Palak paneer

Ingredients

• Spinach600 g
• Paneer — in 2 cm cubes300 g
• Onion1
• Tomato2
• Ginger20 g
• Garlic4 clove
• Green chilli2
• Cumin seeds1 tsp
• Garam masala1 tsp
• Cream60 ml
• Ghee3 tbsp
• Saltto taste

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Drop the spinach into boiling water for ninety seconds and move it straight into iced water. Squeeze it out and blend it with the chilli to a purée.

   8 min

2. 2

   Soak the paneer in hot salted water for ten minutes, then drain it.

   10 min

3. 3

   Fry the cumin seeds in the ghee until they crackle, add the onion and cook it gold, then the ginger and garlic for a minute.

   10 min

4. 4

   Add the tomatoes and cook seven minutes, until they break down and the fat starts separating at the edges.

   8 min

5. 5

   Stir in the spinach purée, garam masala and salt, and warm it for exactly a minute. Add the paneer and cream and take it off the heat.

   3 min

About the dish

The bright green comes from two things: a short blanch and an immediate plunge into iced water. Stewed spinach turns olive-brown within five minutes and there is no getting the colour back.

The purée goes into the finished base at the very end and is warmed for a minute, no longer. Anything more kills the colour again.

The paneer is soaked in hot salted water for ten minutes before serving. It softens and stops being rubbery — that step is what separates the home dish from the restaurant one.

Worth knowing

• — The iced water after blanching is not optional. Without it the spinach keeps cooking on residual heat and loses its colour.
• — The paneer can be fried for colour, but it still wants the hot-water soak afterwards or it stays hard inside.
• — Leave the purée slightly coarse. Blended perfectly smooth it takes on the texture of baby food.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

420 kcal

Protein

22 g

Fat

30 g

Carbs

16 g

More from India

• Dal tadka — A lentil stew finished by pouring sizzling spiced fat over it. That step is the dish.
• Butter chicken — Yoghurt-marinated chicken, roasted, in a tomato and cream sauce finished with fenugreek.
• Chicken biryani — Rice and marinated chicken finished together under a lid: the layers cook in steam rather than by stirring.