Could anything be more decadent than cheese and nuts comings together in one dish? Don’t think so!
What do you think?
Though I have always found that shahi paneer (Shahi means royal and paneer is Indian cottage cheese) can be bit too creamy and that has always kept me from ordering it the restaurants. But then I tasted shahi paneer that one of my very good friend made for me. This one felt different, had more texture without being too creamy
My friend disclosed that the secret ingredient was cashews! The creaminess of paneer combined with the nuttiness of cashews surrounded by the tanginess of tomatoes and sweetness of onions was something else!
In this recipes, I combined the basic principles of my friend’s recipe and with elements of my mom’s recipe for making shahi paneer and I believe we have a winner on our hands!
And this is a lovely recipe to make for special occasions (hint! hint!hint!)
Valentines Days!
Happy valentines again, my lovely friends!
xoxo,
Kanwal
[signinlocker id=”6259″]
Ingredients
- 250 gram paneer chopped into 1" cubes
- 1 onion medium (3-4" diameter), finely chopped
- 3 tomatoes medium (3-4" diameter), chopped
- 2-3 green chillies chopped
- 3-4 garlic coves peeled and chopped
- 1" ginger peeled and chopped
- 10-15 cashews
- 1 tsp red chilli powder deghi mirch powder (it's available in Indian grocery stores)
- 1.5 tsp coriander powder
- 0.5 tsp garam masala
- 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tbsp kasoori methi
- Salt to taste
- 2 green cardamom
- 2 cloves
- 1 bay leave
- 2-3" cinnamon stick
- 1/4 tsp cumin seeds
- 2 tbsp oil smoked mustard oil, ghee or butter
- 1.5 cup water
- Handful fresh coriander leaves chopped
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a wok on high heat. Once the oil is hot, add cumin seeds, cloves, cardamoms, bay leaves, cinnamon sticks.
- After few seconds in oil, the spices will release the fragrance. At this point, remove the bay leave, cinnamon stick, cardamoms and cloves.
- Turn the heat to low and add cashews. Saute for 1-2 minutes.
- Add ginger, garlic and green chillies to the oil and immediately afterwards, add onions to the wok.
- Saute the mix for 7-8 minutes until the onions are browned and translucent.
- Add the tomatoes and saute for another 7-8 until the oil starts leaving the sides of the pan.
- Turn of the heat and puree the onion and tomatoes mix to a smooth paste.
- In the same pan, add 1/2 tbsp of oil.
- Once the oil is hot, add turmeric powder in oil and mix it in. After few seconds, add garam masala, coriander powder, red chilli powder and salt.
- Add water to pan and bring it to boil.
- Add the onion and tomato puree and kasoori methi to the water and bring the mixture to boil.
- Turn the heat to low and add paneer.
- Cover the pan and cook for five minutes. Stir occasionally to make sure it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan.
- Garnish with coriander leaves.
[/signinlocker]
