This is really easy peasy and tasty recipe of Aloo palak with photos of each step. Know if you don’t know what is aloo palak then let me introduce it. Aloo and palak both are Hindi/ Urdu words. Aloo mean potato and palak mean Spinach in English. The curried potato and spinach is called aloo palak. Other ingredients used to make aloo palak are onion, garlic and few other Indian spices.
Aloo Palak is widely eaten in South Asian countries like India, Pakistan, bangladesh and Nepal as everyday vegetarian food. And who doesn’t know Palak / spinach is highly nutritious vegetable; full of iron and folic acid. Let’s get some iron power. Check benefits of spinach here.
Tips to make best aloo palak
- Try to use fresh, organic and smaller spinach leaves. They are soft, less bitter and taste great.
- Always remove stems from leaves. In fact if using spinach with large leaves. Fold the side of each leave and pull the stem upward to the tip of leaves to remove the mid vein. The mid vein of leaves (if thick) do not get tender even after cooking and spoils the texture.
- Wash fresh spinach in a large vessel. Pick the leaves from water leaving dust particle in the bottom of vessel. Repeat this at least 2 times, preferably until water runs clean.
- Adding little butter and bhonofying gives the spinach very buttery taste.
- Add tomatoes in aloo palak. Some people make aloo palak without tomatoes but I recommend trying this version with tomatoes. You won’t regret.
- Mustard seeds and Fenugreek seeds in this recipe add both taste and health benefits. Plus, your kitchen will smell like Indian restaurant. But if you don’t have any of two ingredients, just skip it.
Is palak and saag same thing?
Are you confused? Let me clear all doubts. Palak is referred to spinach alone. Sarson is called mustard green in English. Saag is mixture of spinach and mustard greens cooked together. Saag is widely eaten leafy green in Punjab, a province of India.
So yes, palak and saag taste different for any South Asian taste buds. Palak / spinach is sweeter compared to mustard green which is subtly bitter. And saag is a merry combo with more depth of flavors. The cooking method of palak, sarson or saag is almost same.
How to make aloo palak recipe
- Step 1: Fry garlic, cumin, mustard, fenugreek and pepper in a pan. Let these spices pop.
- Step 2: Then add green chili paste, ginger paste, tumeric, salt, and coriander powder. Stir and sizzle for another few seconds.
- Step 3: Now add chopped onions. Fry onions till they get soft. (3-4 minutes)
- Step 4: Add chopped tomatoes and dried fenugreek leaves. Simmer the gravy for 5 minutes. Chop spinach while gravy sizzles.
- Steps 5: Now most of tomato water has dried and you should a see little oil in the sides of pan.
- Step 6 and 7: Add potatoes and chopped spinach to gravy and cover the pot without stirring for 5 minutes. Let the spinach get soft. Now you can easily mix it well. Cover again and cook till spinach and potatoes are tender. (15 minutes).
- Step 8: Add butter and dry water on high heat till you see oil on the sides of pan. (bhunna) 2-3 minutes.
- Garnish with sliced green chilies and serve with plain yogurt or raita.
Have aloo palak it with roti, plain rice or khichri ( lentil rice), pickles, kachumbar or yogurt. And treat yourself with a hearty Pakistani spinach potato curry.
Hungry for more Indian Veggie recipes? Try these.
- Sarsson ka Saag Recipe (Mustard Greens Curry)
- Mix Vegetable Curry
- Aloo baingan ( Aubergine and potato curry)
- Bhindi Masala (Okra Curry)
- Karela masala ( Spiced Bitter Melon Curry)
- Vegetable Biryani
Aloo Palak dry Recipe Pakistani
Ingredients
- 4½ cups Fresh spinach without stems, tightly packed ( see notes for measures in grams)
- 4-6 tablespoons oil , less or more to personal preference
Spices
- 3 cloves garlic , finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon cumin, (sabut zeera)
- ½ teaspoon fenugreek seeds, (methi dana)
- ½ teaspoon black mustard seeds, (sabut kali rai)
- 4 pepper corns, (kali mirch)
- 1½ tablespoons coriander powder, (dhanya powder)
- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder, (haldi)
- 1 teaspoon ginger paste, (adrak)
- 1 to 1½ tablespoons small green chili paste, adjust to spice preference
- 1 teaspoon dry fenugreek leaves, (sukhi meethi)
- ¾ teaspoon salt , or to taste
Vegetables
- 2 medium (250 gram) onion, roughly chopped
- 3 medium (200 gm) tomatoes, chopped or puree
- 3 medium (300 grams) potatoes, peeled and sliced
- 1 tablespoon butter , optional
Garnish
- 2 medium green chilies, thick slices for garnishing
Instructions
- Wash spinach leaves in a large vessel and drain water in a colander.
- In a pan, fry garlic on a medium low flame for 10 sec. Then add whole spices (cumin, fenugreek seeds, mustard seeds). Let them pop and then add powdered spices, coriander and turmeric.
- Finally, add wet spices, green chili and ginger paste. Fry well so the flavors are released.
- Add chopped onion and salt. Fry till onions are soft, around 3-4 minutes.
- Now, add tomatoes add dry fenugreek leaves. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes on medium low flame till tomato soften and color darkens.
- While gravy is simmering, chop spinach leaves,. Add potatoes and spinach leaves to the gravy too, cover and cook for 15 minutes.
- Add butter and fry on high for 2 minutes untill oil release.
- Garnish with green chilles and serve.
Notes
How do make your palak sabzi? I’m waiting to read your responses in comment.
yousuf ali says
I tried it with little variation and it tasted yummy
Recipe 52 says
Thanks for the feedback. 😊👍
Anonymous says
My kids loved it 🙂
Mariam Sodawater says
Oo wow kids loved it, that amazing. Thanks someone for trying my recipe. ?