The husband and I love Palak Paneer – a dish I have perfected over my years in Bangalore and ever since I had it in a restaurant during one of the official team lunches. For people like us brought up in the cocoons of Tamilnadu, using Palak/Spinach – known as Pasalakeera (Tamil) or Palakoora (Telugu) in a gravy as side dish for chapati is unheard of. We make the regular Palakoora Pappu at home and it is one of my most favorite ways to eat the greens. Dad used to get a bunch of fresh palak just for us kids, growing up. It is after moving to Bangalore that I learnt a lot of other ways to use Palak including Palak Shorba, Palak Pakoda, Palak Biryani, Palak Sweet Corn curry and so on. I recently made Palak Mushroom and we enjoyed it immensely.
Palak Mushroom – Spinach Mushroom Curry doesn’t usually feature in a lot of restaurant menus and it wouldn’t be my first choice even if we are eating out. I am very vary about ordering mushroom or greens outside my home or in other words, until I have they have been cleaned well and are of good quality, I can’t really enjoy the dish. So I end up making Palak dishes at home often, to satiate our cravings. Last weekend, I had a bunch of palak in the fridge but I didn’t realize that we were out of paneer/cottage cheese. That’s when I had a light bulb moment and decided to use mushrooms instead of paneer. And I should say that the recipe turned out brilliant.
I have two versions of Palak Paneer – one that uses tomatoes and the other one that uses fresh curd. I love both the versions, but if I had to pick one I would choose the latter. It is creamy, rich and the gravy is always bright and vibrant. With Palak Mushroom gravy, I kept the spices to a minimum and after debating with myself over curd or tomato, I ended up using a small tomato. And yet, the gravy had a lovely green color and it had a subtle mushroom flavor. I used fresh cream to lace the curry and it was just perfect. If you want to keep this gravy vegan, you can use cashew cream or skip cream altogether. I served it with regular rotis and it was simply brilliant.
📖 Recipe
First bring a pot of water to boil. Add ½ teaspoon Sugar.
Switch off the heat and add palak leaves. Turn them around a couple of times.
Quickly remove them from the hot water and immerse them in cold water. This will preserve the green color of spinach.
Once cooled down, add blanch palak leaves along with coriander leaves and green chilli in a blender.
Grind into a smooth paste. Set aside.
In a heavy bottomed kadai, heat oil. Add shahi jeera, cloves, cardamom, dried bay leaf, cinnamon and as they splutter, add asfoetida.
Next add finely chopped onions and fry until they are light golden brown.
Now add ginger garlic paste and fry until there is no raw smell.
Add finely chopped tomatoes and cook them until mushy.
Next add the spice powders – red chilli powder, turmeric powder. Cook for 2-3 mins until there is no raw smell.
Now add sliced mushrooms and salt as needed.
Cook on low flame until the mushrooms are cooked. Mushrooms leave water and cook them until they are dry again.
Now add prepared palak paste along with water as needed.
Slowly bring the curry to a boil, add garam masala powder. Cook for 2 more minutes.
Add fresh cream and remove from heat. Mix well.
Serve hot with rotis/rice.
Adjust spices as per preference. Don’t cook the gravy for a long after adding spinach paste. It will change the color of the gravy.
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