Pakistani Palak Paneer - Richly flavored, Dhaba Style

Richly flavored, hearty, dhaba style Palak Paneer with the right amount of zing for every day eating and entertaining alike.

Growing up Palak Paneer was always a 'shadi' or wedding dish. Now this is not because there is any religious or cultural significance to serving this spinach and cheese dish at a wedding. It is because Pakistanis are not the greatest at veggies and this dhaba style, deeply flavored dish was one of the few that are considered both festive and delicious enough to serve along side the traditional rich wedding dishes.

You will note this is a thicker, heartier dish, not the very creamy lighter coloured Palak Paneer popular in other parts of South Asia.

Picking Spinach: Fresh versus Frozen

For reasons I don't understand the frozen spinach imported from India and Pakistan is much more flavorful than the domestic to my Canadian self variety. There is a depth of flavour (and ease) that makes it my pick for this Pakistani Palak Paneer.

Ranking different varieties of spinach from most to least favorite below.

1.) frozen Indian/Pakistani spinach: richest flavour and most convenient

2.) fresh spinach (baby): reasonable flavour, super convenient because you don't need to remove the stalks

3.) fresh spinach (regular): good flavour, but you need to remove all the woody stalks

4.) frozen spinach: doable, but not as good as the above.

Let's talk about Paneer

Now, this is where I fully admit that while it is not difficult to make I am very much at peace with buying it for convenience. Here are things to remember:

1.) If you can find the pre fried paneer cubes in your freezer section then those are the best - drop them directly in to your dish, no muss no fuss.

2.) While you can use fresh paneer sliced and added to the dish if you do choose to fry your own remember to give it a quick salted water bath after frying as insurance against future chewiness

3.) You can freeze paneer, just take out what you need and freeze the rest well wrapped.

What goes in Palak Paneer

Below is what I use to cook a Palak Paneer that has a balanced richness.

How to cook Palak Paneer faster

I once made a Palak Paneer that was so tasty, but took so long that I looked at it and was like "are you nihari?". IYKYK.

Here are some tips for more efficient cooking for Palak Paneer (or any dish frankly).

• fine dice on the onions: it is quicker to finely dice onions and get them to the right color than to cut bigger pieces and get them to be amber beauties.
• use the lid: added tomatoes? cover your pot on medium high heat for 2 minutes to get them to break down faster. Throwing in frozen spinach? Do the same. No need to defrost, the covering will defrost, the higher temp will take out the excess moisture faster.
• food processor or chopper: these are my friends for a Palak Paneer that feels hearty, but also not like I am going to walk way with stringy spinach hanging from my teeth. #BeenThere
• Ice ice baby: because I am perhaps not the most patient cook I throw two ice cubes into my spinach mix before pureeing it so that I don't have to wait for the spinach mix to cool.

Making Palak Paneer Ahead:

This dish becomes even better as it sits, the one thing I would say is to double check your seasonings before reheating. Reheat it gently stove top, in an oven in an oven safe dish on a low setting (300F), or even Microwave it.

Hope you love this sumptuous Palak Paneer as much as I do! Please leave your rating/comments below and as always I'd love to see your recreations on Instagram!