VEGETARIAN

SHAHI PANEER

A richly prepared mouthwatering cottage cheese dish which can make u lick your fingers right away.It's gravy is a blend of cream along with tomatoes and other spices to add texture as well as taste to this Indian cuisine.

Shahi Paneer word itself is composed of two words: Shahi+ Paneer

While Shahi is an Indo- Persian term used for depicting the Royal, paneer is the Indian word for cottage cheese

INGREDIENTS:

Cottage cheese- 200grams                              Preparation Time: 30 minutes

Onion- 1 medium sized                                    Serves:4

Tomato puree-400 grams   

Ginger Paste- 1 tbsp

Garlic paste- 1 tbsp

Cream-100grams

Almond paste-4 tbsp

Cloves- 4 nos

Cardamom- 4 nos

Cinnamon - 1 big stick

Peppercorns-4nos

Bay leaves-2 nos
Kasuri methi- a little

Vegetable oil- 2 tbsp
Water-1/2 litre

Preliminary preparations

• Peel the onion and slice it followed by boiling the onion along with a cup of water.Strain the water and grind the onions to make a paste.
• Soak the almonds around 20 nos in a little bit of hot water and peel the almond skin.Now grind this almonds along with some milk to make a fine paste.
• For tomato puree either you can use ready made tomato puree or pressure cook about a kg of tomatoes with some water. Strain the water and peel the tomatoes and remove the seeds and pulp. Make the tomato puree by blending these tomatoes.

Method:

1.  Take the oil in a heavy bottomed pan and heat it until it is very hot.
2. Add the bay leaves along with the cloves,cardamom,peppercorns,and cinnamon stick and let it sputter.
3. Now add the onion paste and saute it for 4 to 5 minute on medium flame.Make sure that the onion paste does not turn brown.
4. Add the ginger and garlic paste to the mixture and again saute for 2 to 3 minutes.
5. Now mix in the almond paste and heat the gravy on medium flame while stirring it continuously.
6. Next step is to add the tomato puree in this and heating it continuously till the tomato puree is out of water and appears thick rather than watery.
7. Now add the fresh cream followed by water.Sprinkle dried and crushed kasuri methi  and  boil the whole mixture.
8. Slice the cottage cheese into small cubes and add it to the gravy and cover it and let it cook on low flame for 4 to 5 minutes.