An easy healthy recipe of Palak Paneer that doesn’t require blanching of the spinach leaves thereby keeping all the nutrition in the dish. The addition of moong dal provides protein and good color to the palak Paneer.

Its a simple curry dish without too many overpowering flavors. The fried garlic in the tempering provides a punch of flavor and I would not recommend skipping that step at all.

I saw this recipe by Renu Nagrath in a facebook group and had bookmarked it for making at a later time. I usually don’t make palak paneer because I always felt that I was wasting the nutrition by blanching the spinach leaves and if I didn’t blanch, it turned a muddy greenish brown color. This recipe gets full marks for color and nutrition. Another bonus of this recipe is the moong dal which just raises the nutrition quotient by adding not only protein but also making it a complete meal-dal,sabzi and paneer all in one!

I love spinach and use it generously in lot of my recipes. You can read the benefits of spinach in this article by healthline. You can make Spinach pakora in Air Fryer, Blackeyed peas and spinach tikkis, potato and spinach tikkis, Spinach veggie pesto sandwich, Palak Aloo ki sabzi ,Palak ki puri and Shyam savera puris.

Moving on to the recipe, here is the written recipe followed by the step by step pictorial one-

Lehsuni Palak Paneer

Aanchal Gupta

Print Recipe

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 50

Total Time 1

Servings cups

Ingredients

16 oz/500 gms Spinach/palak chopped
1/2 cup Yellow Moong Dal washed
1 green chili
4 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup milk use any nut milk for vegan option
200 gms/7 oz/ 1/2 pound Paneer cut in triangles or cubes tofu for vegan option
4 tbsp ghee/butter/oil ghee/butter give better taste or use a combination of oil and ghee/butter,use oil for vegan option
1 large onion approx 1 3/4 cups chopped onion
2 medium tomatoes approx 1 cup chopped tomatoes
1 1/2 tsp cumin/jeera seeds
1 tbsp minced ginger
1 tbsp dried fenugreek leaves/Kasoori methi
1/8 tsp garam masala
salt as per taste
1/4 cup cream any nut milk for vegan option

for tempering/tarka

1 tbsp ghee oil for vegan option
4-5 cloves of garlic thinly sliced
1/2 -1 tsp red chili powder/lal mirch powder

Instructions

In pressure cooker put dal,spinach,Green chili, garlic cloves salt, sugar and 1/2 cup water and give 4 whistles. Release pressure immediately and cool completely.
When spinach dal mixture cools, blend to a smooth consistency in a blender
In a pan,heat 4 tbsp ghee/butter/oil and add cumin and let it crackle
Add chopped onions and cook till they turn light golden color
Add minced ginger,stir and add chopped tomatoes and stir for 1 minute
Add garam masala,kasoori methi and salt and cook till oil separates
Add the spinach/palak and stir well
Add cream and mix paneer pieces and mix everything gently. Do not over cook, just heat it all through(Add more milk or cream or water if curry looks too thick)

For tempering/tarka

In a heavy bottom pan, heat ghee
Add garlic slices and cook till golden, remove from heat and add Red chili powder
Pour over Palak Paneer

Notes

Using Butter or ghee instead of oil provides better taste. No turmeric or red chili powder is used while browning the onions and tomatoes as it alters the color of the gravy. Instead If you like it spicy, increase the amount of green chili. You can replace the cream with milk for a lighter version though adding the cream gives better color and creaminess to the dish.

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Here is the step by step pictorial recipe-

Ingredients for the spinach puree