Palak paneer is a north Indian dish of creamed spinach (palak) and, traditionally, cubes of cottage cheese (paneer). I replace the cream with cashews, and the cottage cheese cubes with tofu. The ingredients are simple: a curry of the spinach puree, tomato, onion, ginger and garlic.
Palak Paneer, Plant-Based No-Oil
Equipment
- blender
Ingredients
- 1 bunch fresh spinach about 4 cups, washed, stems trimmed, chopped
- 16 ounces extra firm tofu pressed
- 2 teaspoons curry powder
- 2 teaspoons nutritional yeast
- 1 onion chopped
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 15-oz can diced tomatoes
- 1/2 cup raw cashews softened by soaking 1 hour in hot water
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Cut the tofu into cubes and place in a bowl. Sprinkle with the nutritional yeast and curry powder.
- Bake the tofu cubes at 400° for 15 minutes.
- Blanch the spinach by dropping it into boiling water for 2 minutes. Take it out and put it in a bowl of ice water (this helps keep it green). Remove and drain off the water.
- Sauté the onion, garlic, and spices in a small pan for a few minutes until the onion is soft.
- Drain the cashews.
- Place the onion mixture, spinach, cashews, tomatoes, water, and salt into a blender. Blend until smooth. Pour into a serving bowl.
- Add most of the tofu cubes to the paneer; save a few to garnish on top.
Notes
Chopped roasted cashews make a nice garnish, or a swizzle of plant-based plain yogurt. Serve with rice or naan, maybe some mango chutney and plant-based raita.