Palak Paneer / Aloo Palak

Hey everyone..! Today I am making Palak Paneer (Spinach with Cottage Cheese)... a quick and easy dish.

 Fig.1 Palak Paneer

Usually I make  Aloo Palak (Spinach with Potatoes). It is supposedly easier to absorb the iron from Spinach if you consume it with something which contains Vitamin C. Since potatoes have plenty of Vitamin C, I try to make Aloo Palak more often than Palak Paneer. It is the same recipe. In any case I like to add some lemon juice at the end. I hope that kicks in a tiny bit of Vit-C too. --OR-- I just force everyone to drink orange juice with the meal! ;)

Today it's the Palak Paneer version. Who doesn't like Paneer! This recipe is originally from Sanjeev Kapoor's book. Here I am making this by memory, since I don't have the book handy. I will update the post later if I find there are any changes in the original recipe.

Ingredients:Palak (Spinach) ~ 1 large packet frozen.
Paneer -  cubed,1/2 packet frozen, ready store-bought (Could use home-made paneer, recipe here.)
Jeera (Cumin seeds) - 1 teaspoon
Peeled, chopped garlic or paste ~ about 3 large pods
Chopped green chillies - 1
Oil ~ 2 tablespoons
Lemon juice ~ 1 or 2 teaspoons (as per taste)
Salt to taste

Procedure:
1) Heat oil in a wide pan. Add paneer cubes to oil. Shallow fry paneer pieces for a few minutes till they are lightly golden. Add some salt to the paneer. Now move them out on a paper towel to soak excess oil.
2) Meanwhile, cook the frozen palak in a microwave-safe bowl. Grind the cooked palak to a smooth paste.
3) Saute jeera, chopped garlic and chopped green chillies in the remaining oil in the frying pan. Add ground palak, some salt, some water and cook.
4) Add paneer cubes and cook.
Palak Paneer is ready!

I like to add lemon juice just before serving. If you will not consume the whole dish at once, then separate out as much as you will consume and add lemon juice to only that portion of the dish (since the lemon juice is not being cooked here.)

If I make Aloo Palak, I don't fry the potatoes (skip step 1 above). So I can use far less oil, only enough for step 3. I cook the potatoes separately in a microwave, peel, cube and salt them. And then add those to palak as mentioned above in step 4, instead of paneer.

Combination
Palak Paneer or Aloo Palak goes well with any Roti, Phulka, Paratha or Dal+Rice.

Happy cooking!