Saag paneer - a healthy, delicious curry recipe made with a mixture of green leafy vegetables (spinach, kale and collard greens). Pan-fried paneer cubes are added to the saag gravy.
Turn on the instant pot with saute mode and add 2 tablespoons of ghee. Once hot add cumin seeds and let them sizzle a bit.
Add onion, ginger, garlic and green chilies. Sprinkle a little salt to speed up the onion cooking process. Mix and cook until onions are soft and light pink in color.
Add spinach, collard greens and kale along with remaining salt, jaggery and water.
Cover the cook with a lid, keep the valve to a sealing position. Pressure cook on manual for 5 minutes. Let it NPR (naturally pressure release). Once the pin drops, open the lid.
Sprinkle besan and kasoori methi.
Using a hand blender, make a coarse gravy. You can make it smooth if you prefer smooth gravy.
Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons ghee in a pan on medium heat. Once hot add paneer cubes. Toss them around until they are the light golden color from almost all the sides.
Add that fried paneer along with the remaining ghee into the prepared gravy. Mix well. If needed reheat and bring it to a single boil and serve.
Notes
Do not over-fry the paneer cubes otherwise they get a chewy and rubbery texture. A perfectly fried paneer should have a slight and very light golden color. When they are fried to crisp and brown or dark brown that means they are overcooked.
Do not simmer or boil after adding paneer cubes into the saag paneer. If needed just re-heat until it comes to a single boil. Over boiling or simmering makes the paneer cubes chewy and saag gravy may lose its flavor.
The gravy texture should be coarse. But you prefer smooth then go ahead.
Substitute guide for other greens:
The base has to be the spinach. You can play around with other greens.
One of the green has to be a bitter-tasting leafy vegetable (like kale, broccoli rabe)
If using fenugreek leaves (methi) then use very little amount (around ½ to 1 cup only) as they make the gravy super bitter and strong.
50% of the amount has to be spinach leaves. Other 25% can be any bitter verity (like kale, broccoli rabe, mooli leaves). Rest 25% can be collard greens, beet greens, swiss chard, etc (yes, these have a slightly bitter taste when raw but when they are cooked they will be mild in taste unlike kale)