PANEER BUTTER MASALA

I hadn’t bought Paneer for some time now as I didn’t want to repeat recipes of Paneer. (You should all know that now, Bob and I cook dishes depending on our post requirements!) However, one of our readers, Mrs. Shalini Pai, had requested for another Paneer recipe and we were only too happy to oblige J (If you all also have recipes that you are keen to try but haven’t tested, we would be happy to try it out for you and put up a post on it. So feel free to share the recipe or the link to it in the ‘comments’ section below)

We have the popular Paneer Butter Masala today. It tastes as good as the ones served in restaurants sans the pool of butter/oil afloat on the dish and the orange stain left on the fingers. Let’s be honest, food always tastes better with that additional splash of oil or that extra dollop of butter. I have mentioned the quantity of the butter/oil as in the original recipe but feel free to reduce it or just sweat it out post the meal (whichever is the easier option ;) )

Psst… Here’s a trick to make all your gravies taste better. Puree the sautéed ingredients- Onions, tomatoes, spices (other than the veggies/meat that go into it)

The recipe is for 500 gms of Paneer. I always buy the 200/250 gm block and reduce the ingredients by half (other than the onion).

PANEER BUTTER MASALA

Ingredients:

Paneer (cottage cheese) – 500 gms

Bay leaves – 2

Cloves – 2

Cinnamon – 2, 1 inch sticks

Dried red chillies (broken) – 2

Coriander powder – 1 tsp

Coriander seeds (crushed) – 1 tbsp

Ginger paste – 2 tsp

Garlic paste – 2tsp

Red chilli powder -1 tsp

Tomatoes (medium sized) – 5-6

Onion (large)- 1

Crushed kasoori methi (dried fenugreek leaves)- ½ tsp

Fresh cream – 2 tbsp

Butter – 5 tbsp

Oil – 1tsp

Salt

Method:

1.      Heat 3 tbsp butter with 1 tsp oil in a pan. Add bay leaves, cloves, cinnamon, red chillies and crushed coriander seeds. Sauté for half a minute.

2.      Slice the onion and add it to the above mixture and sauté for half a minute.

3.      Add the ginger-garlic paste, cook for another 30 seconds.

4.   Add coriander powder, red chilli powder and chopped tomatoes. Cook on high heat until oil leaves the paste. (I squish the tomatoes with the spatula)

5.      Once the mixture cools, puree it.

6.    Heat remaining butter in the pan. Cook the pureed mixture for 2 minutes. Add the paneer pieces and salt.

7.      Add ½ cup water. Cook covered on low heat for 5 mins.

8.      Sprinkle kasoori methi and mix in lightly.

9.      Remove from heat and mix in the cream.

10. Done.

Recipe notes

·        Oil is added to prevent the butter from burning.

·    As you can see from the photo, I didn’t have some of the ingredients ( dried red chillies, kasoori methi, coriander seeds, cinnamon stick) These definitely add to the flavour but if you don’t have them in your pantry, it’s okay to cook without them!

·   I substituted the cinnamon stick with cinnamon powder and coriander seeds with coriander powder.