Paneer or cottage cheese is THE most famous ingredient (after potato)which is generously used in Indian cuisine.Every restaurant caters number of paneer dishes and it is almost compulsory in our community to cook at least one paneer based dish, when some guests are expected to dine with us
So when dear Srivalli of Cooking4allseasons , announced yet another event called Curry Mela , I could think of nothing else but this Rich gravy based paneer delicacy
I know Health freaks would raise their brows when they hear rich gravy, or butter paneer, but guys hold on…..you can totally skip”Richness” and yet enjoy this most sought after paneer dish.
| Butter Paneer |
- Paneer(cottage cheese) 150 gms
- Onions 3 +1(???…explained below !)
- Tomato 2 small
- Green chillies 2
- Ginger
- Garlic 5 cloves
- Milk 1 cup
- Turmeric powder 1/4 tsp
- Garam masala powder 1/4 tsp
- kitchen king less than 1/4 tsp
- kasuri methi 1/4 tsp
- Salt
- Butter 1 tsp (optional)
- Fresh cream 2 tsp or Unsweetened mawa (optional) 2 tsp or more
- Cashews 5
- Tejpatta (Bay leaf) 1
- Cloves 2
- Javitri (mace) just two small strands
- Dal chini (cinnamon stick) just a bit
- Cut the paneer into cubes and keep them is salted water
- Peel and slice 3 onions
- Shallow fry them in 1 tbsp of oil, in a heavy bottom kadai/pan/nonstick pan, on medium flame, till evenly browned (do not char the onions)
- Meanwhile grind ginger garlic with little of water to make a paste
- Boil cashews in a cup of water for 2 min, then grind them to make cashew paste
- Grind tomato and green chillies and keep aside
- Peel and grind one onion (this explains 3+1 onions in ingredients list) with little of water and make a paste.Keep it aside
- Now finally grind browned onions (phew…..so much of grinding !) and keep this paste aside too
- Now in the pan/kadai, put some oil and saute a tejpatta , javitri, cloves, dalchini and add ginger garlic paste
- Saute it till the paste changes to pinkish colour, then add raw onion paste
- Saute it properly till onion paste turns brownish (this paste give the dense smooth texture to gravy). You can also boil the onion first and then make paste
- Now add browned onion paste, tomato chilly paste, salt, turmeric powder, garam masala powder, kitchen king, kasurimethi and mix properly till the oil separates out
- Now add cashew paste, milk, butter (optional), fresh cream/unsweetened mawa (optional) (I never use them, I prefer adding milk) and adjust the seasoning
- Finally add paneer cubes and mix properly
- Let it simmer (add some water if needed) for few minutes
- Garnish with coriander leaves and/or grated paneer/fresh cream and serve with roti/phulka/naan
Note:This gravy taste better if curd is used(1/2 cup), in that case reduce the quantity of tomato But since I avoid using curd and milk together in gravy, you can proceed with adding curd and skipping milk
Just finished eating my first ever cooked Indian dish (I traveled in India for three weeks once and the only thing I ordered was paneer butter masala). It’s delicious (although I will make some personal adjustments for the next time I cook this). Just a little note to people trying this, go easy on the tiny little green peppers. My first badge was almost inedible, so I made another badge and combined them. Still fairly spicy, but good spicy. Also, “grinding” means to puree everything in a food processor. I tried to grind the cashew nuts with a spoon, but that was futile
butter paneer is my favourite recipe all the time.it is lifetime pleasure tasting it
hi, this is best website for home chefs
Hi,
Wish i could dip my roti in it and eat it away right now. Looks awesome. I like that coconut one aslo
I can’t stop my mouth watering at this dish:)
This looks totally delicious..makes all that grinding completely worth it:)
I am not a paneer fan i just like the gravy in it my hubby’s all time fav it is looks very nice
i am enjoying this website so much…i used to remember my mom’s recipes & make the sindhi food….now i can make my mistakes right &enjoying cooking with your website
Hi Alka,
I love paneer in any form and this is my my fav. this one we cook in a different way. I normally cook onion and tomatoes with everything and then grind it.
Lovely snap, Alka! I do both ways, grinding sometimes after frying the onins, and sometimes before, and sometimes only tomatoes! I love it any way!
hello madam,
ok, i will stop now or else i will end up writing full recipe which i better save it for my next post 
guess what i am eating right now???!!! yup, paneer butter masala. he he he…
i too grind onion, tomato and spices but my recipe is bit different from urs. i will be posting it pretty soon. frying the onions and grinding them later is what my mom does. but i didn’t have enough time nor patience to do it. cream and milk is what i too used
have a wonderful day girl… see ya later