Ok, so I had the full intention to make palak paneer. I had everything at home and was all geared up to eat this delicious Indian dish. I popped into the supermarket on my way home and shock horror! They were out of paneer! So I improvised. And do you know what? It was AMAZING!!

I know this is not the prettiest bowl of food, but I want you to look beyond what you are seeing in the picture. Imagine taking a spoonful of the velvety spinach, cooked in spices then blended with cream. The smooth silky texture on your tongue. Now, feel yourself biting down into the salty halloumi and then you feel the fiery kick from the chilli & garlic butter drizzle. Have I got you salivating yet? OK, good, let’s get to the knitty gritty. Because, this is not a complicated dish. In fact, it’s pretty easy to make. Oh, and did I mention that it’s low in carbs, so it’s keto friendly too.

What you’ll need:

450g bag of frozen spinach (defrosted)
1 onion roughly diced
1 green chilli chopped
Handful of fresh coriander diced
1 tbsp of garlic & ginger paste
1 block of halloumi or paneer diced
1 tsp of jeera (cumin seeds)
2 tbsp of ghee
1/4 cup of double cream
1 tsp of salt
1 tsp of cumin powder
1 tsp of coriander powder
1/2 tsp of garam masala
1 tbsp of kasoori methi (dried fenugreek leaves)

Chilli Garlic butter Garnish:
2 cloves of garlic sliced
1 tbsp of salted butter
1-2 chilli powder

As with most Indian food, there are lot’s of ingredients, but these are just spices that I keep in my pantry and use across many of my different recipes. I do recommend investing in a selection of different herbs and spices, as a little, can make your food go a long way. You can use all or some or even none of these, but if you opt to leave the spices out, it will be pretty bland tasting, unless that is your preference, no judging here!

I’m probably going to get a lot of stick for this, but I used frozen spinach in this recipe. I just took the bag out of the freezer in the morning and let it defrost first. The reason I opted for frozen spinach over fresh is because it takes away one step from the cooking process. Also I’m sure you’ve all seen the meme below:

If you want to use fresh spinach, go ahead, just blanch your spinach before hand and adjust the quantity as 450g of fresh spinach will probably feel like an amuse bouche.

Paneer or Halloumi?

I love both, they have similar textures and high melting points, so they can be easily substituted for one another. However, they are not the same. Paneer is an Indian cottage cheese and halloumi originates in Greece and is a non acidic set cheese. With regards to the nutritional break down of the two, they are quite similar, yet halloumi has less protein and more fat than paneer. Both contain similar carbohydrate profiles.

It’s entirely up to you, if you wish to use paneer or halloumi, both work equally as well. For me, I opted for the halloumi as it was what I could get my hands on at the time.

The preparation…

To start with roughly chop your onions, green chilli and coriander leaves & stem. They don’t need to be finely diced, as you will be blending everything later anyway.

Cut your paneer or halloumi into 1cm cubes.

The Cooking…

Start by melting some ghee in a saucepan and adding the cumin seeds. Once they start to sizzle and pop, chuck in the onions, chilli & some ginger & garlic paste. Again I tend to use a paste as it’s already prepared. Just make sure you read the ingredients of the paste before you buy it, as some have seed oils or even sugar added to them. This ginger & garlic paste is seed oil free and sugar free and is the one I have been using in my recipes.

As the onions cook, I added in some pink Himalayan salt. This helps to draw out the moisture from the onions, allowing it to caramelise faster. Once the onions are a lovely golden colour, add in the turmeric, cumin & coriander powder.

After the spices have been added, you can chuck in the spinach, chopped coriander and dried fenugreek leaves. Mix it all together and allow the spices to infuse with the greens, then sprinkle over the garam masala.

Now the easy bit, chuck the mixture into a blender with the cream and blitz until smooth. You may need to add in a little water, if it is too thick or doesn’t have a smooth consistency. Be careful not to add too much, as this is not meant to be like a curry sauce, but more like a dip.

Now you’re ready to add in the diced halloumi. I left the halloumi raw, but you could fry or grill the cheese prior to adding it into the creamed spinach.

Mix the halloumi (or paneer) into the spinach, so that it is well coated.

For the final step, add 1 clove of sliced garlic and 1 tsp of chilli powder to melted butter. Gently heat it over your stove and once the garlic starts to release its aroma, pour it over the top of your Palak Halloumi dish.

You can enjoy this dish on its own or with a low carb flat bread or roti. Alternatively, have it as a side dish with my juicy chicken tikka.

Take a look at the video below, to see how quick and easy this recipe is.