This is an easy and really good vegetable curry recipe with paneer. It is an excellent option for a weeknight light vegetarian dinner and meal prep for the week.
There is a great diversity of curries depending on regions, cultures and availability of herbs and spices.
Easy Vegetable Curry with Paneer Ingredients
For this vegetable curry, I used butternut squash, yellow squash, bell peppers, carrots and fresh baby spinach. Adding Paneer helps increase the amount of protein and adds richness to the texture and flavors of the curry.
Paneer is often described as Indian Cottage Cheese. However, its texture is not like the common American cottage cheese we see at the stores. It is a firm fresh cheese, more like “queso blanco” or other firm farmer-style cheeses. It is made from cow or buffalo milk.
For this curry I used a tomato and spices based sauce with some dry chilies for some heat. This is a mild curry. You can add more dry chilies, red pepper flakes, cayenne or kashmiri chili powder for a deeper red color, heat and flavor. I use this Garam Masala.
Steps
To make this easy vegetable and paneer curry, start by dicing the paneer in bite size cubes and seasoning with salt, half teaspoon of turmeric, Garam Masala curry powder and a little ghee (clarified butter) or oil. Cover and set aside for later.
In a large pan, sauté onions with garlic, ginger and dried chilies with ghee for a couple of minutes. Once onions are getting a little golden, add the rest of the spices and continue to sauté. Then add the drained fire roasted diced tomatoes, combine and cover for a couple of minutes. At this point, the mix of tomatoes, onions and spices may look dry.
Add the rest of the diced vegetables (butternut squash, carrots, yellow squash and peppers). Sauté the vegetables for a couple of minutes and cover, they will release some juices and will create the sauce. In the meantime, you can start working on the paneer.
In another smaller pan, sear the paneer at medium high heat. You want just to develop some flavor without over cooking it. Once they seared on both sides, you can add them to the pan with the mixed vegetables and spices.
Combine the paneer with the vegetables. Add the fresh baby spinach on top and cover in low heat to steam until it gets wilted, but still has a bright green color. The spinach will reduce in size and will release more liquid. This process takes 2-3 minutes.
Serve in a bowl and top with chopped cilantro. You can serve this curry with low carb naan or cauliflower rice.
Vegetable Curry with Paneer
Ingredients
- 12 ounces Paneer Diced in bite size cubes
- 5 Cups Fresh Baby Spinach
- 1 Carrot Diced in bite size cubes
- 2 Bell Peppers Diced in bite size cubes
- 1 Cup Butternut Squash Diced in bite size cubes
- 1 Can Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes
- 1 Tablespoon Ginger Minced
- 1 Tablespoon Garlic Minced
- 1 Tablespoon Garam Masala Curry Powder
- 1 Teaspoon Cumin Powder
- 1 Teaspoon Turmeric Powder
- 3 Bird's Peak Chili or red pepper flakes
- ½ Medium Onion
- 1 Tablespoon Ghee Clarified Butter
- 1 Medium Yellow Squash Diced in bite size cubes
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Dice paneer in bite size pieces, add salt, ghee and a teaspoon of the Garam Masala. Mix, cover and set aside.
- In a large pan, sauté onions, dried chilies, garlic and ginger with ghee.
- Once the onions start getting golden, add the rest of the spices. Sauté for a few minutes and add the drained diced fire roasted tomatoes.
- Cover and let the sauce cook for a few minutes while working on the paneer.
- In another small pan, sear the paneer on both sides. They are ready when they develop an golden crust. Do not over cook.
- Remove paneer from pan and set aside.
- Add the diced vegetables to the tomato sauce. It will be dry, but the vegetables will release their juices. Combine well and cover to cook for 5minutes.
- Once vegetables are cooked in the sauce, add seared paneer and combine well.
- Add fresh baby spinach on top, cover and turn the heat to low. The steam will cook the spinach.
- It is ready when the spinach is wilted, but remains with a bright green color.
- Mix well and serve immediately.
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