MASALA PANEER (DHABA STYLE)

I was finally done cooking all Paneer recipes from my recipe book for the blog. I decided to Google ‘Paneer recipes’ and hundreds of recipes popped up, each one similar to the other. After a bit of research, I found one that looked interesting and different from the ones I had already cooked – the Masala Paneer (Dhaba Style).

The Dhaba style of cooking is higher in fat content and while I have mentioned the quantities as mentioned in the original recipe, you may reduce the quantity of the oil and ghee as I have.

The gravy is chunky and rich and slightly on the sweeter side (due to the onions). You may reduce the quantity of onions and add more chilli powder to suit your taste. I coarsely ground the onions (unlike the other recipes where I grind it into a fine paste). This adds to the chunkiness in the gravy.

This one definitely goes into my recipe book. Enjoy it with some piping hot Paranthas or Phulkas, a side of raw onions and if you can afford to, go ahead and drizzle some ghee on the gravy just before you serve it. The gravy has the authentic Punjabi Dhaba flavour to it. It’s spicy and sweet and very masaledar.

MASALA PANEER (DHABA STYLE)

Ingredients:

Paneer : 250-300 gms

For the marinade:

Salt – 1 tsp

Kashmiri Chilli Powder – 1 tsp

Garam Masala Powder – ½ tsp

Turmeric – ¼ tsp

Water – 2 tbsp

For the gravy:

 Oil – 3 tbsp

Ghee- 2 tbsp

Cumin seeds (Jeera) – 1 tsp

Cardamom (crushed) – 3-4

Cinnamon – 1 inch

Cloves (crushed) – 4-5

Onion (finely chopped/grated/pureed) – 3 medium sized

Ginger (chopped) – 1 inch

Garlic (crushed) -  4-5 cloves

Chilli powder- 1 tsp

Black pepper powder – ¼ tsp

Kasoori Methi- 1 tsp

Cumin powder – ½ tsp

Coriander powder – ½ tsp

Garam Masala Powder – ½ tsp

Gram Flour (Besan)/ Wheat Flour (Atta) – 1 tbsp

Coriander/Mint leaves (chopped) – 1 tbsp

Tomatoes (pureed) – 4 medium sized  

Method:

1.      Cut paneer into cubes and sprinkle the spices on it. Add water and give the cubes a good mix. Let it marinate for at least 30 minutes.

2.      Heat Kadai. Add oil plus 1 tbsp ghee.

3.    When the oil is hot, add the cumin seeds, cardamom, cinnamon and cloves. Mix for 1 min on low flame.

4.     Add the chopped onions to the above mixture. Increase flame to medium.

5.    Once onions are half cooked, add the ginger and garlic and cook until the onions turn golden.

6.   To this, add chilli powder, pepper, kasoori methi, cumin-coriander powder garam masala and besan/atta.

7.    Cook all spices on low flame for 2 mins.

8.    Add the mint/coriander leaves.

9.    Add the pureed tomatoes and give it a good mix.

10. On low flame, cover and cook for 3-4 mins.

11. Increase flame to high and cook masala till it starts leaving the sides of the pan (about 6 mins).

12. Heat a separate pan, once the pan is hot, add 1 tbsp ghee and add the paneer cubes and warm them for a minute.

13. Add the softened paneer cubes to the above gravy and add 1 cup water. Mix well.

14. Cover the pan and cook for 2 mins on low flame.

15. Done.

Recipe Notes:

·    The dish has thick gravy. Add a bit more water towards the end, if you want the consistency of the gravy to be thin.

·      If you don’t want the gravy to be on the sweeter side, reduce the quantity of onions to 2.

·      Adding Besan/Atta to the gravy thickens it. You may skip this step if you don’t want your gravy to be thick/chunky but I would recommend you add it for the authentic Dhaba ‘look’.

·     While heating the paneer, ensure that the pan is pre-heated before adding the paneer cubes to it. This process is only to warm and soften the paneer and not to fry or brown it.

Look what I found 15000 feet above sea level:

Lots of Cotton Candy!!!

SHAHI PANEER

Pappa was posted in Lalgarh Jattan Cantonment, Rajasthan in the 90s.  We were there for three and a half years. Every weekend, we would travel to the town at Sri Ganganagar, covering a distance of almost 20 kilometres, to dine at a restaurant called Pagoda. As far as I can recall, every visit we sat at the same table and ordered the same dishes – Naan, Tandoori Chicken and Shahi Paneer. After the waiter had served us our portions, I would scoop a generous portion of the paneer gravy onto a corner of my plate. Once I was done with my Naan, I would eat the gravy plain.

This is one of my favourite dishes but I do not make it too often as it’s too rich. The addition of cashew, onion paste and cream makes the gravy rich, thick, creamy and slightly sweet, just the way I like it. J

This dish ought to be ideally eaten with Indian Breads.

I never fry paneer cubes for any of the paneer dishes (other than Paneer Burji)  as I like them soft. But feel free to fry them if you like Paneer that way.

If you love paneer, this is a must-try dish. And most definitely tastes “restaurant-like”! J

SHAHI PANEER

Ingredients:

Paneer (cottage cheese) – 400 gms

Onions – 2 large quartered

Oil – 2tbsp

Cloves – 3

Peppercorns – 10-12 (ground)

Cinnamon – 2 (one inch)

Saffron – few strands

Garam Masala Powder – ½ tsp

Bay leaf – 1

Ginger paste – 1 tsp

Garlic paste – 1 tsp

Cashews – ¼ cup

Milk- enough to submerge the cashews

Yogurt – ½ cup

Cream – ½ cup

Salt to taste

Method:

1.      Soak cashews in milk for half an hour. Grind it into a paste. Keep aside.

2.      Boil onions in ¼ cup water. Drain, cool and grind.

3.      In a pan, heat oil, add cloves, pepper, cinnamon and bay leaf and sauté.

4.      Add onion paste and sauté for 3-4 mins on low heat. (Do not increase the flame else, the onions will brown and the gravy will change colour)

5.      Add ginger-garlic paste and sauté till it loses its smell.

6.      Add cashew paste and stir it for 2 mins.

7.      Add yogurt and stir till its water gets absorbed.

8.      Add cream, then garam masala powder and salt.

9.      Add  cubes of paneer and let it cook for about 5 mins.

10. Done.

Recipe Notes:

·        Do not increase the quantity of the spices as Shahi Paneer ought to be creamy white. Too much of the spice powders will change the colour.

·        I used 200 gms of Paneer and halved the ingredients.

MALAI KOFTA

I remember when I was in Rajasthan, our cook would make Koftas quite often and I would happily wolf them down until I learnt they were made of Bottlegourd!

When I go out to eat, I don’t order Koftas that often as the gravy is mildly sweet and not everyone in my circle likes their savoury dishes to be sweet.

(Skip spotted this baby white dragon and wanted me to post its pic on the blog)

I love Koftas, especially Malai Kofta. The soft, melt-in-your-mouth paneer-potato balls with dry fruits in it, soaked in a rich, creamy gravy with a tinge of sweetness are perfect for those lazy Sunday afternoons when all you want to cook is one gravy dish and then heat up some ready-made chapathis. I can assure you that this will keep you satiated till evening.

If you don’t like your gravy sweet, you can skip adding the cashews and the raisins and spike up the spice level of the gravy.

Things started off well in the kitchen and I had these pretty dumplings, ready to be plonked into scalding oil. But then tragedy struck. I forgot to dust them with flour and worse still used a deep bottomed pan that wasn’t non-stick. As a result of which, the dumplings came together and decided to cling on to each other for their dear lives and what came out of the pan was ONE gigantic smushed Kofta.

Luckily I had an extra batch of dumplings which I then lovingly dusted with flour and gently laid onto a non-stick, flat bottomed pan and tadaa .... they browned nicely.

In case you’re wondering what I did with the smushed Kofta, I squashed it even more and after clicking pictures for the blog, I mixed it with the gravy. Yummy!

MALAI KOFTA

Ingredients:

For the Kofta (makes around 10 balls)

Paneer (cottage cheese) grated – 150 gms

Medium sized potatoes (boiled and grated)- 2

Salt-1 ½ tsp

Garam masala – 1/3 tsp

Chilli powder – 1 tsp

Maida (Refined Flour) – 2 tbsp

Cashews, raisins – handful (optional)

For the Gravy

Kasuri Methi (Dried Fenugreek Leaves) crushed – 1 tsp

Butter – 1tbsp

Almonds (sliced)- 6-7

Cashews (chopped) – 6-7

Garlic cloves – 8-10

Ginger (chopped) – 1 tbsp

Green chillies (chopped) – 1 tbsp

Onion (chopped) – 1 cup

Tomato (chopped) – 1 cup

Turmeric – 1/3 tsp

Chilli powder – ½ tsp

Coriander powder – ½ tsp

Cumin powder – ½ tsp

Garam masala – 1/3 tsp

Oil – 2 tbsp

Cream – 2 tbsp

Salt – to taste

Method:

1.      For the Kofta: Combine the Paneer and the Potato. Add salt, spice powders and flour to it. Knead mixture into dough.

2.   Take a small part of the dough and flatten it. Add a cashew and a raisin in the center and roll it into a ball. Skip this step if not using cashew or raisin.

3.      Dust the ball well with flour.

4.      Deep fry in a flat bottomed pan until golden. Set aside.

5.      To make the gravy: Dry roast 1 tsp Kasuri Methi.

6.    In a pan, add butter, almonds, cashews, whole garlic cloves, ginger, chillies and onion and sauté for a few seconds.

7.     Add the tomato and fry until tomatoes turn soft.

8.     Once the mixture cools, grind it into a smooth paste (masala paste).

9.  To the same pan, add oil and spices (other than garam masala) and fr for a minute.

10. Add the ground masala paste to it and sauté for a minute.

11. Add one cup water and salt to taste. Add the fresh cream and stir it.

12. Add garam masala and sprinkle the kasoori methi.

13. Place the dumplings in the serving dish and pour the gravy on it.

14. Done.

Recipe notes

·        I didn’t have green chillies, kasuri methi and cream so didn’t add those.

·        Feel free to add an extra tbsp of flour to the Kofta dough if it turns out to be too soft to roll into balls.  

·        Use a flat bottomed non-stick pan to fry the Kofta balls.

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