Instant Pot Palak Paneer
This Palak Paneer Recipe is Mommy’s Helper, believe me guys its super quick and simple, is a surefire way to get nutrient-rich spinach into kids without a complaint. The flash-cooking method helps preserve the vitamins, flavor, and rich color of the spinach.
Equipment
- Instant pot
Ingredients
- 1 lb Spinach Palak washed
- 2 cups Paneer or Cottage cheese bite sized
- 1 tbsp Ghee or Oil
- 1 tsp Cumin seeds Jeera
- 1 Green Chili Pepper slit
- 1 Onion medium Roughly chopped
- 5 cloves Garlic chopped
- 1 ” inch Ginger chopped
- 1 Tomato medium chopped
- cilantro leaves fresh, handful(optional)
- 1/4 cup Water
- 1 tsp Garam Masala
- 1/2 tsp Ground Turmeric Haldi powder
- 1/2 tsp Red Chili powder Mirchi powder
- 1 tsp Coriander powder Dhaniya powder
- 1 tsp Salt adjust to taste
Instructions
- Start the instant pot in sauté mode. Heat oil and add cumin seeds.
- When cumin seeds start to splutter, add ginger, garlic, green chili and onions. Sauté for 2 minutes.
- Add tomato and spices. Stir and let it cook for 2 minutes.
- Add 1/2 cup water and de-glaze the pot. Add in the spinach and cilantro leaves Press cancel and close the instant pot lid with vent in sealing position. Set on manual or pressure cook mode on high pressure for 2 minutes.
- Once the instant pot beeps, do a 5 minute natural pressure release, which means release the pressure manually 5 minutes after the beep.
- Blend the ingredients in the pot to a creamy texture using an immersion blender.
- Add in paneer cubes and saute it for 5 minutes.
- Fry Paneer: This is a personal preference. If you like to fry the paneer, you can fry in 2-3 tbsp oil in a pan or air fry it. Then add the fried paneer to the blended spinach.
- After the instant pot beeps you can add in some cream if you like ,you can completely skip this step and still get the best Results.
- Let it sit for 5 minutes, so the paneer soaks in the flavors. Palak Paneer is ready to be served with naan, roti or paratha
Notes
Stovetop Variation: The exact same preparation can be done in a sauce pan. Do not use a non-stick pan, if you plan to use an immersion blender to puree the spinach.
Frozen Spinach: You can use frozen spinach in this recipe. The same cooking time should work well. The instant pot might just take longer to come to pressure.
Frozen Paneer: If using frozen paneer, thaw it in the refrigerator overnight. Then microwave it for 1 minute in salted water.
