Paneer Butter Masala

I called my Cook (fondly called as Baiji) on her mobile phone in the evening hours before I reached home exhausted from office. Never ever bothered to even look into the refrigerator to know what was there ! Baiji decided what I had to eat ..... Servants to do the errands. Paneer Butter Masala was only on the restaurants menu cards. Ah what a life !!

But I decided to give up all to land here in the land of luxury. Now I clean, eat frozen food ,cook almost everyday and look for recipes on the internet ! There is no restaurant of my choice around the street corner. Either I eat Pizzas or drive for miles to reach an Indian Restaurant ..... which is not so Indian !! Bland food to cater to the taste buds of the Angreez !!

I know there are two sides of a coin but then it is my birth right to complain if I am displeased. But may be I would have never discovered that I could cook all these had I not come here. Or may be this became my necessity ...... Whatever ! So much so that I started blogging on food.

I had bought the Cheese to prepare Paneer Tikka but sorry I am in no mood for that, not now at least. Paneer Butter Masala was a better alternative .... at least I could store it away and eat it for two days.

Preparation Time - 40 minutes

Serves - 4

Ingredients

Cubed Paneer - 2 cups

Green Peas - 1/3 cups

Chopped Onion - 1.5 cups

Chopped Ginger - 2 tsp

Chopped Garlic - 2 tsp

Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp

Chopped Tomatoes - 2 cups

Kasuri Methi - 1 tsp

Coriander Powder - 1 tsp

Cummin Powder - 1/2 tsp

Green Chillies - 3

Red Chillie Powder - 1/2 tsp

Butter for cooking

Sugar - 1 pinch

Salt per taste

Method of Preparation

1 Bring any store bought paneer. Cut it into medium size cubes.

2 Finely chop onion,tomato,ginger,garlic and green chillies. Keep aside.

3 Heat some butter in a kadhai/ pan. Add cumin seeds to sputter. Add the chopped onion,ginger,garlic and chillie and fry till golden brown and soft. Now add salt,chopped tomatoes,turmeric powder, red chillie powder, coriander and cumin powder. Keep stirring the mixture. Do not allow it to stick to the pan. Add about half a cup of water and simmer the masala/ sauce for some time.

4 Remove from heat and allow it to cool. Put the masala into a blender and grind it into a fine puree.

5 Add a little more butter (about 1 tsp) to the same kadhai. Add the ground/ pureed masala to the kadhai. Toss the cubed paneer and peas and stir well.Add one pinch of sugar.

6 Crush the kasuri methi leaves between your palms and add to the gravy. Stir well.

7 Add little water if the gravy is dry and let the paneer simmer in it for 5 minutes.

Serving Tips

Serve hot with any Indian flat bread like Roti, Paratha or Naan.

Notes

If the paneer is in the refrigerator and hard to cube, place the entire paneer packet into a bowl of warm water. This will soften it.

Make sure that you cool down the masala before grinding it. Else you may burn yourself.

Variation

Use 3 tsp of canned tomato puree instead of fresh tomatoes.
Adding Peas is optional.

Other Names

Paneer - Cheese,Cumin - Jeera, Coriander - Dhaniya, Kasuri Methi - Dried methi leaves.