Restaurant-Style Paneer Butter Masala Recipe (Indian cottage cheese)

 

Restaurant-Style Paneer Butter Masala Recipe

Paneer Butter Masala is a rich and creamy Indian dish made with paneer (Indian cottage cheese) in a spiced tomato and butter gravy. This recipe brings the authentic flavors of a restaurant to your home kitchen.

Here is a simple recipe for the ideal café style paneer spread masala for all you paneer sweethearts! This recipe has rave audits from perusers (look down to see the remarks). Delicious tomato based sauce that is smoked and has that unmistakable eatery style flavor - this recipe is generally a hit! This café style paneer spread masala is certainly one of my number one recipes perpetually, and it is quite possibly of my most seen recipe on the blog.

So here's the thing with paneer butter masala. If you are a paneer lover, it is the king of all paneer recipes. I've eaten versions of this across the length and breadth of the country (favourite order obviously) and a lot of people can get it very very wrong.

Here's what a good paneer butter masala or paneer makhani will taste like:

• Luscious gravy thats tomato based and has a natural sweetness with a slight tang
• A mild underlying smokiness that comes from smoking the gravy before adding the paneer
• Really soft paneer that's NOT fried and is soft mainly because its primarily made from Malai (Cream) or really good quality milk

And here's what it's NOT --> Sweet! A lot of restaurants like to add sugar to the gravy. This is also the norm outside India, but good paneer butter masala is not sweet. So stay away from the fake ones!

And today, we are cracking open all the secrets to amazing Paneer Butter Masala with the smokiness, the creaminess and the perfection.

ingredients for paneer butter masala

Here's what you'll need for a fantastic Paneer Butter Masala or Paneer Makhani:

Elements for Paneer Spread Masala sauce

Spread, Oil and Cream: Three distinct fats go into the recipe at various focuses to make that delicious, smooth sauce. Yet, sit back and relax, this doesn't mean a truly weighty, high on calorie recipe. The healthy benefit of one part size is as it were

Dried Kashmiri Red Chillies: This is a key fixing. These dried chillies give tone yet have relatively little flavor which is ideally suited for this recipe. On the off chance that you don't have this, you can substitute with 1-2 tablespoons Kashmiri Stew Powder that can be added alongside the other ground zest powders when the mixed sauce is stewing

Onions and Tomatoes: The extent of onions to tomatoes in this recipe is 1:6. Onions are utilized for the base however the tomatoes add the vast majority of the flavor

Ginger Garlic Glue: You can utilize minced ginger and garlic independently yet for accommodation ginger garlic glue is made in huge sums and refrigerated in each Indian family. You can likewise purchase instant glue effectively at general stores

Cashew nuts: To diminish how much cream in the recipe, we use cashews which give a similar richness and thickness yet without the calories

Khus/Poppy Seeds: Khus or white poppy seeds is utilized for flavor as well as smoothness

Flavors: Both entire flavors and ground flavors are utilized in this recipe. Entire flavors, for example, bayleaf, cardamom, cloves and cinnamon add the underlying seasoning to the onion tomato combination. You can add them with no guarantees or make a bouquet garni as I do so it simple to fish these out prior to mixing. Dry flavors like bean stew powder, turmeric, garam masala are added later while the mixed sauce just a tad of intensity and to pack in the flavor

Ketchup: A super contemporary fixing yet it truly works here since it has the ideal mix of sweet, pungent, tart. A tiny amount makes an enormous difference!

Kasuri Methi: Kasuri Methi is fundamentally dried fenugreek and utilized widely in Indian cooking to add a bit of smokiness and finish the dish. A tiny amount makes an enormous difference, however loading this in the storage space is a generally excellent thought!

how would you make paneer (curds) at home?

Making paneer at home is straightforward and needs just two fixings - milk and corrosive (lemon juice or vinegar function admirably). You should warm milk and add the corrosive and stew the milk till it coagulates and isolates into whey and paneer or curds. I have a very convenient, bit by bit instructional exercise on the most proficient method to make paneer here.

Malai Paneer chunk cut into shapes

You can constantly make your own paneer at home (which just requires 15 minutes BTW and is the most fulfilling experience) or you can purchase locally acquired paneer - search for malai paneer. This recipe is adaptable to the point that if you could rather have chicken spread masala all things considered, you can continuously substitute the paneer for chicken. Or on the other hand use tofu and make tofu margarine masala. On the off chance that you might want to make it veggie lover, use oil rather than spread and avoid the cream.

how to make paneer butter masala

Here are quick steps to make paneer butter masala

1. Bouquet Garni: Start with wrapping the spices in a muslin or cheesecloth to make a bouquet garni. This helps add all the flavour without having to fish out the spices one by one later
2. Cook the kashmiri chillies, onion, tomato, cashew, poppy seeds and spices together till the tomatoes are soft and pulpy. This is the base of the gravy
3. Remove the bouquet garni (whole spices) and the blend the onion tomato paste to really smooth. You can add some water if required
4. Simmer the gravy along with powdered spices and salt in butter for 10-15 minutes till you can see a little oil floating to the top
5. Smoke the gravy with my dungar method (see video). This takes the gravy to the next level!
6. Add kasuri methi, paneer and cream, cook for a minute or two and you are done!
   
   
   

7. Ingredients

   For the Gravy:

   • 3 tablespoons butter
   • 2 tablespoons oil
   • 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
   • 2 large onions, finely chopped
   • 2 green chilies, slit
   • 1 tablespoon ginger-garlic paste
   • 3 large tomatoes, pureed
   • 1/4 cup cashew nuts, soaked in warm water
   • 1 teaspoon red chili powder
   • 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
   • 1 teaspoon garam masala
   • 1 teaspoon coriander powder
   • 1 teaspoon sugar
   • Salt to taste

   For the Paneer:

• 250 grams paneer, cubed
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves)
• Fresh cilantro, chopped for garnish
• Serving:
8. 1. Garnish with freshly chopped cilantro.
   2. Serve hot with naan, roti, or rice.

   Enjoy your delicious, restaurant-style paneer butter masala, perfect for a delightful meal at home!