Palak Paneer (Spinach & Cheese Curry)

This week was the birthday week for my beloved. It’s kinda our thing that we dedicate a week for our birthday…instead of just a day. Speaking of greediness eh? ;P

It’s not like I have shower him with gift every day for a week. Oh nothing like that! It’s more like I will have to be nicer to him….you know, cooking the stuff he likes to eat, let him have the remote control and keep my nagginess down to a minimum ha!

Since he has requested for Indian food to celebrate his birthday, my friends and I have prepared an Indian feast to celebrate his special day. 🙂  My contribution to the feast was Palak Paneer and Chicken Briyani with Boondi raita.

Snapshots of  our Indian feast (top from left, clockwise) – Chicken Biryani, potato samosa but with puff pastries, lamb curry & palak paneer (recipe below).

Palak Paneer (Spinach & Cheese Curry)

(Serves 2 to 3 people with rice)

What you’ll need:-

• Cooking oil
• 1 x 200g/7 ounces Paneer, diced
• 1 brown onion, sliced
• 1/2 tbsp store-bought garlic paste
• 1/2 tbsp store-bought ginger paste
• 1/2 tbsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tbsp ground paprika
• 1/2 tbsp turmeric powder
• 1/2 cup low fat yogurt
• 1/2 cup diced tomato (canned)
• 2 X 250g/9 ounces of frozen chopped spinach
• Salt to taste
• Sugar to taste
• Slices of fresh onions as garnish – optional
• Chopped fresh coriander leaves as garnish – optional

 (1) Dice paneer into about an inch cubes. (2) In a medium sized pot, add some oil and pan fry the paneer until golden brown – see Note 1.  Transfer to a plate lined with paper towel to absorb any excess oil. (3) In the same pot, add sliced onions and saute until golden brown over medium heat. Add more oil in this step is necessary. Turn the heat to low, add ginger & garlic paste, ground cumin, ground paprika, turmeric powder, yogurt and diced tomato and stir to combine. Turn the heat up to low-medium, and cook until the oil separates – see Note 2. (4) Add frozen spinach (no need to thaw) and cook over medium heat, covered, until the spinach is fully defrosted and bubbling. Then turn the heat to low and simmer over low heat for 15 minutes, covered. Season with salt and sugar to taste. Stir in paneer and mix well. (5) Garnish with sliced onions and chopped coriander just before serving. Serve hot with rice.

 Note 1 – Just before pan fruing, pat the paneer with paper towel to reduce the oil splatter while pan frying. I actually pan fried the paneer covered, to avoid the oil to splatter all over the stove.

Note 2 – Sometimes it may take some time until oil separates from the sauce. If it seems like the oil ain’t going to separate, I cheated by adding a tablespoon or two of cooking oil and let the sauce continue to simmer until the cooking oil changes to red colour.