Easy Anti-Inflammatory Palak Paneer
Palak Paneer is one of the most popular mainstream Indian dishes. You can find this popular dish at most Indian restaurants and at most Indian parties. Most of us start restaurant style dishes with chopped onions, garlic and tomatoes. These ingredients add a lot of flavor; however, if you struggle with any GI inflammation, I recommend reducing these ingredients as an experiment.
This recipes is nightshade free but I promise you will not miss any of the restaurant flavors. I have tested this recipe several times so I would not recommend swapping any of the spices.
Ingredients
1/4 C of Cashews
2 bunch of spinach 2 inch ginger 1/2 Tsp of black peppercorns 2 C of water 1 Bay Leaf I Tsp cumin seeds 5 cloves 1 star anise 2-3 Tsp Garam Masala 1/2 Tsp cumin powder 2 Tsp of coriander powder 1 Tsp of salt 2.5 C of Cubed Paneer
1 Tsp of Amchur (Dried Mango) powder
1 Tbs of Dried Fenugreek Leaves
Methods
Soak the cashews in hot water for 1 hour.
Rinse the spinach thoroughly. For texture, chop at least 1/4 of the spinach.
Using a high speed blender, add the remaining spinach, ginger, peppercorn, and 2 C of water and blend into a smooth mixture.
In a heavy bottom pot at medium high heat, add sesame oil. Give it 30 seconds to heat and add the bay leaf.
Once the leaf browns, add the cumin seeds, cloves, and star anise.
Add Asafoetida, cumin powder, coriander powder, turmeric, and Garam Masala.
The spices will combine with the oil and let out a beautiful aroma. This will take 30-60 seconds.
Now, add salt and all the spinach (chopped and the pureed).
Reduce the stove to medium low heat and let the spinach mixture come to a boil. Cover with a lid and let it boil away slowly.
In the meantime, in a small skillet cook your Paneer. I do not like to fry my Paneer as it becomes chewy. I prefer sauteing it with some avocado cooking spray or 1 Tbs of oil.
Once the Paneer browns, add this to the spinach allowing the Paneer to soak up the spices.
To make the cashew cream, drain the water and add the soaked cashew to a high speed blender. Add 1/2 C of water and blend into a smooth paste.
Add this to the spinach and Paneer and lower the heat. Cook everything for 5-7 mins.
Now add the Amchur powder and dried fenugreek leaves.
Sever your Palak Paneer with quinoa, rice or rotis!
Notes
To make this completely vegan, you can use cubed fresh tofu.
If you want the flavor of Saag Paneer, I have made this with 1 bunch of spinach and 1 bunch of mustard greens. You can chop some of the mustard greens instead of the spinach.
These anti-inflammatory recipes definitely take a while to perfect so please do tag me on Instagram if you recreate my recipes.