Shahi Paneer/ Indian Cottage cheese cooked with yogurt, tomato and spices

Last week I had to make paneer, because, a gallon of milk was getting close to the expiry date. Hubby dear told me to make yogurt, okay how I am going to consume a gallon of yogurt so I decided to make some yogurt and rest I converted into Paneer. 

Paneer is an Indian cottage cheese, that everybody gaga over. However in my house, nobody is too enthusiastic   about it. Even little one is not keen about it. If it there then I will do a taste test, if not also okay, that is her and her dad’s attitude. I had already made mattar paneer (paneer with green peas curry),  Malai Kofta so asked dear hubby what you want, he told to me try some other dish. So decide to give shahi paneer a try. 

Shahi paneer is a restaurant favorite, and is rich in cream, nuts, paneer, tomato and spices or simple version with yogurt, cashew nuts, paneer, tomato and spices. I tried yogurt version. Shahi means royal, and was usually found in royal kitchen (Especially of Mughal emperors’). Last time when I visited Noida, I found they add paneer in everything as variety of vegetables are scare in Northern part of India as compared to Southern part. Furthermore every place has its own culinary specialties. If you make shahi paneer it is good with Chapathi, Nan or Poori. I decide to make Poori with them. They tasted great.  You can have it once in a month.   I looked at the recipes of Sanjeev kapoor and here. I made some changes like skipped adding saffron, reduced red chili powder and did not use Kashmiri chili powder and also used milk instead of cream. May be good as party dish, try some time. I fried paneer; if you don’t want you can skip that part.  You can either fry the onion with ginger and garlic and green chilies, or boil the onion with water and grind into paste and then fry onion paste with ginger, garlic and green chili. I did the former step. Here goes the recipe. 

One year ago: Chocolate Rum Raisin Mini Cake

Two year ago: Mysore Rasam

Print recipe from here

What you need

Cottage cheese/Paneer: 2 cup ( I used homemade one)

Onion: 1 no (about 2 cup chopped)

Tomato: 3 no (about 2 ½ cup)

Ghee/Clarified butter: 1 tablespoon

Olive oil: 1 tablespoon

Cloves: 2 no

Black pepper corns: ½ teaspoon

Cinnamon: 1 inch
Green chili: 1no

Green cardamom:  2no

Mace: ½ teaspoon

Nutmeg: ¼ teaspoon

Caraway seeds: ¼ teaspoon ( if you don't like you can skip this one)

Cumin seeds: ¼ teaspoon

Ginger: 1 inch

Garlic:  2no

Cashew nuts:

Yogurt: 1 cup

Milk: 1/2cup (I used 2 %)

Turmeric powder: ¼ teaspoon

Red chili powder: ¼ teaspoon

Coriander powder: ¼ teaspoon

Salt:  ¾ teaspoon or to taste

Gram masala powder: ¼ teaspoon

Coriander leaves/Cilantro: 2 tablespoon 

How I made

In a  medium sauce pot heat 1 tablespoon of  Ghee and add paneer and fry  them for about 3-4 minutes or until they become slight brown. Set aside. 

In the same pan add onion, garlic, ginger and green chili and fry until  onion becomes translucent or 6 minutes to this add tomato and fry 2-3 minutes or until  it becomes mushy. To this add spices like, caraway, cinnamon, cardamom, mace, cloves, black pepper corns etc and fry for two minutes and Set aside. Once it is cool enough to touch grind into fine paste.

Grind cashew nuts and yogurt together to fine paste and set aside.

Heat oil in the pan and add cumin seeds when it starts to splutter add onion spice paste and fry for 2-3 minutes until oil starts separating. To this add turmeric powder, red chili powder, coriander powder, garam masala and fry for 2 minutes. Then add cashew yogurt paste and salt and cook for another 2 minutes. To this add milk and bring it to boil. To this add fried paneer and mix everything to combine well and switch off the flame. Garnish with cilantro leaves.

Enjoy with poori.

Preparation time:  35 minutes

Yield: 4 serving

Verdict: Yummy

Will you make it again: Yes occasionally.

I am linking this Shahi Paneer to  Hearth and Soul blog hop#82 hosted here.