Palak Paneer - 2, Spinach With Indian Cottage Cheese

          Though I am calling this post as Palak Paneer - 2, this is in fact, the first palak paneer that I used to do for my daughter. It's a very simple dish that does not use much spices or masalas. Back in the US, we get baby spinach packets, just wash and blanch them and use them and they taste very good in this dish, better than the regular spinach. This dish is ideal for a small group, because we are using only spinach puree here, no onions or tomatoes to give more volume, for a bigger group or party, I would recommend my other recipe here. I got this recipe from a cook book of Chef Sanjeev Kapoor, a delicious recipe with minimum ingredients and maximum flavor..

Need To Have

• Spinach/ Palak  - 1 big or 2 small bunches
• Paneer/ Indian Cottage Cheese cubes - 1 cup
• Green Chillies - 2
• Cumin Seeds/ Jeera - 1/2 teaspoon
• Garlic Cloves - 4-5, finely chopped
• Cream Cheese - 1 tablespoon (optional)

Recipe for home-made paneer here.

Method

          Remove the thick stems from the spinach, wash and add it to boiling water and immediately switch off. Remove it from the hot water, dip in cold water (I usually skip this step), drain and grind it with the 2 green chillies. I got 11/2 cup of spinach puree.

          Heat some oil, add the cumin seeds, when it starts to sizzle, add the garlic and saute till it turns golden. Then add the spinach puree and boil for 2 minutes.

          Then add the paneer cubes, mix gently and cook for 2 more minutes. Finally mix in the cream cheese, remove and serve it with rotis.

Note
Since I didn't have fresh cream , I used cream cheese.
I don't fry the paneer pieces before adding, it's up to you, you can add it as such or shallow fry and add.