Description
Rich, delicious and naturally creamy Indian style cashew paneer (cottage cheese) curry made with simple pantry ingredients. Easy Indian vegetarian curry to enjoy with rice or naan.
Ingredients
Scale
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 large red onions (150 grams) sliced
- 5-6 large tomatoes (400 grams) see notes
- 1 tsp ginger (cubed or grated) - this will go in the blender
- 8-10 pieces cashews (20 grams)
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 1 tsp cardamom powder
- 1 tsp red chili powder or paprika
- salt
- 1 tbsp tomato ketchup (see notes)
- 4 tbsp dried fenugreek leaves - kasoori methi
- 200 grams paneer: Indian cottage cheese (cubed)
Instructions
- Cooking the onions -> To a wok, add oil and let heat for a minute on medium low flame. Add thinly sliced onions and cook on low flame until they are caramelized and just begin to pan fry. They should be light golden brown in colour.
- Tomato gravy -> While the onions are cooking, add chopped (fresh) tomatoes (see notes) with cashews and ginger to a food processor or blender and puree until a smooth paste is formed. Now add this mixture to the pan fried caramelized onions and cook until the tomato sauce (gravy) thickens. Roughly 6-8 minutes on medium low flame. Keep stirring consistently.
- Crunchy pan fried paneer -> While the sauce thickens... to a hot pan, add cubes of paneer with a couple of tablespoons of oil and cook until all sides of cubed paneer are crispy brown.
- Spices -> Once the sauce (gravy) and paneer is ready. Add salt, chili powder, milk, ketchup and cardamom powder to the gravy. Mix and cook for a few minutes until a smooth, thick gravy is formed. Add pan fried paneer, mix well. Add dried fenugreek leaves (kasoori methi) and cook for about 2 more minutes. Serve hot with rice.
Notes
- Tomatoes - Use fresh tomatoes for this recipe. I have not tried this paneer recipe with store bought tomato puree - it might work well, however keep in mind, that it would be sweeter, so skip the ketchup.
- Ketchup - When I learned this recipe, I was equally apprehensive about addition of ketchup. I promise it acts as the magic ingredient - do not skip!
Keywords: vegetarian, curry, meatless, Indian, recipe, gravy
