Aloo palak: potato and spinach curry in Pakistani style

Aloo palak is a delicious spinach and potato curry that you can enjoy with roti/ chapati, naan bread, or pitta bread. But, you can also have this vegan dish with plain rice, or any other rice dish such biryani, or pilau rice.

Aloo Palak the potato and spinach curry in a small white bowl.

Aloo palak is potato and spinach curry, and it is a well-liked vegetarian curry among Indian/ Pakistani cuisines. It’s almost always a must-have menu item at gatherings.

Aloo Palak

It’s such a versatile curry that you can cook it with gravy or dry it like a stir-fry. 

Whichever you decide, it’s surely a vegan dish that can satisfy your appetite. Serve it with roti/ chapati, naan bread, flatbread, or pitta bread. But I’d say enjoying it with rice is as good as well, if not better. 

Aloo Palak is almost always served at special occasions such as family gatherings, weddings, birthdays, Eid celebrations, etc. 

Spinach and potato curry - Pakistani aloo palak

And just like any food recipe, there are endless versions of how to make Aloo Palak.

The recipe I’m sharing with you is based on my sister in law’s recipe. But as always, I’ve tweaked the recipe. And I’m happy with it now as my family and friends approve of it too. 

What you need

To make aloo palak, you will need potatoes, spinach, spices and cooking oil. 

When it comes to spud, I think waxy potatoes such as baby potatoes, Charlotte, or Jersey Royals are best. 

Don’t use floury potatoes that you use for mashed potatoes. Because they will break and go mushy. And you don’t want that. 

As for the spinach, you can use either fresh spinach or frozen spinach. And some people like using tinned spinach too. Though I personally don’t like the canned ones as they are like pulp. 

Just like most Pakistani salan aka curry, this potato and spinach curry use basic spices such as onion, ginger, garlic, ground cumin, ground coriander, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, and coarse/ground black pepper.

But you need addition of herbs for this curry. That is fenugreek leaves. 

You can either use dried fenugreek leaves or fresh ones. If you choose the latter, make sure you add them right after putting the spinach to cook. Because fenugreek leaves take a long time to soften. 

Last but not least, you need cooking oil.

I prefer using neutral ones like rapeseed oil or sunflower oil. But you can choose whichever oil you like. And if you prefer, you can also add a tablespoon or two of ghee towards the end of cooking. 

How to make Aloo Palak

There are numerous ways of making Aloo Palak, but the one I’m sharing here is the most practical way. And it has always given me good results.

First, fry your chopped onion with your preferred oil/ fat until translucent before you add crushed ginger and garlic.

frying chopped onions in a pan
onion and ginger garlic paste frying in a pan

Then you put all the spices and continue frying for about two minutes until the spices release aroma. Next, add chopped tomatoes and let them cook longer until you get a smooth masala (cooked spices).

spices and fried onions in a pan
chopped tomatoes and spices

Try to mash the tomatoes every now and again until your masala (spices) turn like a smooth sauce. And then put the spinach in, followed by potatoes and Kasuri Methi (fenugreek leaves).

If you use frozen spinach, you cook it first until it’s fully thawed and halfway cooked. Then you add in the fenugreek leaves/ Kasuri methi and the potatoes. 

masala sauce in a pan
frozen spinach in masala sauce
potatoes in masala sauce and spinach
kasuri methi on potato spinach curry

Leave it to cook until everything is fully cooked and all the juice evaporates.

And if you use fresh spinach, add in the cubed potatoes and cook further until the spuds are half-cooked. 

It can take about 20 minutes to 30 minutes to cook Aloo Palak with a little bit of gravy. 

If you prefer it dry, just let it cook a bit longer. It takes another 10-15 minutes at medium-high heat for me to do so.

Ways to enjoy 

There are two basic ways of making this dish, dry curry and a curry with gravy/ juice. 

So you will want to serve your aloo palak with something that goes with it accordingly.

If you cook it as a dry curry, it will be best to enjoy it with roti/ chapati, naan bread, flatbread or pita bread. 

But if you cook it with a little bit of sauce/ gravy, it’s ideal for you to serve your aloo palak with rice. You can have it with either plain white Basmati rice or any rice dishes such as biryani rice, pilau rice, etc. 

But really, there is no restriction. You can eat your aloo palak however you want with whatever you like.

A bowl of Aloo Palak the potato and spinach curry.

Menu idea for the occasional food spread

And just to give you an idea, this aloo palak is good to serve with the following menu. 

In fact, the menu below often appears in the occasional food spread such as Eid, weddings, family gatherings, etc. 

Thank you for reading the post. I hope you’re now wanting to try this aloo palak recipe. 

Let me know what you think about it in the comments below (leave in a reply box).

Last but not least, please follow me on Facebook, Instagram and/or Pinterest. To sneak a peek at what’s cooking in my kitchen. 

Take care and all the best.

Aloo Palak the potato and spinach curry in a small white bowl.
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4.56 from 9 votes

Aloo Palak

Aloo Palak, the potato and spinach curry is one of the classic curries among Pakistani cuisines. This vegan curry is delicious to enjoy with roti/ chapati, naan bread, pitta bread or rice.
Author: Devy Dar
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time45 minutes
Total Time55 minutes
Course: Vegetarian
Cuisine: Pakistani
Servings: 6

Equipment

  • Chopping board
  • Kitchen knife
  • Cooking pan with lid.
  • Wooden spoon

Ingredients

  • 1.3 lbs spinach.
  • 2-3 potatoes medium size, cut in 1-inch chunks.
  • 1 brown onions chopped.
  • 1- inch ginger minced.
  • 4 cloves of garlic minced.
  • 1 ½ teaspoon ground cumin.
  • 1 ½ teaspoon ground coriander.
  • 1 teaspoon paprika powder.
  • ½ teaspoon chilli powder.
  • ½ teaspoon turmeric powder.
  • 1 teaspoon coarse/ ground black pepper.
  • 1 teaspoon table salt or according to taste.
  • 2 medium tomatoes chopped.
  • â…“ cup cooking oil.
  • 1 teaspoon dried fenugreek leaves/ Kasoori Methi.

Instructions

  • In a medium cooking pot, heat the oil and fry the onions at medium heat until it turns light golden.
  • Then add in the minced ginger and garlic. Fry further for a minute or two.
  • Put all the spices and salt in. Give it a stir and leave to cook until the spices smell fragrant.
  • And then add the tomatoes in, stir well and let it cook with the lid on until the tomatoes are softened. Try to mash the tomatoes with the back of the spoon every now and again.
  • When the masala/ spices mix becomes thick and the oil separates from the spices, put the spinach in the masala/ spice mix. Stir it well until all the green leaves are mixed thoroughly with the spices/ masala. Put the lid back on and leave it to cook at medium heat for about 15 minutes.
  • Take care and keep checking the spinach to make sure it doesn’t stick at the bottom of the pot. Sprinkle the fenugreek leaves and stir the spinach well.
  • Then add the potatoes in, mix well so that the potato pieces are covered with spinach and spices. Continue to cook with the lid on at low-medium heat for about 15 minutes or until the potatoes are fully cooked. 
  • Enjoy your Aloo Palak with roti/ chapati, naan bread, or pitta bread. If you want, you can also eat it with rice.

Notes

  • If you don't have Kashmiri chilli powder, you can just use 1 tsp red chilli powder.
  • If you can get fresh fenugreek leaves, you can use about one cup of chopped fenugreek leaves. Sometimes I use fresh leaves if I can go to Asian shops. 
  • You can use any cooking oil you like. But I personally use either rapeseed oil or sunflower oil. I understand that traditionally, many Pakistanis/ Indians use ghee (clarified butter) for Aloo Palak. However, I’m not a big fan of ghee therefore I don’t really use this ingredient. If you like, you can partially use ghee for the oil. Or even use ghee for the whole portion of fat. 

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 157kcal | Carbohydrates: 21g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 6g | Sodium: 473mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 3g

Disclaimer

Nutritional info in this recipe is only estimate using online calculator. You should refer to it as a guide only. Please verify with your own data if you seek an accurate info.

Author: Devy Dar

Title: Food Writer, Recipe Developer, and Digital Content Creator.

Bio:

Devy Dar founded So Yummy Recipes and Drizzling Flavor to share her love of food after exploring various cultures and cuisines for more than two decades. Her mission is to help others easily recreate traditional and non-traditional food with readily available ingredients. Her works have been featured in Reader’s Digest, Al Jazeera, MSN, Yahoo, Bon Appetit, and more. 

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3 Comments

  1. Devy, I made this the other day to have a little later. I had a taste and thought “Great”. A few minutes later, I had another ‘taste’. Then another. And … I just kept going back to ‘taste’, it was so moreish! Fortunately there was enough left for when it was actually time to eat. Definitely a keeper! Thanks for this.

    1. Lol… I can imagine this scenario when you try making excuses for not eating a lot but then end up finishing the whole lot. Well, at least that what happens to me every so often 🙂

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