Methi Palak Paneer

Nothing can beat the comfort of home, loving family and hot food. If all these three come together…Allhumdulliah…life is beautiful….When I say hot food, I mean home cooked comfort meal. To me home cooked is always simple and indulging meals depending on the season and mood. As we are about to bid adieu to wonderful winters…my kitchen is booming with seasons rich and wonderful produce of leafy greens, fruits and vegetables. Of many winter warming recipes, I rustle up in my kitchen, recipes with winter greens are my family favourite. And today’s recipe Methi Palak Paneer is one of the most loved recipe in my family.

Methi Palak Paneer, as the name says it… is a rich and creamy paneer (Cottage Cheese) based recipe with the flavours of spinach and fenugreek leaves. The touch of Indian spices lifts the soul of the recipe. Cashews and milk add creaminess to this Methi Palak Paneer making this finger licking good.

I sometimes use fresh fenugreek leaves, but when I was in mood to make this recipe, I could not find fresh leaves…so I used dry fenugreek leaves. When I find fresh leaves again, I will surely make this again and click a picture for you all. If you have fresh fenugreek leaves, do give this a try with them.

My Family Favourite Paneer Recipes:

• Low-Fat Methi Paneer
• Paneer Pav Bhaji
• Paneer Mutter Masala

Methi Palak Paneer

 INGREDIENTS:

• 200 gms. Indian Cottage Cheese/Paneer, cut into cubes
• 2 big bunches Spinach/Palak leaves
• 1 Onion, sliced
• 1 Tomato, chopped
• 2 Green chillies
• 1 tbsp. Kashmiri red chili powder
• ¼ tbsp. Turmeric powder
• 1 tbsp. roasted Coriander powder
• ½ tbsp. roasted Cumin powder
• 1 tbsp. Garam masala
• 2 cloves Garlic
• 2 tbsp. dry Fenugreek leaves
• 1 tbsp. chopped Ginger
• ¼ cup Milk, low-fat
• 3 tbsp. Cashews, soaked in lukewarm water for 15 minutes
• 3 tbsp. Oil
• Salt, as per taste

PREPARATION:

Blanching Spinach Leaves:

• Discard the hard stems and roughly chop the spinach leaves. Wash thoroughly and drain the excess water.
• In a sauce pan, bring water to boil by adding pinch of salt. When water starts to boil, add chopped spinach leaves and turn off the flame. Leave for 2 minutes and using thongs remove the leaves and add them to blender.

Pureeing Spinach Leaves:

• In the blender along with spinach leaves, add green chillies, cloves of garlic and chopped ginger. Blend until smooth. Remove and set aside.

Preparing Methi Palak Paneer

• In a heavy bottom cooking vessel, add oil and when it heats up add sliced onions and fry till translucent. Now add chopped tomatoes and fry until soft. Once tomatoes are soft enough add this onion and tomato mixture to blender and puree until soft by adding cashews.
• Now in the same pan add paneer cubes and toss till all the sides turn light brown on low flame. Remove and drop the paneer cubes in a bowl of warm water.
• In the same pan add a tablespoon of oil (if required) and when it heats up add ground paste of onion-tomato-cashew along with red chili powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder, cumin powder and salt.
• Fry on medium heat till oil starts to leave the masala.  Now mix in spinach puree and stir well.
• Simmer and cook for 5-6 minutes by adding ½ cup of water. Now add paneer cubes and cook for another 2 minutes.
• Add garam masala and check for salt. Crush and add dry fenugreek leaves. Stir and add in milk. Turn off the heat.
• Serve warm with roti or phulka or naan or jeera rice.