Paneer Hyderabadi (Cottage Cheese In Spinach and Cilantro Gravy) is a delicious main course dish made with cottage cheese and palak (spinach). This Hyderabadi style paneer dish is aromatic, spicy and quite rich. This delicious dish has a pleasant green colour and a creamy thick curry.
The gravy has a substantial amount of palak (spinach) and dhania (coriander) leaves. It is quite high on green chilies too, but you can always adjust the quantity to your liking. The creamy texture is due to the use of yogurt and cream. The whole spices are roasted and then powdered before adding to the gravy. This takes the dish a notch high on flavor. I highly recommend roasting of the spices.
Today I had harvest a lot of spinach, coriander and green chillies from my Balcony Garden and this was reason good enough for me to prepare this dish. I love to grow green leafy vegetables organically in my balcony. The whole process is like meditation- growing, harvesting and cooking the freshest vegetables. I truly love the whole experience and even the meal is more enjoyable!
You may like to try our other paneer recipes like Lahsooni Methi Paneer, Crispy Chilli Paneer (Spicy Cottage Cheese) and Paneer Kali Mirch In Makhana Gravy.
Yield: 5 to 6
Prep time: 15 minutes
Total time: 45 minutes
Ingredients For Paneer Hyderabadi
300 grams paneer sliced (cottage cheese)
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoon dahi (yogurt)
2 tablespoon cream
1 teaspoon dhania powder (coriander)
½ teaspoon chilli powder
½ teasponn cumin powder
1/3 teaspoon haldi powder (turmeric)
1 tablespoon kasuri methi (dry fenugreek leaves)
Salt to taste
1 tablespoon oil / ghee
For the paste
½ cup onions sliced
1 tablespoon garlic
1 tablespoon ginger
2 to 3 green chillis chopped
2 tomatoes chopped
1 cup palak chopped (spinach)
½ cup coriander chopped
1 tablespoon oil
For roasted masala
2 badi elaichi (black cardamom)
2 elaichi (green cardamoms)
4 lavang (cloves)
1 inch piece dalchini (cinnamon)
1 teaspoon jeera (cumin)
Directions For Paneer Hyderabadi
You may watch our YouTube Video on making of Paneer Hyderabadi.
You can also view the step-wise pictures along with description as per below.
- Heat oil in a pan; add ginger, garlic, chilli, onion and saute till just translucent.
- Add tomatoes and saute till soft.
- Add palak and saute till it shrinks. Don’t overcook to keep the colour intact.
- Add coriander just mix and switch off the heat. Set aside for it to cool. Grind it to a paste.
- In the meanwhile dry roast the masala together in a small pan and grind. Set aside.
- Heat 1 tablespoon oil in the same pan; add bay leaves, paste and saute for 3 to 4 minutes.
- Add dahi and saute till it is mixed well.
- Add cream and saute till oil starts to come out.
- Add all the dry masala except kasuri methi and saute till oil comes out.
- Add salt, paneer and saute for a minute.
- Add kasuri methi (dry fenugreek leaves) and cook for a minute.
- Serve.
