North Indian
Palak Paneer
Palak Paneer is North Indian home cooking, eaten at lunch and dinner. On the plate it is the dish at the centre. Below is what usually sits beside it, what it does and does not contain, and what else to cook once you have made it.
Ingredients
- 14 oz paneer
- 1 lb baby spinach
- 1 onion
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1 tbsp grated ginger
- 2 green chilies
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 3 tbsp neutral oil
- 4 cups cooked basmati rice
- 1 tsp salt
How to cook it
- Blanch the spinach in boiling water for 1 minute, drain, and shock in cold water, then blend it into a smooth puree with the green chilies.
- Heat 1 tbsp oil in a skillet and lightly brown the cubed paneer on all sides, then set it aside.
- Add the remaining oil to the pan and cook the onion, garlic, and ginger until soft and golden, about 8 minutes.
- Stir in the cumin, turmeric, and garam masala and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Pour in the spinach puree, season with salt, and simmer gently for 5 minutes.
- Fold in the paneer and cream, warm through for 3 minutes, and serve over the basmati rice.
Serve it with
A North Indian dinner is a plate rather than a single dish. These are the courses that normally sit beside Palak Paneer, read from the same composition Dinejot builds a real meal from.
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The cooked vegetable
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What it is eaten with
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The sharp little thing
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Something cool and fresh
Safe at your table
Dinejot tracks ten allergens and tags every one of them by hand, so the absences below are as deliberate as the presences. Palak Paneer carries dairy. It is free of the remaining 9 allergens on that list.
| Allergen | In this dish | Cook this instead |
|---|---|---|
| Peanuts | No | |
| Tree nuts | No | |
| Dairy | Yes | Masala Omelette |
| Gluten | No | |
| Shellfish | No | |
| Eggs | No | |
| Soy | No | |
| Fish | No | |
| Sesame | No | |
| Coconut | No |
These tags are set by a person rather than inferred from an ingredient list, and they describe the recipe as written here. Read the labels on whatever you actually buy.
What it brings to the plate
Bands, not numbers. Dinejot does not weigh anybody's food, so it says light, moderate or hearty and stops there. This dish was read and set by hand.
- Calorie band
- Hearty
- Protein
- High
- Protein quality
- Complete
- Food groups it covers
- Grains, Vegetables, and Dairy
- How this was set
- Hand audited
When to cook it
Palak Paneer takes about 40 minutes from a cold stove to the table, and the cooking itself is a fair bit of work. It is eaten at lunch and dinner. Nothing in the calendar rules it out, so it is a year round dish.
Watch someone make it
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More to cook
Cooked from the same things
Other dishes built on spinach, paneer, and cream.
From the same kitchens
More cooking from the United States and North India.
Does the same job on the plate
Swap any of these in when you want a meal the same shape.
Cook this with your whole family
Dinejot plans breakfast, lunch and dinner as whole plates, built around the cooking you call home and filtered for the allergies at your table.
Meal suggestions support your goals. They are not medical advice. Please ask your doctor about your family's health needs.