Paneer butter masala is one such paneer curry that most of us love. This mildly spiced, tomato based curry is so luscious and creamy, that it is a hit with everyone. I love making this, especially, when I have guests home for dinners and/or lunches. In fact, I also make it for my weekday meals. It is a very quick and easy recipe for which you even pre-make the sauce base a day ahead. Or you could make the sauce on a Sunday and freeze it and use it to make the butter masala anytime during the week. Another amazing thing about this paneer recipe is that, it pairs well with both, rice and Indian flatbreads. So, you could serve this with your pilafs as well as your naans. Here in the picture that you see, I have served it with ragi rotis.
Paneer butter masala, also known as paneer makhani in Hindi, is popular for it’s signature velvety smooth curry. And that is achieved, not just by grinding the ingredients of the sauce, but by also straining it. What that does is, it gets rid of the seeds and fibres of the tomatoes, ginger, garlic etc. Thereby rendering a rich, silky smooth curry base. For such a royal dish, the cooking method is rather an easy one. I also take the additional effort of lightly frying the paneer cubes in ginger and chili flavoured butter, before adding it to the curry. While this is a completely optional step, but I always do this since I feel it enhances the taste of the paneer even more.
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Methi paneer (fenugreek flavoured paneer curry)
Quick and easy
You are going to be able to whip up this creamy delight in under 30 minutes. Since there isn’t any cutting and chopping of veggies that you need here or an elaborate cooking process, this one gets done quickly. The paneer makhani or butter masala, isn’t spicy at all. This curry is flavoured with kasuri methi and garam masala and as is very obvious, made in butter. So, you can imagine how delicious this tastes. This curry, loaded with butter and cream, is best made for occasions and on those days when you feel like indulging.
I do like adding a couple fresh chilis to the sauce base for that very slight hint of heat. But mainly, this very creamy curry is not high on heat, making it perfect for kids too. In fact, the makhani gravy is supposed to be slightly sweet to taste. That is because of the use of lovely ripe and red tomatoes. If the ones you are using aren’t sweet to taste or are tart, you can compensate for its taste by adding some sugar to the curry. And this is important. The butter masala has to have an underlying sweet taste to it, without which it wouldn’t taste as it should.
Serving suggestions
This fragrant and delicious north Indian paneer curry pairs so well with jeera rice, naans, peas pulao and even plain steamed rice. It really is quite versatile that way. If making it for an everyday, regular meal you could also mop up the curry with some rotis, like we did. The point is, this super amazing paneer recipe taste good anyhow you have it. And if you have leftover curry, then you could also use it to make a pasta. No kidding! I do that when I have leftovers of this. You can check my butter chicken pasta recipe to see how I made mine.
Are you planning to make this for yourself and your loved ones? Then let me tell you that, it is a great idea! And if you do, then I’d love to see pictures of your paneer butter masala. You can share them with me on Instagram and if you wish to drop me a line of your feedback below, I’d be very happy to reply, too.
Eat hearty!
Paneer butter masala
Equipment
- Shallow cooking pot
Ingredients
- 250 g paneer cut in 1 inch cubes
- 1 large tomato roughly chopped
- 1 medium onion roughly chopped
- 2-3 cloves garlic roughly chopped
- 1 inch ginger roughly chopped
- 2 fresh chilis optional
- 1 tbsp ginger julienned
- 1 tbsp chilis julienned
- 4-5 cashews
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 inch cinnamon stick
- 2-3 pods green cardamom
- 1 black cardamom
- 3-4 tbsp butter
- 1 tsp oil
- ¼ cup cream
- ¼ tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tbsp Kashmiri chili powder for the colour
- ½ tsp garam masala
- 1 tbsp kasuri methi dried fenugreek leaves
- 1 tsp sugar
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Heat your cooking pot with a tbsp butter and the julienned ginger and chilis along with the paneer cubes. Saute´ for couple minutes or until the paneer is lightly coloured. Remove on a paper towel and set aside
- In the same pot, cook the tomatoes, onion, ginger, garlic, chilis and cashews, with a cup of water, until the tomatoes and onions are completely soft. Remove from heat, let it cool and then grind it to a smooth paste, strain and keep aside
- Re-heat the pot with the remaining butter and oil and add the cinnamon, cardamoms, bay leaf and chili powder. Fry for couple minutes and then add the ground and strained tomato mixture and the fried paneer
- Mix well, add ¼ cup warm water and simmer over medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring intermittently
- Then add the cream, kasuri methi and garam masala. Mix in well, cook for 5 more minutes and remove from heat
- Garnish your delicious paneer butter masala with some more cream and kasuri methi and serve warm and fresh with rotis/naans/rice etc. Enjoy!
Notes
- Frying the paneer pieces in step 1 is optional. If not frying you can directly add them in step 3
- You can pre-make and freeze the sauce base in step 2, to make the paneer butter masala on a later date
- If using paneer from the fridge, keep it soaked in lukewarm water for about 30 minutes prior to cooking. This makes them softer
- tbsp - tablespoon
- tsp - teaspoon
- g - grams
