Shahi paneer

Shahi Paneer

Shahi paneer is a rich and creamy Mugglai dish. It is most popular in the Northern part of India. The name Shahi paneer can be translated as “Royal paneer” which is very appropriate name for the dish, prepared by the royal cooks for a royal dinner. A simple homemade cheese cooked with nuts, spices, yogurt and cream, turned into a dish fit for royal banquet.

Shahi paneer is a very festive dish, which is prepared on special occasion. When you have guest at home or planning a party it is a great dish to serve with any Indian bread.

 Ingredients:

1       Pound bar of paneer
15     Almonds
15     Cashew nuts (raw unsalted)
1      Tablespoon poppy seeds (optional)
½      Cup plain yogurt
2       Cups whole milk
2       Medium size onions
1       Tablespoon minced garlic
1       Tablespoon fresh grated ginger
2       Medium green chilies or to your taste
2       Teaspoons coriander powder
½      Teaspoon garam masala
3       Tablespoons cream (optional)
1       Teaspoon salt or to your taste
3       Tablespoons vegetable oil
1       Tablespoon grated paneer (optional)
1       Tablespoon sliced almonds

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Paneer

Cashews, Almonds &
Poppy seeds

Directions:

1. Soak the almonds, cashews and poppy seeds for an hour then peel the almond
    skin.

2. If using store bought paneer, soak the bar of paneer in bowl fill of hot water for
     15 to 20 minutes. Soaking in the water make the paneer soft.

3. Slice the paneer into 1” long 1” wide and ¼ “thick cubes or the preferred size
     and shape.

4. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a nonstick frying pan. Spread the paneer cubes on
    the frying pan and sauté but do not brown them, ensure to take them out before
    paneer cubes turn brown. Sautéing  seals the paneer and it helps in preventing
    the paneer from crumbling in the gravy. Keep the sautéed paneer aside.

Paneer cubes

sauté paneer cubes

sautéed paneer cubes

5. Place the soaked almonds and cashew nuts and yogurt in a blender and grind
     them into a paste, add some water for grinding if needed. Keep the paste aside.

6. In the same blender add onions, garlic, ginger and green chilies and grind them
    to a coarse paste.

7. On the high heat in the same frying pan paneer was sautéed add 2 tablespoon
     of oil, onions and garlic paste and sauté them while periodically stirring.
     Onions will have a lot of water so for the first 8 to 10 minutes keep the heat
     high so that all the onion water evaporates quickly.

In a pan add oil minced onions & garlic

Onions become translucent

8. Once all the water evaporated fry the onions for 5 to 6 minutes or until they
become translucent. Add coriander powder and fry for few minutes, you will
start seeing the oil in the pan, but do not brown the onions.

Add coriander powder

Mix coriander powder with fried onions

9. Add almonds, cashews and poppy seeds paste into fried onions and mix and
cook for 5 minutes. Keep the heat low.

Onion Masala is done

Add nut paste

10. Once all the moisture dries up and you start seeing the oil it means onion
masala is ready.

Mix the nut paste with fried masala

Onion masala is ready

11. Add milk and stir continuously for 5 minutes or until all the lumps of paste
      dissolve and milk start boiling, cover the pan with the lid and let it cook on
      low heat for at least ½ hour, while stirring frequently and scraping down the
      sides of the pan so that almonds paste and milk do not stick to the sides and
      bottom and burn.

12. Once the gravy becomes thick add salt and garam masala and crumbled
       paneer and mix it well and cook for few minutes.

Add milk and mix

Cover the pan and cook

12. Once the gravy becomes thick add salt and garam masala and crumbled
paneer and mix it well and cook for few minutes.

Add crumbled paneer & garam masala and mix

Gravy is ready

13.   Add sautéed paneer cubes and mix with the gravy, cover the pan with the
        lid and cook for 5 minutes on low heat. The consistency of the shahi paneer
        is always kept thick, if you find the consistency is too thick then add little
        water, stir and bring it to a boil, turn the stove off. Keep the pan covered
        until you are ready to serve.

14. When ready to serve heat the dish, in the end add cream, heat for about 2
      minutes, turn the heat off, make sure that you do not over heat the cream,
      overheating spoil the cream, the cream change to ghee and alter the taste of
      the curry. This is the reason why the cream is added at the end when is ready
      to be served. Remove from the stove and pour into serving dish.

15. Garnish with sliced almonds and serve hot with any Indian bread

Add sautéed paneer cubes

Mix paneer cubes with gravy

Cover the pan and cook

shahi paneer is ready

Tips:

1. Heavy cream is added to give extra richness. If you wish skip adding cream in
the end.

2. You could add raw paneer as it is instead of sautéing.

3. To keep the dish looking white I have used yellow onion for cooking, their skin
is yellow and white from inside.

Please take the time to let me know what you think about my recipe. Your comments would be helpful to me to improve the recipe.

Thank you

Geeta Seth

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