5 Best Winter Special Palak Recipes | Palak Paneer | Palak Kofta | Lasooni Aloo Palak & Corn Palak

9 months ago

Transcript

00:00 (Music)

00:13 Delicious Spinach Koftas in flavourful creamy gravy.

00:19 This curry offers the goodness of spinach in the tastiest way.

00:23 Let's make Palak Kofta Curry.

00:27 In a bowl, I am taking 500 gms of spinach or palak leaves.

00:32 That I have chopped finely.

00:34 1/2 a cup of gram flour or besan.

00:40 1 tsp of cumin seeds or jeera powder.

00:45 1 tsp of Kashmiri red chilli powder.

00:48 1 tbsp of salt.

00:50 1 tsp of coriander powder.

00:54 1 tsp of ginger garlic paste.

00:58 2 green chillies finely chopped.

01:00 And 100 gms of crumbled paneer.

01:05 Mix and bring everything together.

01:10 To make koftas out of this palak mixture,

01:17 I am firstly greasing my palms with oil.

01:21 And next, I am taking small portions of the mixture,

01:25 And rolling them into koftas or balls.

01:28 These are done.

01:41 I have here oil on heat.

01:45 I am sliding the koftas one by one into the hot oil.

01:52 While I am deep frying, you can even shallow fry,

01:55 Bake or air fry the koftas.

01:58 The koftas are fried.

02:04 For the curry, in a pan, I am taking,

02:08 4 tomatoes roughly chopped.

02:10 2 onions roughly chopped.

02:12 2 green chillies.

02:15 1 inch ginger cut into pieces.

02:17 5 garlic cloves.

02:19 10-12 cashews.

02:23 1 bay leaf.

02:24 2 cloves.

02:26 5-6 black peppercorns.

02:29 1 inch cinnamon stick.

02:32 And 3 small cardamom pods.

02:34 1 tsp of salt.

02:36 And 1/4 cup of water.

02:38 I am closing the lid and letting the veggies soften.

02:45 This would take 5-6 minutes.

02:47 Let's check.

02:51 The veggies have softened.

02:53 I am letting them cool down a bit.

02:56 Once cool, I am removing the bay leaf and transferring everything else to a grinder.

03:02 Smooth gravy base is ready.

03:10 Next, in a pan, I am taking 2 tbsp of oil.

03:15 Once the oil is heated, I am adding 1 tsp of salt.

03:20 1 tsp of cumin seeds.

03:22 1/2 tsp of turmeric powder.

03:25 1 tsp of coriander powder.

03:28 1 tsp of garam masala.

03:31 1 tsp of Kashmiri red chilli powder.

03:35 And the gravy base.

03:40 Bring everything together.

03:49 At last goes in, 1 tsp of dry mango powder.

03:53 1 tsp of salt.

03:55 1 tsp of powdered sugar.

03:58 And 5-6 tbsp of water.

04:01 Mix in and let the gravy simmer for 2-3 minutes on low flame.

04:06 Smooth and creamy gravy is ready.

04:11 For immediate serving, I am firstly pouring the gravy in the serving dish.

04:16 And then placing the koftas.

04:18 A final garnish with chopped coriander leaves and we are done.

04:33 Pair up the koftas with hot rotis or naan and enjoy.

04:39 The first and the most important thing for Lasooni Aloo Palak

04:42 is of course the Lasooni Palak.

04:44 Aloo of course we can come to later.

04:46 Instead of Aloo you can add in Mushrooms, you can add in Paneer,

04:49 you can add in vegetables and make a separate vegetable out of this.

04:52 But today's one is the one with Aloo.

04:56 Like I said the most important thing is Lasooni Palak.

04:59 Let's get that in place first.

05:00 Water on roll boil.

05:01 And then we are going to add the Lasooni Palak.

05:04 Let's get that in place first. Water on roll boil.

05:08 Let's plunge in the Palak.

05:09 But before I throw that in, I am going to season this water with salt.

05:13 Now this is an extremely crucial step because Palak as a vegetable,

05:17 as a leafy vegetable also has salt.

05:20 So how much salt? Absolutely with caution.

05:23 Let's throw the leaves in.

05:24 What I have done to this Palak or to these spinach leaves is,

05:30 I have snipped off the root part.

05:32 I have retained the stem because I want a lot of fibre from this vegetable.

05:37 What's also important to note here is at this point in time,

05:40 this may seem to be a lot of spinach.

05:42 But because spinach is all going to wilt while getting cooked,

05:45 that's the beauty and then you get that bright emerald green coloured spinach.

05:50 How to retain the colour of the spinach?

05:52 Of course we'll come to that.

05:53 But let this cook for at least a minute on high flame.

05:56 Slowly as this keeps wilting from the bottom,

06:00 we're going to keep pushing this so that the Palak or the spinach leaves,

06:04 which is right on top will also start getting immersed in the hot water.

06:08 To accentuate the flavour of spinach,

06:11 I am going to add in lots of garlic at this stage.

06:14 And remember the recipe is 'Lasooni Aloo Palak'.

06:17 So lots of garlic.

06:19 And also to spike this up, I am going to add in Green Chillies.

06:24 Now of course little or more is a complete personal choice.

06:27 End of it all this is going to get pulped, this is going to get pureed.

06:30 So the chilli is going to be part of the puree itself.

06:33 The cooking time of Palak, the garlic and the chillies is very important in this stage.

06:39 Because if you overcook this, one the Palak will lose its natural colour.

06:43 What we're also doing is, we're kind of accentuating the natural colour of spinach.

06:48 But what will happen is and which we will possibly not realise,

06:51 the spinach leaves will start losing its nutrient value.

06:55 Remember this.

06:56 Now when I say cook this for a minute on high flame,

06:59 it could be subjective.

07:01 Some places it could take 2 minutes, some places it could take 3 minutes.

07:04 Now how do you identify the right time and temperature?

07:07 Now if you come a little closer,

07:09 what you will realise and notice is,

07:11 that the water will start frothing.

07:13 And that's the perfect sign where the flame needs to go off.

07:18 Let's transfer all of this into a deep bowl.

07:21 You can squeeze out as much water as you can.

07:25 Ensuring you do not get burnt or scalded.

07:28 Let's transfer this in this bowl here.

07:30 Along with this also remember,

07:32 there's lot of garlic and green chillies that are still floating around.

07:36 Try to separate all of this like so.

07:39 And immediately add in lots of Ice Cubes.

07:43 Top this up with water.

07:46 The whole idea here is to give it a thermal shock.

07:49 From this hot boiling water, straight into water which is ice cold.

07:54 Now what happens in this case is,

07:56 the emerald green colour kind of freezes.

07:59 And that's exactly what you are looking at.

08:01 Once the spinach cools,

08:05 I'm going to lift this like so.

08:07 Try to remove the cubes of ice.

08:10 Because they are going to water it down completely while getting ground.

08:13 Let's take these leaves.

08:16 Remove all the excess water.

08:19 Press it like so.

08:22 And transfer this into the blender or the mixie jar.

08:25 Similarly, take all of this including the garlic and the green chillies.

08:30 The next step is to grind this into fine and smooth paste.

08:35 Our Spinach, Garlic and Green Chilli Puree is done and ready.

08:46 What I've also done is, I've rinsed the blender.

08:49 And the water has been kept aside.

08:51 We'll move on to cutting a Red Onion.

08:53 You can finely chop this, you can slice this, choice is completely yours.

09:01 Once the onions are sliced and ready, we'll move on to frying the potatoes.

09:06 2 tbsp of Desi Ghee.

09:10 And lots of potatoes.

09:13 Let's fry the potatoes till they are nice, crisp and golden brown on the outside.

09:18 And soft and well done within.

09:20 Once the potatoes are fried and ready, let's move them aside.

09:30 Drain off as much Ghee as you can.

09:33 The idea of doing this in the same pan,

09:39 One is because you do not want to end up using too many pots and pans.

09:43 And secondly, these brown bits are going to add a lot of wonderful flavour to this recipe.

09:48 Let's begin with Cumin Seeds.

09:50 And along with this, sliced Onions.

09:53 Let's crush these like so.

09:55 And fry these till they are lightly golden brown in colour.

09:59 Once the Onions are done, we'll add in Turmeric.

10:03 The idea of adding Turmeric in this recipe is to ensure that the green colour

10:09 kind of gets slightly accentuated, remember that.

10:12 And along with this, Garam Masala Powder.

10:16 Once this is done and the raw flavour of the Turmeric goes away,

10:19 I'm going to add in the puree of Spinach along with Garlic and Green Chillies.

10:25 Time to add in the Salt.

10:29 Remembering the fact that Spinach leaves have its own salt.

10:33 And water which was used for blanching the Spinach also had salt.

10:37 So use this with caution this time.

10:39 Fry this on high flame till the Spinach is cooked.

10:44 On high flame for at least a minute.

10:46 And after that, we'll be adding in the fried Potatoes.

10:50 Let you scrape in all this as well because that's where the true flavour lies.

10:58 Mix this well.

11:01 And along with this, let's add in the water from the blender jar.

11:13 We stir this well.

11:14 Lower the flame.

11:15 Cover this.

11:17 And cook this precisely for 3 minutes by the clock.

11:22 Let's have a quick check.

11:28 Let's stir this.

11:31 And you know what, our Lasooni Aloo Palak is done and ready.

11:35 The last step is of course to plate this or to transfer this in a container.

11:41 And then give a second tempering, this time with Ghee.

11:44 With Red Chillies which are dried.

11:46 And some more Garlic.

11:48 Let's do that.

11:49 For the second tempering, we'll need Desi Ghee.

11:58 Sliced Garlic.

12:01 Stir them lightly.

12:04 Once they just kind of begin to turn golden brown in colour.

12:07 I'm going to add in dried Red Chillies.

12:10 Fry this till the chillies bloom and the garlic turns crisp and golden brown.

12:15 Once the chillies and the garlic are both fried well.

12:21 Time to splash this on top of the Lasooni Aloo Palak.

12:25 With this, our Lasooni Aloo Palak is done and ready.

12:29 Now you can make this and serve this with Roti, Naan, Phulka, Chapati, Puri.

12:35 The choice is completely yours.

12:37 What's important is for you to make this at home.

12:40 I've got for you a recipe that is nutritious and warming at the same time.

12:45 So I've taken 2 bunches of Spinach.

12:47 And what I did was, boil them in hot water for about 3-4 mins.

12:51 And then drain the hot water.

12:53 And immediately put some ice cold water over it.

12:56 So that it helps in retaining the colour and stops to cook.

13:00 And now, I'm going to grind this Blanched Spinach.

13:03 Just add it in the blender.

13:05 And grind it into a smooth puree.

13:09 This is done.

13:18 One of the smartest choices that you can make is going for a seasonal vegetable like Spinach.

13:23 It's good for your body and good for your pocket.

13:30 I'm going to start with heating some Ghee.

13:33 Turn on the flame.

13:35 Just a tsp of Ghee.

13:39 Next I'm going to add in 1 tsp of Cumin Seeds.

13:45 Next I'm going to add in a Onion Paste.

13:51 So what I did was, took 1 Onion.

13:54 And I'm going to cut it into small pieces.

13:56 And then I'm going to grind it together.

14:00 So after the Cumin Seeds start spluttering,

14:03 I'm going to add in this paste.

14:05 Saute the paste nicely.

14:09 At least for a good 3-4 mins.

14:12 The Onion Paste is nicely dried out.

14:19 And now, I'm just going to move it to the side.

14:21 And let it cook for a while.

14:23 So the Onion Paste is nicely dried out.

14:26 And now, I'm just going to move it to the side.

14:28 And now into this, I'm going to add 1 tsp of Gram Flour.

14:32 Just slightly roast it in the pan.

14:36 After you've roasted it for a few seconds, mix it with the Onions.

14:44 This basically helps in giving a good consistency to the gravy.

14:49 And now into this, I'm going to add 1 Tomato, finely chopped.

14:53 Cook the Tomatoes till they are nice and soft.

14:56 Tomatoes are done.

15:01 And now into this, I'm going to add in 2 tbsp of Curd.

15:04 Turn the flame to high and keep stirring while you're cooking the Curd.

15:15 The Curd is cooked and now into this, I'm going to add 1/2 tsp of Garam Masala.

15:21 Give it a good mix.

15:24 Next goes in the Spinach Puree.

15:33 So I got a few bunches of Spinach from the farmers market the other day.

15:38 And I got a few bunches of Spinach from the farmers market the other day.

15:40 And I got a few bunches of Spinach from the farmers market the other day.

15:42 And I got a few bunches of Spinach from the farmers market the other day.

15:45 And I got a very good bargain.

15:47 So money saved is money earned.

15:49 Mix in the Puree.

15:54 It's a beautiful green colour.

15:58 And that's thanks to the Ice.

16:00 I'm going to add in a little bit of water for the gravy.

16:10 The gravy is ready and now we need to add some boiled Corn.

16:13 The gravy is ready and now we need to add some boiled Corn.

16:15 The gravy is ready and now we need to add some boiled Corn.

16:17 The gravy is ready and now we need to add some boiled Corn.

16:19 The gravy is ready and now we need to add some boiled Corn.

16:21 The gravy is ready and now we need to add some boiled Corn.

16:23 The gravy is ready and now we need to add some boiled Corn.

16:25 So during the rainy season, when Corn was available in plenty,

16:29 I stored them in zipper storage bags in the freezer.

16:33 And guess what, I didn't have to run out to get these.

16:36 So I'm going to add a little bit of Salt.

16:38 Now goes in the Salt.

16:49 And whenever you're adding Salt in a Spinach gravy,

16:53 make sure you add a little less.

16:55 This is done and now I'm going to empty it in a bowl.

17:02 And the last part of the recipe to give that Lassuni flavour is to make the Tadka.

17:07 And the last part of the recipe to give that Lassuni flavour is to make the Tadka.

17:09 So in this pan, I'm going to heat 1 tsp of Ghee.

17:12 Next, tear in 1 Dry Chilli, just get rid of the seeds.

17:21 Add in the Chillies.

17:25 And also I have 8 cloves of Garlic that I've finely sliced.

17:29 And also I have 8 cloves of Garlic that I've finely sliced.

17:31 Let this cook on low heat and make sure that the Garlic catches colour.

17:37 The Garlic has changed colour and now time to pour the Tadka over the Spinach gravy.

17:58 Our beautiful Maine Course recipe is ready in a jiffy.

18:02 The base of Palak Paneer recipe is a puree of Palak or Spinach.

18:13 So let's make that first.

18:15 I've kept some water to boil, to which I'm adding some table salt.

18:19 And to this, I'll be adding in washed Palak leaves.

18:25 Spinach is an amazing source of fibre and protein.

18:28 We need to get the colour right of this recipe.

18:33 And that's immensely important.

18:35 This step is technically called blanching.

18:38 And improves the final look and colour of the recipe.

18:42 As soon as the leaves of Spinach are blanched,

18:45 We need to transfer this into chilled water.

18:49 This will stop and arrest the cooking further.

18:54 The Palak leaves have cooled off completely.

18:57 We need to drain these now and grind it into a fine puree.

19:01 To this, I'll be adding in some water and that would assist in grinding this finer.

19:14 Our blanched Palak puree is ready.

19:17 Let's now move on to the tadka.

19:19 For this, I'm heating a pan.

19:22 And to this, I'll be adding in some Ghee.

19:24 Well, you could also use a mixture of Butter and Ghee.

19:27 But I personally love the flavour of Ghee.

19:29 While this is heating up, let's quickly chop some Red Onions.

19:33 And some Green Chillies.

19:36 And some Capsicum.

19:38 And some Green Capsicum.

19:40 And some Green Capsicum.

19:42 Let's quickly chop some Red Onions.

19:44 The Onions are cut and ready.

19:51 The Ghee has also heated up.

19:53 The first thing that goes in this are some Cumin Seeds.

19:56 Once these crackle, I'll add in dried Red Chillies.

20:00 Well, I prefer using Red Chillies for its nice flavour.

20:03 Alternately, you could also use slit Green Chillies.

20:06 Once these get lightly toasted, I'll add in chopped Garlic.

20:11 And this time, lots of it.

20:13 Once this turns a little nutty and golden brown,

20:19 I'll add in the chopped Onions.

20:21 To this, I'll be adding in some Salt.

20:26 So that the Onions cook faster.

20:28 Spinach are green leafy vegetables, which are naturally salted in flavour.

20:37 So make sure the quantity of Salt is absolutely in check.

20:41 Once the Onions turn lightly golden brown in colour,

20:48 I'll add in Turmeric Powder.

20:50 And along with this, chopped Tomatoes.

20:54 Let's give this a mix.

20:57 Time to add in powdered Garam Masala.

21:07 And some Red Chilli Powder.

21:09 We need to stir fry this mixture on high flame for 2 to 3 minutes.

21:19 If you've noticed, I've deliberately not added Red Chilli Powder,

21:24 Because I do not want the colour of the Palak Paneer to change.

21:27 Once this mixture is nicely cooked,

21:31 I'll add in the Palak Puree.

21:34 Give this a mix.

21:35 And we need to adjust the consistency with some water.

21:40 Allow this to boil on high flame for 3 to 4 minutes.

21:48 At this stage, you can also add in some Cream or some Butter,

21:52 If you need to make this richer, but I personally prefer it like so.

22:00 While this is cooking, let's dice Paneer or Cottage Cheese.

22:04 I'll transfer the pieces of Paneer in the bubbling gravy.

22:16 Alternately, you could also deep fry the Paneer pieces and add to the gravy.

22:28 With this, your Palak Paneer is ready.

22:30 Do try this with some Roti, Naan or Phulkas.

22:33 Well, today I get your winter specialty from the North Indian homes,

22:44 And this is Palak Ka Saag.

22:46 3 big bunches of Palak.

22:52 And to accentuate the flavour and kind of bring in the flavour,

22:56 And to accentuate the flavour and kind of bring in that touch of greens,

23:00 I'm adding in fresh Fenugreek leaves or Methi.

23:04 Well, this one is your regular big Methi,

23:06 I'm not using the small Methi leaves here in this case.

23:09 To this, I'm adding in just like a touch of Red Chilli Powder.

23:13 Well, you can also add in Green Chillies.

23:15 But I personally feel, this just kind of intensifies the flavour,

23:18 And makes it more rugged and natural.

23:21 To this, just a touch of Turmeric Powder.

23:24 And along with this, Garam Masala.

23:27 Let's add in a cup full of water, not too much,

23:34 Because of course the greens are also going to need some water.

23:37 Salt is one thing that you need to be very careful while making any Saag,

23:42 Because most of the greens have their own little content of salt.

23:46 Especially Spinach, so you need to be very very very careful,

23:50 Especially while using Spinach.

23:52 The next step is to of course mix all of this beautifully well.

23:56 Well for this, one thing to note is,

23:58 I'm using a ladle, the cup of the ladle is actually a little broader,

24:02 Because that is going to help us mash all these vegetables,

24:05 Once they are cooked.

24:06 So remember that, if you don't have that, you can just,

24:08 And don't tell this that I said this,

24:10 You can just use a hand blender,

24:12 And just give it a few blitz, and that's just perfect.

24:15 But, this is more traditional.

24:19 Medium flame, 2 whistles and we are done.

24:22 It's been 2 whistles, off goes the flame.

24:29 And just allow this to settle for 5 minutes,

24:31 Or till the steam kind of subsides, then we'll open it.

24:34 Well, the steam has settled.

24:36 Let's open this, have a quick check.

24:38 The Spinach and Methi have perfectly cooked.

24:43 Let's kind of mash this, pressing this to the walls of the pressure pan.

24:48 And,

24:49 When this mixture is just kind of beginning to mash up,

24:58 We need to turn the flame on.

25:00 And to this, we need to add in a slurry of either Besan ka Aata or Makkai ka Aata.

25:05 This time, I'm using Besan ka Aata.

25:08 Just to ensure that this is lump-free,

25:11 We need to make a slurry with cold water.

25:14 Now that the slurry is lump-free, let's swirl this into the Saag.

25:19 And allow this to cook on medium to high flame,

25:23 For at least 5 to 7 minutes.

25:25 Mix this well, and allow this Saag to thicken along with the Besan or the Makkai ka Aata.

25:32 Let's move this on an alternate flame.

25:34 And bring in a Kadhai or a wok.

25:37 Heat the wok or the Kadhai,

25:40 And let's add in the Spinach and Methi mixture.

25:43 Heat the wok or the Kadhai on high flame.

25:45 Well also, you can use a Tadka Dhani at this stage.

25:48 To this, I'm adding in a generous amount of Ghee.

25:51 Allow this to heat.

25:53 And while that's heating, let's quickly crush some cloves of Garlic.

25:58 Of course, once the Ghee heats up, add in the crushed Garlic to begin with.

26:10 And let's add in the crushed Garlic.

26:12 Along with this, Cumin seeds.

26:17 And finally, Asafoetida.

26:22 Swirl this well, and allow the Garlic to just kind of begin to turn golden brown in colour.

26:30 The Garlic has turned golden brown in colour, let's add in the Palak ka Saag.

26:39 Isn't that wonderful?

26:41 A quick swirl, allow all of this to mix, check for seasoning.

26:46 And off goes the flame, and this straight goes on the dinner table.

26:49 And trust me, you can have this with Chapati, Roti, Naan, or the quintessential Makkai Ke Oti.

26:55 The quintessential Makkai Ke Oti.

26:57 [Music]

5 Best Winter Special Palak Recipes | Palak Paneer | Palak Kofta | Lasooni Aloo Palak & Corn Palak

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