Spinach is cooked in many different ways. Combining cottage cheese with blended spinach is one of the many famous vegetarian dishes made in Northern parts of India. This dish is served as a main course with Chapatis and Roti.

This instructable will guide you on how to make this tasty vegetarian dish at home

Step 1: Ingredients

Two bunches of fresh Spinach (About 500 grams)
Cottage cheese (Paneer) 200 grams
One medium sized onion finely chopped
Two tomatoes diced into small pieces
One inch long piece of Ginger, crushed
3 to 4 Garlic cloves, crushed
One teaspoon of Cumin seed powder
3/4th teaspoon of Red chili powder (Adjust to your own taste)
1/4th teaspoon of Turmeric powder
1/4th teaspoon of Asafoetida powder
Salt to taste
About a tablespoon of cooking oil

Step 2: Clean and Chop Spinach

Wash and clean the spinach in running water to remove any soil particles and insects
Cut off the stem and chop the leaves into pieces. You can feed the stems to your chicken or use it to make compost

Step 3: Boil the Chopped Spinach

Place the spinach pieces In a wide mouthed vessel and add water to cover the leaves
Boil the spinach for about five minutes
Drain out the water using a strainer
Keep the boiled spinach leaves aside to cool

Step 4: Blend the Boiled Spinach

Transfer the boiled spinach to a mixer grinder
Blend it to a fine paste and transfer to another bowl

Step 5: Cut Cheese Into Cubes

Cut the Cheese (Paneer) into half an inch cubes and keep aside

Step 6: Shallow Fry the Cheese Cubes

In a flat bottomed frying pan add about a teaspoon of oil and heat over medium flame
Once oil is heated, add the cheese cubes
Shallow fry the cheese cubes till water content in cheese evaporates

Step 7: Preparation Step 1

Place a frying pan over medium flame and add a tablespoon of cooking oil
When oil is heated add chopped onions, crushed garlic and crushed ginger
When raw smell of onion disappears, add diced tomato pieces
Add all spices and salt to the pan and stir fry till the mix leaves oil

Step 8: Add Spinach and Paneer Cubes

Add the blended spinach paste to the pan and mix well
Now you can add the lightly fried cheese cubes to the mix in the pan
Cook over medium heat for about 3 to 4 minutes and remove from stove

In Northern parts of India, this dish is popularly known as "Palak Paneer" (Palak means Spinach and Paneer means Cottage Cheese). Palak Paneer is served as a main course with Chapatis and Flat Bread.