Easy Palak Paneer Recipe (One Pot, No Cream)

Name: Easy Palak Paneer Recipe (One Pot, No Cream)
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 5 serving
Ingredients: 800 gm Palak leaves; 300 gm Paneer/ Indian Cottage cheese; a pinch Heeng (Asafoetida); 1 teaspoon jeera; 2 small tomato; 1 large onion; 2-3 small green chily; 3 cloves garlic; 1 teaspoon grated/chopped ginger; 1 teaspoon haldi; 2 teaspoon red chilly powder; 1 teaspoon amchur powder; 1 teaspoon Garm Masala; 1 tablespoon desi ghee; salt as per taste

User Reviews

5.0

3 reviews

Excellent

Prep Time
10 mins
Cook Time
10 mins
Additional Time
10 mins
Total Time
40 mins
Servings
5
Calories
207 kcal
Course
Main Course, Dinner
Cuisine
Indian

Easy Palak Paneer Recipe (One Pot, No Cream)

Iris Warren

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This Palak Paneer Recipe is a gentle twist to traditional palak paneer and is made using fresh spinach or palak leaves (boiled and blended in a paste) with paneer added to this palak gravy, all without adding any cream. It is one of the most popular main courses of Indian cuisine made in winter.

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Ingredients

Servings

800 gm Palak leaves fresh and sorted (8 -10 cups)
300 gm Paneer/ Indian Cottage cheese can replace with Tofu
a pinch Heeng (Asafoetida) optional
1 teaspoon jeera
2 small tomato
1 large onion
2-3 small green chily optional
3 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon grated/chopped ginger
1 teaspoon haldi
2 teaspoon red chilly powder
1 teaspoon amchur powder replace by lemon juice
1 teaspoon Garm Masala optional
1 tablespoon desi ghee
salt as per taste

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Instructions

Sort and wash the spinach/ palak leaves under running water in a colander. This step is really important. The yellow leaves or rotten ones shall be discarded. You may feel free to roughly chop them. I skipped that step as we have to anyway blend the boiled leaves.
Take a pressure cooker and add washed palak leaves to it. Note: Don't add any extra water as Spinach is full of water and you don't need any water for boiling it in a pressure cooker like other recipes. In fact, in my experience, if we add any water at this step, palak tastes really bitter.
Add roughly chopped tomato, ginger, garlic, onion, and green chilly. Pressure cook it on full flame for 2 whistles and then simmer for 5 min.
Let the pressure cool off. Once it completely cools off, transfer the boiled spinach and veggies to a blender and blend for a smooth paste. You may use a hand blender too.If you like not very smooth paste, use a hand blender. It depends on how you want it.
The paste looks like as shown in the image. Depending upon the size of the jar, you may have to blend in 1-2 steps.
In the same pressure cooker, I had made a desi ghee tadka to the boiled palak. You may use Kadai. Since palak splatters a lot while cooking, I prefer a utensil with height. Add desi ghee to the same pressure cooker (Note: we don't need any pressure boiling now). Add heeng and jeera
Once jeera cracks, add haldi and red chilli powder. Make sure the flame is simmer or else spices might get burnt.
Add blended palak paste to this tadka. Let it cook on simmer for about 10 min. It would have some moisture in it. Let it absorb that moisture.
Then add chopped pieces of paneer. Paneer leaves the water. So cook for another 5 min and add salt, garm masala, and amchur/ lemon juice.
The Delicious Palak Paneer is ready. top it with my choice of Mirch ki tari and trust me you would always make palak paneer in this super-easy way. Enjoy!

Notes

Make sure to blend boiled spinach leaves (along with onion, tomato, etc.) after completely cooling off or else you might spill hot stuff over you. Once the cooker cools off, transfer the content to an open pan to let it cool soon.
My version of spicy will not match yours. Even though this post doesn't say spicy, assume it's spicy as our appetite for spicy is more. Start with less heat and gradually add more as per your preference.
When you add Paneer, cook for few more minutes as paneer leaves water and you need to boil that as well.
Don't add any extra water as Spinach is full of water and you don't need any water for boiling it in a pressure cooker like other recipes. In fact, in my experience, if we add any water at this step, palak tastes really bitter.