Paneer Makhani: Garam Masala Tuesdays

Being a Sikh, I love my butter chicken and dal makhani. No party is complete without these two and more often than not there is somebody at a table who will definitely order these two dishes for everyone to share. If somebody is vegetarian then instead of butter chicken (or with an order of butter chicken), paneer makhani is ordered.

Paneer makhani is basically the vegetarian version of butter chicken. Its the same gravy but the chicken is replaced with paneer- Indian cottage cheese. While I love butter chicken and have a great recipe for it here, I would never turn down a plate of paneer makhani. Pair it with some garlic naan and I am a happy sardarni.

While I am typing this post I realize I call butter chicken with its english name and paneer makhani in Hindi. I don’t know why but that’s just how it is.

The other day my friend asked whether I had a paneer makhani recipe on the blog and I realized I didn’t. I told her to modify the butter chicken recipe thats on the blog, but I think this dish needs its own post. And here I am today to do just that.

I love this makhani sauce. It is my mom’s recipe that I have finally managed to perfect with a few adaptations that now I am happy to say makes one of the best (if not the best) makhani sauces I have had. I made changes to the original recipe and have updated the butter chicken post. But thought will add some notes to the recipe here too. While I love the color and sweetness roasted bell pepper adds to the sauce, when I am lazy or don’t have red bell pepper on hand I have skipped adding it, and instead add a bit of honey, but only once the gravy cools down. And while tomato paste gives the sauce the bright red color that you see in restaurants, I don’t always have it in my pantry and leaving it out still works. Another change I have made is that I now boil the cashews when I boil the tomatoes, that ways if I forget to soak the cashews, it doesn’t matter.

I love smoking the sauce but now that we have moved to an apartment and I don’t have access to a fire, I skip that step too. If you can, I highly recommend you do smoke the sauce.

When I made this paneer makhani to shoot for the blog, V messaged from work (which he never does) how good the paneer was. I then decided to make the makhani sauce again thinking I will make butter chicken for a friend who was coming over for dinner (I eventually used it to make butter chicken pizza -recipe soon) because it is just that good and the recipe has been tried and tested so many times now. The makhani sauce is so good that I was actually eating spoonfuls of the gravy out of the pan, and if I didn’t have to keep some for the pizza I would have finished the whole thing. You can also make and freeze the sauce to have when you are in a time crunch.

A good makhani gravy needs a few key ingredients and even though butter brings it all together, this gravy can be made without butter and still taste good. The cashews provide the necessary richness to the gravy. To lighten the gravy (if you must), you can replace the cream with milk. The only reason I mentioned that this gravy could be made without butter is so that there is a variation for vegans, but in if you are not one there is no reason not to add it. The name of the dish is butter paneer! Also, kasoori methi or dried fenugreek leaves as well as fenugreek seeds is a must in this gravy. You can find both these ingredients in any indian grocery store.

A note about the paneer, you can fry the paneer and add it. You could also marinate the paneer in some yogurt, red chilli powder, kasoori methi, ginger garlic paste, oil and grill it. You could also put paneer as is. I generally prefer homemade paneer, but have used store bought on various occasions. If using store bought paneer, make sure to soak the paneer cubes in hot water for 5 minutes. It makes store bought paneer soft, giving it a nice texture.

I am still hungover from all the weekend festivities. What did you all do?

We had a great July 4th weekend, watching fireworks, catching up with friends, firing up the grill and eating and drinking lots. It was also my dad’s birthday on July 4th and even though we couldn’t celebrate it with him, we celebrated his birthday in american tradition with fireworks!

Leaving you with a video of the fireworks I took from my iPhone at KaboomTown Addison on July 3rd. The lines were crazy long to get in, but it did have the best view of the fireworks, plus the music was synchronized with the fireworks, which made the whole viewing more fun.

Hope you all had a great July 4th and for those celebrating eid, eid mubarak to you.

Fireworks at KaboomTown Addison from Shumaila Chauhan on Vimeo.

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Paneer Makhani: Garam Masala Tuesdays

 

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Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

30 mins

Total time

45 mins

 

Author: Shumaila

Recipe type: side

Cuisine: Indian

Serves: 3-4

Ingredients

For the makhani gravy:

• 3 medium sized tomatoes
• ½ medium onion, finely chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, roasted (skin peeled and seeds removed)
• 4-5 cloves of garlic
• 1 inch piece of ginger
• 3-4 green chillies, slit lengthwise
• 2-3 tbsp butter/oil (if cooking for just V and me I add less, if for a gathering then I increase the amount)
• 2 inch stick of cinnamon
• 1 black cardamoms
• 3-4 small green cardamoms
• 1 teaspoon fenugreek/methi seeds
• 2-3 tbsp cashews
• 1 tbsp kasoori methi
• 2-3 tbsp chopped coriander/cilantro
• ½ tsp garam masala
• ½ cup milk/heavy cream
• 1 tsp red chilli powder
• salt and pepper to taste
• ½ tsp onion powder
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• salt, to taste
• 250 gms paneer

Instructions

If marinating paneer:

1. Marinate with a mixture of ginger garlic paste, yogurt, red chilli powder, kasoori methi and oil. Keep for 15 minutes. Broil for 8-10 minutes.

Make the makhani gravy:

1. Boil the tomatoes with the ginger and garlic and cashews. Drain and then churn with the roasted red bell pepper in a blender.
2. Heat butter in a pan and add the whole spices- cinnamon, green and black cardamom and methi seeds. Once the seeds start to sizzle, saute the green chillies in it.
3. Add the onions and cook till translucent. I generally add a little salt with the onions.
4. Add the chilli powder and saute for a few seconds.
5. Add the tomato puree. Cook the gravy well, till the oil separates.I reduce the heat to medium low and cook for around 15 minutes.
6. Add in the kasoori methi and the paste to give the gravy some red color. Add in the milk. Add the garam masala.
7. Add paneer and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the cilantro. You can add some butter and cream once the gravy is cooked to give it a richer taste. Check seasoning.
8. You can also add a little honey, depending on the sweetness/tartness of the tomatoes. If adding honey, do it when the gravy has cooled a bit. I feel that when I use tomato paste and bell peppers I don't need to add honey, but when I don't have these two ingredients and am lazy to get it from the store (see blog post), honey helps.

To give a smoky flavor:

1. If you have charcoal, heat it to red hot on the stove fire. Put a steel bowl (or make bowl one out of aluminium foil) in the pot with the gravy. Once the charcoal piece is red hot, quickly put int he steel/aluminium bowl. Add some butter or ghee on top. (You can also add 2 pieces of cloves on top of the charcoal– just make sure it doesn’t fall in the gravy and stays only in the aluminium/steel bowl) and cover the pan. Do it two three times to get the smoke flavor.

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