I'm continuing my experiments with palak paneer. Here is what I did this time. If this is your first time trying the recipe, use the youtube link below for your first-time recipe.

Ingredients

12 oz frozen chopped spinach
2-3 tbsp of neutral tasting oil
1 tsp of ground cumin
10 cloves of garlic, chopped
3 serranos, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 heaping tbsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
regular salt to taste
1 cup of yogurt
10 oz of queso panela
1 lemon

Method

Boil a big pot of water. Put the spinach in. Once it starts boiling again, boil the spinach for three minutes. Drain. Save 1 cup of the water in which the spinach was boiled. Cool the rest of the spinach in cold/ice water. Drain. Put the spinach in the blender with enough reserved spinach water to turn it into a paste.

Heat the oil. Add the garlic, onions and serranos. Cook until the onions are translucent. Add yogurt and spices. Mix. Cook until somewhat thickened. Add the spinach puree. Simmer a bit. Add the cheese, then serve once it is all warmed.

Squeeze the lemon and pour the juice over the spinach dish.

Result

This turned out quite well, and it was within my range of spice tolerance, although barely.

Discussion

• Last time I made this, I used mozarella, but for this recipe you really want a non-melting cheese. The queso panela worked better than the mozzarella, so that could be repeated. Really I want queso blanco. Next time I'll try queso fresco if I can't find real queso blanco. Since I live in Arizona, paneer is not available everywhere, which is why I think of substituting Mexican cheeses. Farmer's cheese or any other non-melting cheese should probably work as well.
• Three serranos were too much, most likely, for most house guests. Next time try one (two max). Since the tiny green chiles one finds in Asian stores are not generally available in AZ, I wanted to substitute serranos.
• The purpose of the cold water bath is to preserve the color of the spinach. Ideally, this dish is intensely green.
• In the long run I may want a slightly more complex dish. Maybe add 1/4 tsp of cinnamon?

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYsLWpcbWqU

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Third attempt:

• I accidentally used a tbsp instead of a tsp of cumin. Still worked fine.
• Used two serranos instead of three. Still good. For guests probably one serrano would be fine.
• Used queso fresco. Seemed too tender, started to break apart. Queso panela is better.

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2019-01-19: This is my fifth attempt I think. Turned out quite well. Details:

• Used 10 oz of frozen spinach.
• Used queso Panela instead of paneer. This worked great. I'll do it henceforth.
• Use one large, deseeded jalapeno instead of three serranos. I think this is the perfect heat for guests.
• I didn't have garlic/ginger paste, so I used half the amount of prechopped garlic in a jar, and half the amount of pureed ginger from a tube.

This turned out well. Definitely a repeater. Next time I think I would chop the garlic finer. That said, I think I liked the taste of Anita Chawla's palak paneer better. I'll have to email her.