Shahi Paneer - Indian Cottage Cheese in a Creamy Sauce

This is a typical "Mughlai" dish from India - a dish of Middle Eastern origin, modified to suit the local palate from a very long time ago.  Well, from the time the Turks and the Persians invaded India, to be exact. I have been reading about this dish and its origins and there are many interesting things I discovered during the course of my research. Did you know that tomatoes were only introduced to India by the Portugese in the 16th century ?  It was only grown in India from the 18th century on wards by the British. Interesting trivia! 

What it means is that when this dish was originally created, nobody used tomatoes. But now-a-days, if you order it at an Indian restaurant, you can bet that it will have tomato in the gravy.  This is a nice rich dish to serve with fried rice or naan bread.  Thank you to Swasthi's Recipes for the recipe.

Ingredients:

1. For the Shahi paste:

2 tablespoons oil (you can use ghee if you want the gravy to be richer)

12 cashewnuts

8 almonds

3-4 green cardamoms

1 green chilli

1 medium onion, sliced

1 tomato, cubed

Heat a wok, add oil.  Add the cardamom and nuts, then the onions and green chilli and saute. When the onions go soft and limp, add tomato. Saute and cover the wok with a lid. Keep stirring every now and then. When the tomatoes go soft and start to break up, take off the stove cool.  Blitz in a blender to get a smooth paste.  Set aside.

2. For the paneer gravy:

250 grams paneer, cubed 

1/2 a cup of milk

1/2 tablespoon ginger paste

1/2 tablespoon garlic paste

1/2 teaspoon chilli powder

1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder

1/2 cup yogurt, whisked

1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds

1 teaspoon garam masala

3/4 to 1 cup water

3 to 4 tablespoons cream

2 to 3 cloves

2 inch piece of cinnamon

1 tablespoon oil

salt to taste

Method:

Soak the paneer cubes in the milk and set aside.  Meanwhile, heat a saucepan and add oil.  Add cumin seeds, cloves, cinnamon.  Saute for a couple of minutes.  Next add the ginger paste, followed by garlic. Saute for a couple more minutes.  Add the chilli powder and turmeric powder.  Saute for a minute longer.

Add the paste prepared from step 1. Keep sauteing until you see the gloss from the oil - and the raw smell of spices disappear. Add water and salt to taste.  Mix well.  Add yogurt and mix well.  Lower the heat and add the paneer soaked in milk.  Cook till the gravy becomes thick.  Add garam masala.  cook for another minute. 

Add a tablespoon of cream and mix well.  Turn off the flame and garnish with some more cream.

Serve hot with rice, chappaties or naan.

Note:  Soaking paneer in milk (or you can use water) makes it soft.