Ingredients
Method
Prep
- Rinse the baby spinach well in cold water. There is no need to chop it. We will blend it later. Additionally, you can use regular spinach instead of baby spinach. If you are using regular spinach then chop the spinach finely.
- Puree the tomatoes in a blender and set them aside.
- Chop the paneer to 1.5-inch cubes.
Cook
- Select sauté on the instant pot. When the oil is hot, add in asafoetida, and chopped spinach. Let the spinach sauté for 2 to 3 minutes, keep stirring intermittently. The spinach should shrivel. Keep stirring intermittently to prevent the spinach from sticking to the pot.
- After the spinach has shriveled and shrunk add in salt, Kashmiri chili powder, ground fennel, ground ginger, ground cumin, ¼ cup water, and stir well.
- Using an immersion blender coarsely blend the spinach for a few seconds. Also, don’t blend it super fine. It needs to have some texture. If you don’t have an immersion blender, you can use a potato masher or the back of a ladle.
- Add in pureed tomatoes and let them sauté for about 2 to 3 minutes until the raw tomato odor is eliminated.
- Secure the lid on the pot and select manual and pressure cook for 2 minutes. When cooking is complete, use quick release to depressurize. Open the lid. Next, select sauté, add in chopped paneer and veri masala (optional). Let it sauté for about a minute. Mix well. Finally press cancel and transfer the cooked spinach and paneer to a serving bowl.
Notes
Kashmiri’s typically deep fry the paneer. However, I have attempted to make this healthy and added the paneer in the pot directly. If you prefer to deep fry the paneer separately, sauté, or even stir fry the paneer, set it aside and please feel free to do so and follow the remaining steps.