Shahi Paneer

I have an exciting array of recipes up my sleeve, waiting to get posted sooner or later. This one in particular has been staying in my digi cam for a little over two months and finally managed to find its way to my blog. Yet another paneer dish waiting to reach your taste buds! Well, only if you wish to make it for yourself. So much for just writing the recipe!

Shahi means royal and this is definitely royal with rich ingredients. This is actually similar to paneer butter masala except that I add curd to it. But i have seen some people adding curd to PBM also. So I am not sure about the actual differences between the two but I have slight differences in my recipes. Well, it doesn't really pain to add one more recipe to my database without much effort. I mean in terms of remembering a new set of ingredients and method that an extremely different recipe would call for.

I'm really proud or rather happy for having been born in such a country which has so many food varieties. I'm enthralled by the extreme diversity of food culture in India. It differs from state to state and sometimes even within a state like how we have the Chettinad cuisine which is different from the normal Tamilnadu cuisine. Well, this deserves a separate blog entry and I do not want to dilute its intensity by writing more about it in this post.

INGREDIENTS:

onions 1 or 2
tomatoes 2 medium sized
paneer cubes 10 to 15
Sliced ginger and garlic - 1 to 2 tsp
curd 1/2 cup
coriander handful
chilli powder 3 tsp
dhania powder 2 tsp
garam masala - 1 tsp
jeera powder 1 tsp
fresh spice powder 1/2 tsp (cardomom,cinnamon,cloves)

for frying
butter 50 g
oil 1/4 cup

soak and grind to a smooth paste
cashew 2 table spoon
khus khus 1 table spoon

METHOD

1. Slice the onions, fry till light brown in 2 tablespoons of oil,grind to a fine paste and keep aside.
2. Cut tomatoes and ginger into small pieces, fry then in the same oil, grind to a smooth paste and keep aside.
3. Heat oil and butter, add the onion paste, thinly sliced garlic and fry till dark brown.
4. Add the cashew khus khus paste and fry well.
5. Add the tomato and ginger pulp and cook well.
6. Add the dry powders
7. Finally add the curd and cook well
8. Add 2 cups of water, fresh spice powder,coriander and then the paneer.
9.Serve hot with cream