Palak paneer is a popular north Indian side dish for flat breads. How to make without changing the colour to get greenish gravy.
I was not a big fan of palak paneer (yeah🤪)until I tasted at The Mango tree restaurant here in Singapore. So I have never tried at home too obviously. This is the first time I am trying this. Now I am liking slowly. Since my kiddo loves paneer, as well as palak this is a nice way to make him eat spinach…he eats palak poori and this comes next in his favorite.
To prepare a perfect green palak paneer, we must take care to retain the green colour of the palak, also it should not be under cooked as it could cause stomach upset as well as bitter gravy.
Why is my Palak paneer bitter?
Palak paneer turns bitter if the palak is not cooked properly. This is one of the main reasons.
Other reasons for bitter gravy?
In this particular recipe, if the spice powder is added more, or burnt while roasting (whole spices we powder) or the garam masala is added more at the end. Not adding enough tomato to balance the taste also causes it taste bitter.
Palak paneer recipe
Palak paneer is a popular Indian side dish for flat breads. Instead of blanching, I like to sautee the palak for bright green colour. Step by step pictures post.
Servings 4
Cup measurements
Ingredients
- Palak – 2 cups Tighyly packed, Indian spinach
- Onion – 1 big
- Paneer cubes – 1 & ½ cups Measured after thawing
- Tomato – 2
- Green chillies – 5
- Turmeric – ¼ tsp
- Coriander seeds powder – 1 tsp
- Kasoori methi – 1 tsp
- Sugar ½ tsp
- Milk/ cream – ¼ cup
- Oil / butter – 3 tbsp
- Salt – as needed
To roast and powder
- Cinnamon – ½ inch piece
- Cardamom – 1
- Cloves 1
- Pepper – 1 tsp
- Cumin seeds/ Jeera – 1 tsp
Instructions
- Wash spinach, drain excess water. Remove the stem part from the leaf. Tear off any thick stem part in the middle of the leaves too..)
- Chop the onion and tomatoes finely. Gather other ingredients needed.
- In a pan, heat ½ tsp of ghee and fry the items in the 'To roast and powder'. Add every thing together except cumin seeds and roast.
- Add cumin seeds lastly as it gets fried in no time. Do not burn anything which will turn the gravy bitter. Keep a side. I powdered this using a hand mortar and pestle in to a fine powder.
- In the same pan, add the washed palak leaves and fry till it reduces in volume. The water in the leaves is enough to make it shrink. If you need all few drops of oil while frying. Transfer to a plate and cool down.
- Grind it with the green chillies, water if needed.
- Heat pan and add the oil and fry onions thoroughly till it turns golden brown. Add turmeric and coriander powder and give it a quick stir in low flame.
- Add the tomatoes and little salt to make the tomatoes cook fast. Add the kasoori methi now, crush them in between your palms.
- When the tomatoes turn mushy, add the ground palak paste, sugar. Fry in low flame for 4-5 minutes till oil separates or till the raw smell disappears and the palak gets cooked well.
- Mean while boil water in another vessel and add the paneer and switch off the stove and keep covered till use. Drain the paneer and add it to the palak gravy.
- Add milk and mix or cream slowly as you keep mixing in low flame and just bring to boil.
- Add the powdered garam masala.Mix well.Transfer to the serving bowl and serve with hot roti or naan.
Notes
- I preferred sautéing the leaves than boil, you can try blanching too. Make sure not over cook the palak,or you wont get green gravy.
- You can add a pinch of cooking soda for the palak to retain its green while boiling.
- Adding sugar helps retain green of the palak.
- If your palak and green chillies are not cooked properly, it will turn the gravy bitter.
- I have avoided using red chilli powder and used green chilli and pepper for spiciness. This ensures giving a good green colour to the gravy.
- Use cream in place of milk for extra richness. Also curd or sour cream works fine.
- For lazy version, you can avoid the spice/ masala grinding part and add garam masala instead.
- After adding paneer cubes, do not cook long time as it will make paneer turn hard. Use fresh paneer for best results.
- Soaking in hot water helps softening the paneer.
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Palak paneer step by step:
- Wash spinach, drain excess water. Remove the stem part from the leaf. Tear off any thick stem part in the middle of the leaves too..)
- Chop the onion and tomatoes finely. Gather other ingredients needed.
- In a pan, heat ½ tsp of ghee and fry the items in the ‘To roast and powder’. Add every thing together except cumin seeds and roast.
- Add cumin seeds lastly as it gets fried in no time. Do not burn anything which will turn the gravy bitter. Keep a side. I powdered this using a hand mortar and pestle in to a fine powder.
- In the same pan, add the washed palak leaves and fry till it reduces in volume. The water in the leaves is enough to make it shrink. If you need all few drops of oil while frying. Transfer to a plate and cool down.
- Grind it with the green chillies, water if needed.
- Heat pan and add the oil and fry onions thoroughly till it turns golden brown. Add turmeric and coriander powder and give it a quick stir in low flame.
- In goes the tomatoes and little salt to make the tomatoes cook fast. Add the kasoori methi now, crush them in between your palms.
- When the tomatoes turn mushy, add the ground palak paste, sugar. Fry in low flame for 4-5 minutes till oil separates or till the raw smell disappears and the palak gets cooked well.
- Mean while boil water in another vessel and add the paneer and switch off the stove and keep covered till use. Drain the paneer and add it to the palak gravy.
- Add milk and mix or cream slowly as you keep mixing in low flame and just bring to boil.
- Add the powdered garam masala.Mix well. Transfer to the serving bowl.
Goes well with roti or any other flat breads like naan, paratha etc. Also goes well with mild pulao.
Ahh..my all time fav..looks super yummy..lovely rich green color!!
TH's fave! Although I prefer the creamier paneer dishes, i have to like this too 🙂
Amazing color of the palak! Awesome clicks!
yummy…true that palak shouldn't be over boiled..it spoils the color and taste!
Looks so rich….what I like the most is the fresh green color…looks tempting
love the green colour of the palak paneer and th kadai too.I llove to have this with naan.
Great explanation with beautiful cicks
perfect colour,..looks yum
looks great raks.. kalakara.
Classic recipe..love both..looks terrfic..yum!!
lovely colour raks…looks yumm..
we all like palak paneer at home. Nice captures!
wow .. tempting da… i like the first pic the most …. super it looks
wow!!!!!! looks very tempting
Superb palam panneer. Very professional looking click. Illustrations are also too good. Janmashtami wishes to u and ur family.
colour recipe..the serving dish is cute.
enakkum palak paneer pidikkaathu!;);)
Looks soooooooooo beautiful with vibrant green color..I do exactly same way except the whole spices…looks so delicious.
look sooooo tempting …palak paneer is my all time favorite ..few hours back only i finished my dinner but ur palak paneer makes me hungry dear
Satya
http://www.superyummyrecipes.com
Nice . i too never tried this so far. I am making palak chapathi nowadays..will try this in future 🙂
so creamy. Loved the green color
Lovely green color…Looks very creamy. Great clicks.
i too never had this before,but seeing urs need to try…nice clicks.
i never tried palak paneer…looks so creamy and yummy!
Loved the green color..looks yum & tempting! Awesome click Raji!
Really amazing color of the palak paneer. I always boil the stuff but seeing this beautiful color I will also follow your procedure. (though I add sugar) Tempting clicks
Deepa
Hamaree Rasoi
my favorite curry..nicely explained recipe
My fav, awesome clicks and elegant presentation Raji..
I think i will join you in hating palak paneer, i hate them too like you as i have only had them in horels andit never pleased me, maybe i shouldtry this one.
Fantastic and creamy. I have one in my drafts. and regarding the cleaning of silver items thanks for reminding the omission. I have edited it.
Palak paneer looks awesome! Loved the amazing green colour! Beautiful pics and presentation!
Palak paneer looks great and inviting. Nice green colour and pics too.
Looks very colorful and inviting!!
love the color..great clicks..looks so yummy!!
Beautiful clicks again, this is my son's fav and i usually do it for him atleast once in a week…
Love this curry.. U have explained it soo well !!
Yummy palak paneer! Next time I am going to try the saute'ing method…Thanks for sharing the recipe, Raks!
Just discovered your blog. Very nice, Love the step by step pictures.
Aparna
My hubby's fav.Looks so delicious.U got the perfect color:)
healthy recipe dear…nice click
One of my favorite !! It come out perfectly..I make it the same way !! Gorgeous Raji !!
hi i think i am 1st time here. colour of palak is marvelous i saw first time so nice colour of palak. looking very tempting. and ur step by step recipe isvery good on the whole awesome!
I love the bright green color of your dish. It really looks wonderful. I hope you are having a great day. Blessings…Mary
Wow..i luv palak n the paneer combo..this luks so yum..
Wow, what a beautiful color and this is my favorite paneer recipe 🙂
Great combo and looks delicious, very beautiful color too…
http://treatntrick.blogspot.com
Looks rich and colorful, also healthy.
http://aaha-oho.blogspot.com/
Hi.
This is one preparation I do boast abt, LOL
nice colour and lovely creamy texture.
Try making without the tomatoes and add lime juice after cooking, it's a completely diferent flavor surely.
FOODELICIOUS
Nice green recipe! Awesome clicks!!
looks lovely and superb clicks…
http://akilaskitchen.blogspot.com
Wonderful recipe dear!! Lovely and attractive pics…beautifully presented…. wud love to have some..:-)
lovely colour..love palak paneer ! great pics..
What beautiful pictures and such vibrant colour! Looks very tempting.
yummy Recipe!!!! Love that presentation!!!! Feel like grabbing that bowl fm the Click!!!
That looks really delicious. I love the brightness of the spinach…most of the restaurant versions I've seen don't look nearly as beautiful or fresh.
Hi I made palak paneer yesterday for dinner and it turned out to be yummy..my family loved it..thanks for the same..ur step by step pic is awesome..today try'n garlic bun…will tell u how it was….
Mouthwatering Raks. This is one of my favorite restaurant curries. I used to order this often before my marriage. But TH doesn't like to eat vegetarian curries so I end up ordering his favorites now.
Thank you Sathya for the feedback 🙂 Glad you liked it and thanks for the nice words 🙂
Did I mention, m getting crazy about your cooking style.. well.. since m crazy about Paneer too.. (have you tried Paneer Malai MEthi, thats like my fav fav dish!! 🙁 I dont know how to make it though 😀 ) .. and I want to know how did you make Palak pooris.. man.. m loving the way you have arranged the step by step pics.. m coming back again.. too much of temptation already!!
Can I Also tell you one thing.. m so busy checking the recipes, i dont even know your name. pls excuse me for my stupidity.. 😀 n m sure if i try these recipes my mom will love me because they r all Indian recipes.. she is kind of bored now..with me baking cakes all the time.. lol.. he he he..
Love,
MEgha.. 🙂
Very very good. Its colour is awesome. I told my mother to cook this recipe. She made delicious palak paneer because of this recipe. Thanks a lot
Hi Raks!
Tried this recipe last night. Was very easy to follow and came out well too. I just reduced the number of chillies a bit for the sake of my three-year old.
Thank you very much.
🙂
Hi deepa, Thanks for trying and the feedback 🙂 Hope your kid liked it!
Just tried it. Its come out really nice a great combination with chapatis/naan.
hi rajeshwari
i made palak paneer a few times…this time iadded red chilli powder instead of green chilli powder….can we replace it?it came out good….
I too tried palak paneer today..Its yum!!!and yours is too good 🙂
hi rajeshwari
i made palak paneer yesterday…i added cream instead of milk n red chilli powder instead of green chilli….it came out o well…even i was supraised…i like the last when u add pepper cumin powder..wow….thanks a lot…i love this palak paneer becos of ur recipe i made it well.
Hey Raks! Thanks a bunch for the recipe! It turned out really yummy ;P
Nice recipe ,, i love all your recipe
Hey Rak's I have a question regarding this dish, Why u boil the paneer? here in USA paneer is not fresh so it might be broken while boiling,I am afraid of doing this. I want to lush green color of my dish so after grinding palak is it ok that not to cook palak, just mix it well with tomato gravy?
Hey Rak's I have a question regarding paneer,
Why you boil the paneer ? I am afraid of doing this because here in USA paneer is not fresh so it might be broken while boiling. And what should I do if I want to lush green color of my dish? Is it ok to after grinding the palak not to cook it so much, just mix it well with gravy?
Just boil water and switch off the stove, add paneer to it and keep covered until you use, do not boil in water. hope this helps. Immersing in hot water makes paneer soft, otherwise it would be hard in the mid.
Thanks Raks.
i tried this recipe but it was somewhat bitter and watery, how would i correct this.. plz suggest
Nikhat, sorry about ur experience…
Reasons for the gravy getting bitter :
Your masala you fried got burnt or it was more.
Coriander powder more
Palak not cooked properly (or fried)
Your tomato was not enough tangy to balance the taste….
Hope this helps…
thnx Raks for ur suggestion, it is said that bitter experience gives sweet results. i got good result and it was really delicious..thnq 🙂
Thnx for yummy receipes….
Thank u for this receipes for the first time my family said that i made palak paneer very yummy……Thnx for such delicious dish.
wow so yummy nd creamy .. All the flavors cme out so well , palak nd paneer nd cream.. Thanks fr sharng the recipe.. Njyd the restaurant wala taste..
wow so creamy nd yummy.. All the flavors cme out so wel, palak nd paneer nd cream.. Simply best nd so easy to mke..thnks fr shrng the recipe
Tried your recipe and must say that this was one of the most yummiest palak paneer I ever made…very creamy and tasteful…. Must try for everyone
Hey hi tried this recipe…and I must say it is my fav!!! creamy and tasty.. a definite must try!
i seldom leave comments but i could not stop myself from leaving a heartfelt compliment 🙂
Ur recipies are just AWESOME……
Tried palak paneer for the very first time and it turned out fantabulous, the best part my kid liked it and my hubby literally cleaned the entire kadai in which i served the curry 🙂 The next day my daughter asked me for palak paneer again….I must thank you so much for ur simple and tasty curries. i also tried mixed vegetable kurma/ puliogare/brinjal fry/ tomato peas pulav/ sambar and they were all super duper hit.. thnx so much.
Thank you everyone 🙂
Thank you pyariwaseema. These feedbacks means a lot to me 🙂 Keep visiting!
Today, I am going to make it for my kids…
Hi Raks,
The recipe is indeed amazing. My bro cooked it for me and it tasted so good. Thanks for making by bro such a talented cook 🙂
I have a suggestion. Tempered whole red chilli adds real good flavour to palak paneer. You can try it…
Thanks again
Swati
Hi raks..I tried this recipe and my hubby,colleagues loved it..this thanks goes to u:)
Hi,
i gave this recipe to my ameteur cooking husband and he did jus an awesome job.it tasted just so great:)cant even summarise how much i liked it.thanks for such an easy step by step process.ur site is making my job much easier these days in kitchen:)
from your kitchen to my kitchen, thanks.
http://niveditaskitchen.blogspot.in/2013/02/palak-paneerfood-remake.html
I tried to make this last night and it did not come our very well. I do not have access to Palak/Indian spinach so I used baby spinach. I was unsure on the volume. I used 2 jalapeno peppers for the chilies, and it was overpowing. You say to add garam masala at the end, but there is no measurement for it. I love saag paneer and I was hoping this would get me to that wonderful flavor but it did not.
This was my first recipe from your website and now i visit your blog every now and then to try out something new. Your pictures are so perfect. I have tried this recipe of yours 3 or 4 times and it has come out well everytime.
Hi, Sorry about your experience. I mentioned garam masala – powdered garam masala. The one in step 3.
Hi! Tried yr indian style fried rice for lunch and i didnt have enuf left for me! Hubby and kids skipped the rest of the dishes and had only fried rice 🙂 Going to try palak paneer for dinner. Will write to u abt it tmoro. Also tried yr paneer butter masala, which was excellent. My sincere thanks to you. Chitra
i am going to make this tomorrow. super excited!!!
Awesome.. Too gud n too easy t prepare..
Awesome.. Too gud n too easy t prepare..
I prepared it just nw it was bitter, hw can I correct it.is it bcoz of kasuri methi? I follwed all step correctly.
palak is cooked properly? even if garam masala is more or roated too much, it turns bitter.
Thanks 4 ur prompt rpl dear, was waing since lng.im gr8 fan of ur receipes.spend most of my time viewing ur receipe n this is 1st receipe I tried.i hve a request 4 u, can u plz post some receipe 4 toddlers, I have 2yr old baby who want new taste all da time…also u look vry young n beautiful, was surprised 2 knw ur mom of 2…Santoor Santoor. .kidding
Hi Raks,
Prepared this dish for dinner yesterday and everybody at come just loved it!!! 🙂 All Thanks to you!! Keep posting such delicious dishes…Happy blogging!
Cheers!
The best recipe I found yet, with clear instructions.. Thank you!
I tried and it came out delicious. My kids and hubby enjoyed. Thanks!
I tried the simple version just cooked spinach with shallots and green chillies ,added the late sautéed onion with red chilly powder ,it was yummy
Raks my daughter loves ur palak paneer recipe very much. Thanks for Sharing such a simple and yummy recipe
hmmm … really yummy yummy … looing @ the recipe feel like hogging more 🙂
What an amazing colour! This looks so healthy.
Tried a couple palak paneer recipe… and this one definitely worth repeating. Thank you!
Semma dish …jst love al ur dishes
Hi raks, i love palak paneer and my kids too….i usually try in a diff way but someitmes tht raw smell of palak wd sty….will try ths method and let u knw soon…. am a grt fan of ur recipes
Hi.. Love ur recipes n photos. Could you plz tell where we can get Palak here in Singapore
Mustafa if you want indian spinach, otherwise fairprice has spinach
Awesome
Tried it and its awesome
Hi! QQ: Do you add water when you grind the palak and chilly? I tried without water and it turned out to be a thick paste. Not as liquid as shown in your pictures. I also used baby spinach instead of palak. Do you think that may be a reason why it didn't turn out paste when grind-ed without water?
It was the water that was intact with the leaves after washing. When I sautee, it leaves out the water and I grind it along with it. But that should not be a problem to you, just water content 🙂
Thank you for this recipe. I've made it several times and always come back to it as it is my daughter's favorite.
I tried this dish today and my husband loved it. Thanks much for the recipe.
Very nice recipe raks!!please post kaju ki sabji recipe…