Palak Paneer

One of my favourite Indian dishes is Palak Paneer! I usually don’t like doing introductions on recipe posts because when I look for recipes I just want the ingredient list and the directions, not the whole backstory behind the recipe. However, for this one it has a bit of meaning to me because it reminds me of my boyfriend. My boyfriend’s name is Palak, which has a great meaning in Gujarati. Growing up I would giggle and think of him every time I saw his name on a menu at an Indian restaurant. His name translates to spinach in Hindi so as a nickname I would call him what we call spinach in West Indian culture “Bhaji anytime I would talk about him lol. Now as an adult being able to make this dish for him and having it come out so well makes me so happy. I love that this dish is keto and can be eaten with my previous keto naan recipe or with konjac or cauliflower rice. Hope you all enjoy this recipe!

Ingredients:

1. One package of spinach (labelled as 300g)
2. One package of paneer (labelled as 340g)
3. Two green chillis
4. Five cloves of garlic (3 whole, 2 finely chopped)
5. One medium tomato (cubed)
6. One large onion (finely chopped)
7. 1/2 cup of water
8. 1 inch of ginger (peeled)
9. Cooking oil
10. 1 teaspoon of garam masala
11. 1/4 teaspoon of turmeric powder
12. 1/4 teaspoon of chilli powder
13. Salt (as per your taste)
14. 3 tbsp of 18% or 25% milk (table or heavy cream)
15. 1 teaspoon of kasuri methi/fenugreek leaves (crushed)
16. Lemon juice (as per your taste)

Directions:

1. Boil a pot of water, add salt. Once the pot is boiling, add spinach and cook for 3-4 minutes until the spinach is wilted.
2. Put the cooked spinach in a bowl filled with ice and cold water. This helps the spinach retain its colour.
3. Add the cooked spinach (drained), green chillis, tomato, three cloves of garlic (whole) and ginger into a blender. Blend until it becomes a uniform paste.
4. Heat your pot to medium heat and add cooking oil
5. Add two cloves of finely chopped garlic and sauté until it begins to turn light brown (be careful not to burn the garlic)
6. Add the chopped onion and cook until it becomes translucent and soft.
7. Add the spinach mixture (that was previously blended) and 1/2 cup of water.
8. Mix together and cover the pot allowing it to simmer for a total of 12 minutes. Be sure to mix regularly to avoid any burning or sticking to the bottom of the pot.
9. Add garam masala, turmeric, chilli powder and salt. Mix together.
10. OPTIONAL: if the spinach is bitter, you can add a 1/2 teaspoon of sugar.
11. Let it cook for 2 minutes
12. Add table or heavy cream and mix.
13. Add the paneer (chopped in cubes). Let simmer for 5 minutes.
14. Take off the stove, add crushed kasuri methi/fenugreek leaves and lemon juice and stir.
15. You can now serve your dish and enjoy!