Paneer Butter Masala is a North Indian cuisine made from Cottage Cheese (also known as Paneer in India) and a smooth and creamy, moderately spicy gravy. This is definitely a delight for the vegetarians. It tastes amazing with any sort of Indian bread like roti, chapati, naan, paratha and so on.
India is home to the largest vegetarian population of the world. India has plenty of vegetarian dishes that have kept both vegetarians and non-vegetarians coming back for more and paneer butter masala is one of them.
Today I’m sharing the way my mom makes Paneer Butter Masala. The taste is nothing less than restaurant except its made with less butter and oil to cut short your guilt trips.
Things you need
- Butter – 50g/4 tbsp
- Cottage Cheese/Paneer – 250 g
- Vegetable oil – 4 tbsp
- Bell pepper – 1
- Tomatoes – 400g/ 5 small pcs
- Green chilies – 2
- Chopped coriander leaves – 1 tbsp
- Onion – 3 medium
- Garlic – 3/4 cloves
- Ginger – 1 inch
- Dry roasted Kasuri Methi
- Bay leaves – 2
- Whole spices
- Cardamom pods 4 pcs
- Clove 4 pcs
- Cinnamon sticks small 3-4
- Heavy Cream 0.5 cup (Optional)
- Sugar 1 tbsp
- Salt
- Chili powder – .5 tsp
- Coriander powder – 1 tsp
- Cumin powder – 1 tsp
- Black pepper – .5 tsp
Pro Tip: Kashmiri chili powder is great for using in this dish. This chili powder in particular gives a vibrant red look but less spicy.
Cooking Hack: In case we don’t have heavy cream in hand, mom makes 3-4 tbsp concentrated milk by adding very little water to milk powder or dairy whitener. Heavy cream makes the dish milder and even more creamier. This proved to be a great help if the curry was slightly on the spicier side than expected.
Preparation
- Heat 2 tbsp of butter and 2 tbsp of vegetable oil in a pan. Fry chopped onions, ginger and garlic for 3-4 minutes. Add the whole spices to it and fry until golden brown.
- Next add roughly chopped tomatoes and green chillies and keep on frying until the juice of tomatoes dries up and the raw smell is gone.
- Blend this mixture finely, a dash of water can be added if it’s too thick. This will be the base of our delicious paneer butter masala.
Procedure
- Heat rest of the oil and butter in a pan and fry the cottage cheese cubes lightly and take them out.
- Saute some chopped bell peppers with salt in the same oil and take it out.
- Temper the oil with 2 bay leaves and the blended mixture of tomato and spice. Keep on stirring and add 1/2 cup of warm water into it.
- Add salt, 1/2 tsp chili powder, 1 tsp coriander powder, 1 tsp cumin powder, 1/2 tsp black pepper, 1 tbsp roasted Kasuri methi, 1 tbsp sugar to the gravy and cook it for 3-4 minutes.
- Add the Cottage cheese cubes and bell peppers into the gravy and cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Paneer butter masala is ready to served. Garnish it with heavy cream and chopped coriander leaves.
Even though I absolutely loved the taste in restaurant, I could never enjoy the gravy because of high butter/oil content. This recipe is a guilt free one, enjoy every bit of it’s goodness without worrying!!
If you like this recipe please do give it a try and tag me on Instagram @Moltencookiedough . I would love to see your creation.
Check out this veg fried rice recipe that will hand in hand with butter paneer!
