Wash the spinach. Keep the stems if not too thick. Bring about 500ml water to rolling boil in a deep vassel. Add 1 tbsp sugar, green chillies and spinach leaves in it. Allow them to boil for 1-2 min so that the spinach is thoroughly cooked, but not over-cooked. Do not close the lid during this process. Also prepare a bowl with 1 ltr ice water. Drain out and transfer the spinach and chillies from hot water to iced water. Keep aside till it cools down.

Drain out the spinach and. Chillies from iced water and transfer it in a grinding jar. Grind coarsely. Take out 3 tbsp of it in a bowl. Keep aside. Add some ice cube in the remaining puree and grind again till you get smooth paste.

Heat up mustard oil in a wide nonstick pan. Add paneer cubes and saute just for a minute or two, just to heat them up so they regain their softness. Drain them out of the oil.

In the same pan add cumin seeds when the oil is hot enough to crackle them. Then fry garlic till the raw smell is gone (we do not want to change its colour or make them crunchy). Add onion and fry till it's translucent and a little crispy. Add salt, chilli powder, dhanajeera powder and chana flour. Saute for 2 min while stirring.

Add the coarse paste of spinach. Saute on high flame while stirring until the mixture releases oil. Then add the rest of the puree and stir continuously. It will splash a lot initially.

Allow it to cook uncovered for 4-5 min. Add fresh cream, kasoori methi and garam masala. Combine well. Add milk or water to adjust consistency. Stir well.

Add paneer cubes. Combine and allow it to cook for about 4 min. Take out the curry in a serving bowl.

In a tadka pan heat up oil and add chopped garlic. Let it get light golden and crispy. Turn off the stove. Add chilli powder, stir quickly and pour over the curry.

Note: instead of serving the lemon juice and fresh chillies separately with the curry, you may choose to add the juice and chopped chillies in the curry just before pouring the garlic tadka. Combine thoroughly, also adjust the salt if required and then pour the tadka.