Palak Paneer with Tofu

The creamiest, easiest vegan palak paneer is the perfect weeknight dinner to enjoy all year long. This Indian curry is a delicious mix of cozy and healthy, and a great way to get in your daily amount of leafy greens. Serve with warm rice and Indian flatbread to soak up all of that silky smooth palak paneer.

What is vegan Palak Paneer?

• Palak = spinach
• Paneer = a type of Indian cottage cheese. But because this is a vegan food blog, we’re going to substitute this with a block of tofu. Just trust me, ok?

Palak paneer (aka saag paneer) is a popular Indian curry that you’ll find at nearly all Indian restaurants. Traditionally, heavy cream is used to achieve a creamy spinach gravy, but to keep this lighter, healthier and more accessible, this recipe calls for cashews. And once they’re blended with everything, they gift us with pretty much the same texture.

Ingredients for the best vegan palak paneer recipe

• Spinach: You know how whenever you cook fresh spinach it wilts into pretty much nothing? Well, to make this spinach curry, you’ll need a whole bag. I prefer to use baby spinach over normal (adult spinach?), as it naturally less bitter.
• Tofu: Seriously. Tofu is the perfect substitute to make a vegan version of paneer. I’ll walk you through the steps that will help you turn a normal block of tofu into tofu ‘paneer’. Just trust me!
• Vegan butter: I like to use salted vegan butter, but any vegan butter or even vegan margarine would work. You could also use vegetable oil if vegan butter isn’t accessible to you.
• Onion: just one white onion, that’s diced.
• Tomatoes: just one fresh tomato, roughly chopped.
• Green chili: just two or three. It really depends on how much spice you can handle AND how spicy the chilies you have are.
• Cashews: I like to use split cashews, if you don’t have them, just chop up the cashews in half.
• Garlic & ginger: Grated garlic cloves and grated ginger to amp up it’s flavor.
• Indian spices: you’ll need cumin seeds, ground cumin, Kashmiri chilli, ground coriander, salt and ground turmeric. Kashmiri chilli powder is a mild chilli powder so if you can’t find it at your local Indian supermarket, substitute it with cayenne pepper powder.
• Kasoori (aka Kasuri) Methi: fenugreek leaves, that are sun-dried. You’ll be able to find a pack of this methi at your local Indian grocery store.
• Lemon: You’ll need just a squeeze or two of lemon juice, it’ll help brighten up the flavors of this Indian dish.
• Water: to make the palak sauce!

The secret to making tofu taste like paneer…

First things first, grab the block of tofu and wrap it with a few sheets of kitchen tissues, place it on a large plate with a lip and stack a few pans on the tofu. This will help get rid of all that excess water! Allow the tofu to be pressed for at least 30 minutes.

Next, bring a pot of water to a boil and add 1-2 tsp salt. Chop the tofu into cubes. Bring a pot of water to boil. I actually like to heat up the water using a kettle, and then just pour the hot water into the pot. This just makes things easier in my opinion. Add in the salt, then carefully add in the tofu cubes. Boil together for 2-3 minutes, and then drain immediately. Set the tofu paneer aside until needed.

How to make restaurant-style Vegan Palak Paneer…

Start with blanching the spinach in a deep pan of boiling water for 3-4 minutes. Once the times up, transfer into an ice bath. If you don’t know what an ice bath is, it’s simply a bowl filled with cold water and ice cubes. This will get rid of the bitterness and help create a smoother texture and it’ll help get rid of all that bitterness the spinach may have. Once the spinach feels cool, drain and set the wilted spinach aside (or you can just throw it into your blender until the rest of the curry sauce is ready to blend!)

Food Advertisements by

Pour out the water the spinach was cooking in, and in the same pan, heat vegan butter over medium heat. Add cumin seeds, and once they become fragrant add in the onions, green chillies, ginger and garlic. Cook for 4 minutes. Next, add in the chopped tomatoes and cashews, and cook for 5 minutes or until the tomatoes become soft. Some recipes call for you to make a cashew cream, which involves soaking the cashews to soften them up. But to make things easier, all you have to do is cook it with tomatoes and spices. This will help soften up the cashews before blending.

Allow to cool slightly, and then transfer the mixture into the blender with spinach and 1 cup of water. Blend then set aside until needed.

In the same pan, heat vegan butter over medium heat. Add in ground turmeric, Kashmiri chilli powder, and ground cumin powder. Mix and cook for a few seconds. Pour in the pureed spinach sauce. Because I don’t want to waste any of that sauce, I add a splash of water into the blender and give it a shake, and pour that into the pan. This will ensure we get all of that green spinach masala gravy out of the blender, we don’t want to waste anything!

Add salt, mix and cook for a few minutes. Add the vegan paneer (aka the boiled tofu cubes), a squeeze of lemon juice and Kasuri methi. When you add Kasuri methi, you gotta crush it between your palms when adding it to the curry. It just brings out all that delish dried fenugreek flavor. Cook until nice and bubbly, this will take around another 5 minutes.

The final touches…

In another smaller saucepan, heat 1 tbsp vegan butter or oil over medium heat. Add in cumin seeds and temper until fragrant. This takes seconds, so make sure you don’t walk away from the stove! Remove from heat, and set aside.

To make the swirls of vegan yoghurt, simply mix vegan yoghurt with a little water to thin out. Drizzle over the curry and lightly swirl together, then top with the tempered cumin seeds.

This is truly the best palak paneer recipe out there, vegan or not. You’ll love this!

Tips on making the perfect vegan palak paneer

• Tofu: Make sure you press the tofu for at least 30 minutes!
• Spinach: Use baby spinach, it’s less bitter.
• Cashews: If your blender isn’t that strong, you can also give the cashews a rough chop before cooking them with the tomatoes.
• The blender: I use my Vitamix for this recipe, it gifts me with the smoothest gravy. You can of course use an immersion blender too, but this may not make everything as smooth. This is optional, but if your blender isn’t that strong and you still want a super creamy gravy, simply strain it to get rid of any thicker bits.

What to serve with this Indian curry

• Indian flatbread: Roti, naan or even garlic naan!
• Onions: For me, no curry is complete with sliced onions covered in a pinch of chilli powder.
• Vegan yogurt: Use your favourite brand!
• Grains: Basmati rice, brown rice or even quinoa.

After you give this creamy palak paneer recipe a try, please leave it a star rating and review it below! I try my best to respond to you all. Oh, and don’t forget to tag me over on Instagram – I can’t wait to repost your images!!

More Indian recipes you’ll love:

• Chickpea + Spinach Masala Pizza
• Tofu Bhurji (Indian Scramble)
• Aloo Tofu Tikki
• Aloo Masala Toast

Print

Food Advertisements by