Shahi Paneer

Shahi Paneer

My daughter has discovered her love for all things Paneer, which is quite a relief since my husband is not very fond of paneer and I felt bad making paneer just because I like it. Now I can use her as an excuse to make paneer at least once a week.

But with great power comes great responsibilities..now what was that for? Anyways all I wanted to say was since I now make paneer more regularly I needed to find more recipes to try out. Typing paneer into google search put up quite a few options but this recipe of Sanjeev Kapoor caught my fancy maybe beacuse it was different from the usual red/orange gravies that I make for paneer

I tried it out and felt this recipe is a keeper. So I am reproducing the recipe here with my few changes:

Shahi Paneer


Serves : 4

Shahi Paneer

Ingredients:

Paneer/Cottage Cheese - 200gms
Onion - 2 quartered, boiled and ground to paste
Cloves - 2
Peppercorns - 6
Bay Leaf - 1
Cinnamon - 2 inch
Green Chillies - 2 slit long
Ginger-garlic paste - 3/4 tsp
Kitchen King Masala - 1tsp
Cashewnut - 10 soaked and ground to paste
Dahi/Curd/Yogurt - 1/2 C
Cream/Milk - 1/4 C
Saffron - A pinch to be soaked in the above cream/milk
Cardamom Powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt - To taste
Oil - 1 tbsp

To make

1. Cut Paneer into bite size pieces - cubes/rectangle/triangle - and let soak in warm water

2. Heat oil, add the dry masala - cloves, cinnamon,peppercorn and bayleaf. When fragrant add in the slit green chillies. Follow it with the boiled onion paste. Cook for 2-3 minutes till the raw smell disappears.

3. Add the ginger-garlic paste and cook till the raw smell is gone.

4. Add the kitchen king masala and cook for 1 minute. Add in the curd and and cook till the mixture is dry.

5. Add the cashew paste, saffron induced milk/cream, paneer(without the water) and salt to taste.

6. Cook in low heat for 2 mins. Top off with cardamom powder and take off the heat.

Preparation Time : 15 mins
Cooking Time : 15 mins


Notes & Deviations :

1. Soaking paneer in warm water reduces cooking time and helps add in the paneer into the gravy at the last
    moment.

2. Sanjeev Kapoor's recipe doesn't ask for Kitchen King. He suggests Garam Masala. However, since we
    are using whole masala and the cardamom powder I didnt want to use garam masala as well. Adding
    Kitchen King brings in a slight colour change but I love the flavour it imparts

3. If you think the cream/milk could curdle, you may add the same after taking the curry off the heat.

4. Take care not to brown the onion paste or any other ingredients so that the curry would be white/cream in
    colour



Make this dish to add a new colour and taste to your dining table. It will add the royal touch that the name promises.