This vegetarian counterpart to the renowned butter chicken is equally delicious and a treat for vegetarians. Well, I enjoy it too! Today I’m sharing my way of making this easy paneer curry recipe, Paneer butter masala | paneer makhani. Paneer butter masala and paneer makhani are two different names for the same dish. Like I said, what’s in a name after all? Usually makhani gravy consists of tomatoes, is mildly spiced, slightly tangy and a little sweet, and of course creamy and buttery. ‘Makhani’ literally translates to ‘buttery’. A lot of folks use onions too for making makhani, it is great if you are looking to add body to this dish. But I love to make this using just tomatoes, it tastes just like how a makhani gravy should taste. I use this same gravy to make butter chicken as well if it calls for fresh, ripe tomatoes. Or you can simply add veggies, and then you have veg makhanwala 🙂
HOW TO MAKE PANEER BUTTER MASALA | PANEER MAKHANI?
To make this restaurant style paneer butter masala, first, you will need to make the butter masala sauce. For that, blanch tomatoes and prepare the tomato puree along with some soaked cashew nuts. Strain and set aside. Then saute whole spices in a mix of butter and oil. Add the tomato puree, cook, until the rawness of the tomatoes goes away. This will be indicated by the fat oozing out from the sides of the pan. Add in the dry spices like roasted cumin powder, red chilli powder, garam masala, kasoori methi, along with salt, and sugar. Cook the spices for a few seconds and add water to adjust the consistency of the curry. Bring to a boil and add the paneer pieces. Finish off with some more butter and cream. In case you are wondering, how to use paneer in curry, there are 2 ways you can go about it. Shallow fry the paneer pieces and immerse it in warm water, which in turn helps it in staying soft. If it is fried and left out to sit out, it may turn dry and hard. The other way is to simply put it in the boiling curry and simmer a few minutes without disturbing it too much or else it will crumble, especially if using homemade paneer. Today, I’ve used fresh tomatoes to prepare the curry base. For a quicker version of paneer butter masala, I use canned tomato sauce (puree), which is also an easy way to make paneer butter masala. As it eliminates the step of blanching tomatoes and making a puree plus cooking that puree which is the only time-consuming part of this recipe. You have to remember to get maximum flavor out of any Punjabi curry, you need to saute the ingredients in every step until there is no rawness, or else the end result will just be mediocre and nothing like the kind you get at restaurants. As for the color of this dish, the vibrant color is not from any food color but from the Kashmiri chilli powder. The addition of Kashmiri chilli powder to the hot butter adds a gorgeous color to the dish rather than adding it at a later stage. Here’s an easy paneer butter masala recipe for you guys to try! Do give it a go 🙂 You could swap the paneer with tofu to make tofu butter masala.
HERE ARE SOME MORE INDIAN PANEER RECIPES YOU MAY LIKE TO TRY
Matar paneer Methi matar malai paneer Palak paneer Shahi Paneer Paneer Tikka Chilli Paneer
STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS TO MAKE INDIAN PANEER BUTTER MASALA RECIPE | PANEER MAKHANI
1.Bring a large pot of water to boil. In the meanwhile make an ‘X’ at the bottom of each tomato. Immerse them in the boiling water, when you see the skin has blistered, remove them and transfer to a bowl filled with ice cold water. Peel the skin, roughly chop the tomatoes.
2.Transfer the chopped tomatoes along with its juices & soaked and drained cashew nuts in a blender. Blend till smooth, strain and set aside.
3.Heat 3 tablespoons butter plus oil in a heavy bottomed pan/ kadai, add whole spices.
4.When the spices become fragrant add coarsely crushed ginger green chilli paste. Sauté until the rawness is gone. Add Kashmiri chilli powder, sauté over medium-low heat for 10 secs.
5.Immediately add the prepared tomato purée, mix well with the seasoned butter, cover and let it cook on medium-low heat until it leaves fat. Stir in between to prevent any sticking at the bottom of the pan. This will take about 15-20 minutes.
6.It will look like this.
7.Now add tomato ketchup, salt (to season), sugar (to balance out the tartness of the tomatoes), Kasoori methi, red chilli powder, roasted cumin powder and garam masala. Sauté it on medium heat for another minute.
8.Add 3/4 to 1 cup water (adjust as per desired consistency), mix well and bring to a boil. Check for seasonings and adjust now.
9.Add paneer pieces (you can also fry the paneer pieces and keep them immersed in water until ready to use in the gravy, I’ve used fried paneer pieces), mix well and let it simmer covered for another 5 minutes so that the paneer absorbs all the flavors.
10.Finally add the cream and another tablespoon of butter, mix well and simmer for another 1-2 minutes. Finish it off with a little sprinkle of kasuri methi. Switch off the heat and serve with pulao, jeera rice, or with chapati, paratha, butter naan, or any other flatbread.
NOTES 1.You can grind the tomatoes and cashew nuts separately too. After tomato paste leaves sides of the pan, add cashew paste and sauté until that leaves sides and forms a thick paste. Proceed as directed from there on. 2.For a low-calorie version, skip the butter completely, add 1-2 teaspoons of oil and prepare the dish. Keep splashing water to prevent anything from sticking at the bottom of the pan. Replace the cream with skim milk. 3.If you want to use onions and garlic, make a paste of boiled onions, sauté that first till golden brown then add tomato purée. If adding garlic, make a coarse paste along with ginger and green chillies and use.
HOW TO MAKE PANEER BUTTER MASALA CURRY | PANEER MAKHANI?
I would love to hear from you! Please feel free to share your feedback with photos and suggestions to me at [email protected] You can also follow me on : Facebook Pinterest Instagram Twitter Regards, Freda
