves in a pan or bowl containing ice cold water. This method helps in preserving the green color of the spinach. Just add 8 to 10 ice cubes to 3 cups water to get cold water. Allow the spinach leaves to be in the cold water for a minute.
• Then drain the ice cold water. Add the spinach in a blender or grinder jar with chopped ginger, garlic and green chilies.
• Make a smooth palak puree. No need to add water while making the puree. Keep the spinach puree aside.
• Heat oil or ghee or butter in a pan or kadai. If using butter, melt it a low flame making sure that the butter does not brown.
• Add the cumin and let them splutter.
• Then add the tej patta or Indian bay leaf.
• Add the finely chopped onions. Saute till the onions become golden.
• Then add the finely chopped garlic. Saute till the raw aroma of garlic goes away. No need to brown the garlic.
• Add the chopped tomatoes. Stir and saute the tomatoes till they soften.
• Once the tomatoes are softened and you see fat releasing from the sides of the mixture. Then add the turmeric powder, red chili powder and asafoetida/hing.
• Mix very well.
• Then add the palak puree and mix well.
• Add about ½ cup water or as required. Mix again.
• Simmer for 6 to 7 minutes or more till the palak or spinach is cooked. Season with salt. The gravy or sauce will also thicken by now.
• Stir and add garam masala powder.
• Stir again and then add the paneer (Indian cottage cheese) cubes.
• Mix very well and switch off the heat. Be quick as we don't want heat the paneer for more 30 seconds to 1 minute. Overcooking paneer will make them chewy and dense.
• Lastly, add 2 tablespoons of low-fat cream. If using heavy whipping cream, then add 1 tablespoon of it. Stir gently again so that the cream gets incorporated in the gravy uniformly.
• Pour the palak paneer in serving bowls. While serving you can top it with some butter or cream.
• You can also drizzle a few drops of lime or lemon juice on top along with ginger julienne on the palak paneer.
• Stir and serve palak paneer hot with some roti. It also goes very well with Indian breads like tandoori roti, phulka, paratha or naan.
• Being a versatile dish, it also accompanies rice dishes from the indian cuisine like cumin rice, vegetable pulao, ghee rice, saffron rice and even a simple steamed rice very well.

EASY PALAK PANEER

Steps:

• Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a skillet over medium heat; cook and stir onion until slightly tender, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, coriander, turmeric, garam masala, red pepper flakes, curry powder, cumin, and salt; cook and stir until fragrant, about 1 minute.
• Mix water, spinach, tomatoes, and ginger into the onion mixture; simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and cool slightly, about 5 minutes.
• Transfer spinach mixture to a blender and blend until smooth.
• Heat remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in a skillet over medium heat; cook and stir paneer until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Stir pureed spinach mixture into skillet with paneer. Cook until heated through, 3 to 5 minutes.

PALAK PANEER - VEGANIZED!

Steps:

• Prepare the tofu beforehand by pressing out some of the moisture. The easiest way to do this is to place the block of tofu in a colander, placing a plate on top and then weighing it down with a tin of soup or a heavy skillet. It takes about 1/2 an hour, but you could leave this for however long you need to in the fridge.
• Cut the pressed tofu into one inch cubes.
• Combine the next 7 ingredients, (grated ginger, lemon juice, oil, turmeric, garam masala, sea salt and chili powder if using). Toss in the tofu and leave to marinate for about 30 minutes, or longer if need be. Try to turn a couple of times so that the marinade gets evenly distributed.
• Final step with the tofu is to saute it in about 1 tbsp of the oil. Try to get each side lightly golden. You can use more oil if you want to -- I'm just trying to keep the calories as low as possible. Set aside once done.
• Next step - the spinach. In a dutch oven or large saute pan, heat up about an inch of water. While that's boiling, chop the spinach roughly and then add to the boiling water, steaming until tender (a matter of a few minutes). Once done, turn off the heat and then drain out about 1/4 cup of the liquid into a measuring cup. Once you've taken that 1/4 cup out, there shouldn't be a whole lot left. Set the 1/4 cup of spinach water aside and then puree what's left in the pot together with the steamed spinach. I like to just use an immersion blender right there in the pot -- or you could move to a blender or something similar. Set the spinach aside (I move mine to a bowl and clean out the same pot).
• Next step -- putting it together. Using a mini-blender or food processor, combine the onion, ginger, garlic, fresh chili if using, and the 1/4 cup of spinach water - puree into a smooth paste.
• Heat the remaining tbsp of oil in a large pan over medium heat. Once hot, add in the paste (watch out, it will splatter) and fry it for about 30 seconds. Then add your other spices and diced tomatoes. Lower the heat and let that cook gently for about 5 minutes, watching it doesn't burn.
• Add in your pureed spinach and season to taste with salt.
• Next combine the arrowroot powder with the soy milk in a small dish. Once you've removed the lumps, gently stir it in and let the sauce thicken up for a few more minutes. Lastly, add in the tofu and let it warm through, about 10 more minutes.
• Done! Serve with rice or naan etc -- garnish with fresh cilantro if you like, or some more diced fresh tomato.

EASY PALAK PANEER

Steps:

• chop up spinach. chop it up well and toss it in a big pot with a little water to shrink it.cook it on med high for about 3 minutes
• while the spinach is shrinking, cut up your onion and put it in a bowl.
• dump your spinach into a collander in the sink after it shrinks down and let it be.
• steam two tomatoes on high until the skin cracks (blanched) should take about 5-7 minutes
• while the tomatoes are blanching, seed and chop up your chile and chop up your ginger. cut em up really small. this is a cheat for mincing!
• put the ginger and chiles chopped up into a bowl together and set it near the spinach.
• pour paprika, cumin, turmeric, coriander and garam masala into a bowl together and have it handy.
• Tomatoes should be blanched by now so peel off the skin and chop them into about four pieces each.
• Get a big pan and heat some (apx 2 tbs) oil on high. when it's hot add your onion and cook for about two minutes.
• dump in you ginger/ chile mix and stir up. Savor that aroma and turn heat down to medium immediately.
• add your spices and stir it up. keep stirring until your onions are evenly coated with spices.Stir it around for about two or three minutes.
• Add your spinach to the pot and stir it all together.
• add your tomatoes. stir it up.
• I know it doesn't look like much right now, but it will be great, I promise!
• Give it about 5 minutes keeping it on med- med high.
• take this time to chop up your paneer cheese (which I get from whole foods) but can be made from scratch if need be. I cut my paneer into small cubes.
• Check on your pan -- add a little water if you need to and turn heat down to med low.
• give your mixture a good stir and add paneer cheese.
• let it simmer on med low for about 10-15 mins -- make sure your mixture doesn't stick by adding a little more water if you need to. Sometimes I need to, sometimes I don't- go figure!
• add your cream/ milk and let it simmer for 10 more mins on low.
• ENJOY! serve with rice or naan.

THE PERFECT PALAK PANEER RECIPE BY TASTY

Steps:

• Blanch the spinach in salted, boiling water for one minute, then drain and transfer to a bowl with cold water.
• Once cooled, puree in a blender until smooth and remove.
• Heat some salted water and once it comes to a boil, switch off the gas and add the cubed paneer. Let it soak in the water till the time to be added to the gravy.
• Add all the ingredients of the gravy base to a blender and mix until smooth.
• Add the butter to a hot pan with some oil (optional) to stop it from burning. Once foaming, add the cashews, cumin seeds, finely chopped garlic, and bay leaves. Fry for a minute till aromatic.
• Add the blended gravy, along with all the powders and stir well. Simmer on low heat for 15 minutes till you see oil seeping from the sides. The onion-tomato gravy must smell fragrant by this point without any raw smell.
• Add the spinach puree and stir well to combine along with salt. Simmer on low heat for another 15 minutes until the rawness of the puree goes away and there is an intense gravy left.
• Add the cream and water as required to make it velvety along with the drained paneer cubes and fenugreek leaves. Simmer on low heat for another 5 minutes.
• Garnish with coriander leaves, sliced ginger, and a dollop of cream.
• Enjoy with naan bread or fluffy rice!