Paneer Recipe : Hello everyone, welcome to Weekenders world. I am going to share a lovely side dish. We are going to make Dabha style paneer curry. This is a little spicy and very easy to make with very simple ingredients and it tastes great with naan, rotis or even phulkas. So let’s get started and check it out.
For this recipe, I have taken 400 gms of fresh paneer. Just cut it into medium sized cubes. So you can see it’s a nice size. It’s not too large or too small. This is a good size. So we are just going to mix the paneer pieces with some basic spice powder starting with some turmeric powder, a tsp of chilli powder, just ¼ tsp of pepper and about ½ tsp of salt.
So just mix everything. till all the pieces are just coated. just let this sit. To a white kadai, add about 2 tbsp of oil and 1 tbsp of ghee. So ghee is going to give you that nice extra flavour to the dish. Next add all the whole spices. Cinnamon, cardamom, using the green and the black cardamom, cloves, star anise, shahi jeera 1 tsp and bay leaf.
Next I am adding 2 large onions that’s finely chopped. Saute the onions till they are nice golden brown colour. So you can see the onions have turned to a lovely golden brown colour. Now I’m going to add a teaspoon of garlic paste and 1 teaspoon of ginger paste. Now I am adding all the spice powders starting with 1-1.25 tsp of turmeric powder, 2 tsp of Kashmiri red chilli powder, 1 tsp cumin powder, 1 tsp coriander powder, 2 tsp of besan that is gram flour. Next add a tsp of salt, just mix everything nicely.
So we are just going to cook these powders just for a few seconds. Make sure you maintain the flame on a low. Next I am adding the puree of 6 large tomatoes. So this has to cook till all the raw smell goes and it becomes nice and thick and the oil begins to separate.
So you can see how the tomato puree has reduced beautifully, the raw smell has gone and you can see the oil all separated. Now I am going to add 1 tbsp of whisked curd. Just mix that all in. I am going to add 1 tsp of garam masala powder. Next add a tsp of sugar to balance the flavors. Just mix that in. Now that we have cooked all the raw masala, I am going to add 1 cup of water to get a nice gravy consistency. Just mix that in. If you need to add more water to get the nice gravy consistency, you can add a little more.
So let this cook for about 5 minutes. So next we are going to fry the paneer pieces to a pan, add a little ghee. Now you can also fry the paneer in a little oil but I prefer ghee because the flavor is better with ghee.
Once you have roasted the paneer pieces keep it aside. So you can see the gravy is coming together so beautifully, all the oil has separated.
Now final touches, add some kasuri methi, add a few green chillies, add a few ginger juliennes, a generous amount of chopped coriander leaves. Gently just drop the paneer pieces. Mix the paneer along with the curry. Just let it simmer for a few minutes on low flame. The Dabha style paneer curry looks absolutely gorgeous.
You can see this lovely rich color and the flavors are just absolutely spot on. I’m just waiting to dig into this. So this absolutely delicious Dabha style Paneer curry is ready to be served. I am serving it with some nice hot naan. You can serve it with any roti of your choice. So you can see this Dabba style Paneer Curry is absolutely delicious and it’s so easy to make.
Make sure you follow all the steps and also make sure that the paneer is nice and fresh while making this dish. To try the recipe, enjoy and share with your family and friends.