Palak Paneer (Spinach with Cheese)

Its a North Indian dish made with spinach and cottage cheese ,very healthy to eat and interesting to cook and its a treat for your taste buds.Its not tough to cook as it looks.I have seen a lot of Americans friends buying the ready to eat version from the desi store and they say they really relish it .So here is the recipe for all those friends. There are lot of variations you can do to it like instead of cottage cheese you can use Peas/Corn/Mushroom or  indeed Tofu is a very healthy option to substitute.

Ingredients: Serves 3-4 ppl

• 2 lb of fresh spinach leaves or baby spinach leaves
• 1lb of Paneer(Indian Cottage Cheese)
• 2 Medium size Onions Chopped
• 3-4 Garlic cloves minced
• 1-2 tsp Ginger paste
• 2 Green chillies
• 1/2 Cup milk
• 1 Tbs Gram flour/Chickpea flour(Besan)
• 1tsp Garam Masala
• 1tsp Cumin seeds
• 1tsp Red Chilli powder
• 1tsp Coriander powder
• 1tsp Sugar
• 2-3 tbs Ghee/Clarified Butter/Vegetable Oil
• Salt to taste

Method:

• Wash and drain the spinach .
• Add ginger and green chillies and steam or pressure cook the spinach in 1 whistle .Let it cool
• Make a paste of the steamed spinach and add Gram flour & milk along with it in your Mixer/ Blender.
• In a skillet on medium heat add Ghee/Oil add cumin seeds to it,then add garlic paste to it and saute it till it turns light brown.
• Now add the chopped onions to it and keep stirring it till it turns golden brown.
• Add salt in the onions while cooking it helps the onions to cook faster.Now Add the spices to it.
• Mix in the pureed spinach ,add sugar ,let it cook for 15-20 min on medium heat
• Add the cubed paneer into the gravy.(You can also fry the paneer before adding if you want )
• If the gravy is bit dry you can add little water to it.
• Let it cook further on low heat for 5-10 min
• Garnish with a tsp of ghee before serving.
• Ready to serve,tastes good with Naan/Chapati .