Comfort food does not get better than this delicious North Indian curry. Soft paneer cooked in a rich and creamy spinach gravy, this versatile curry makes a perfect accompaniment to naans, rice, rotis or just on its own.
Palak paneer gets made at home quite often. It makes one of the quickest weeknight dinners. Even more so with me following the ketogenic way of eating, this curry has become a staple. It is perfect to hit the fat macros and to consume greens for the day. I love that I can bulk up the fat macros by adding more paneer/cream/butter. To me, this is a meal in a bowl and don’t need anything to mop up the curry with.
Note: The recipe’s ingredients are created with a ketogenic and low carb diet in mind. Tweak the fat components if you do not want a very rich curry. Increase the spinach and vegetable quantities to suit your dietary needs.
Serves 2
Ingredients
- Spinach – 250g
- Ghee – 1 tblspn
- Paneer – 250g cubed
- Onion – 40g
- Garlic – 7g
- Ginger – 5g
- Chillies – 5 to 6 (slit length wise)
- Cream – 75 ml + some more to add before serving
- Coriander powder – 1 tspn
- Turmeric powder – 1/4 tspn
- Garam masala – 1 tspn
- Chilli powder – 1 tspn
- Butter – 1 tblspn
- Water – As required
Directions
Prep:
- Finely chop all the vegetables except spinach.
- Chop paneer into 2 cm cubes.
- Wash and clean spinach.
- Boil water
- In a heat-safe bowl, add the cleaned spinach.
- Pour boiled hot water until the spinach is covered completely.
- Allow it to sit for 2 minutes.
- Strain and set aside.
- Once the spinach has cooled, grind to a smooth paste.
- Heat ghee in a pan.
- Add the chopped garlic and ginger. Cook until fragrant.
- Add the chopped onions and slit green chillies.
- Toss in the spice powders and salt. Cook until the onions are soft.
- Add a splash of water to deglaze the mixture.
- Now, pour the spinach paste. Add a little water to dilute the mixture.
- Cook for 2 to 4 minutes until the flavours combine.
- While the curry cooks, add the cubed paneer pieces.
- Allow it cook for 3 minutes.
- At this stage, add more water if like a runny curry.
- Turn off the flame. Add cream, mix gently to ensure the paneer cubes don’t break.
- Serve hot topped with some butter a spoonful of cream.
Tips:
1. These proportions are suited for ketogenic and low-carb lifestyles. Adjust the quantities to suit your dietary needs.
2. Adjust water levels for grinding the spinach depending on how thick you want the gravy. I like mine a bit thick and don’t use a lot of water.
3. Add more cream depending on your preference.
4. Adjust the chilli quantity to suit your taste.
5. Optionally, you can shallow fry the paneer cubes in ghee or butter to give it that added taste.
6. I used baby spinach in this recipe. If you can’t get your hands on baby spinach, English spinach or palak will do the job.
