Butter Paneer
I am sharing with you my delicious but simple recipe for Butter Paneer or Paneer Makhani as some of us know it.
From what I have researched Butter Paneer is cooked with minimal spice and it really is an easy dish to cook.
I made my own Paneer so that took a bit of time but if you use store-bought paneer it really is a quick dish to prepare.
Butter Paneer
What is Butter Paneer or Paneer Makhani
I don’t understand many Indian languages. I am from a telegu speaking home so it’s the only Indian language I can understand well.
Any other Indian language is foreign to me so I had to quickly find out what the word Makhani means. It means “buttery”.
From my little research I also discovered that this sauce originated in the 1950’s. The Punjabis invented the sauce by mixing fresh butter into a tomato-based gravy.
I bet the Punjabis didn’t think their invention was going to be as popular as it is today.
Cooking the Curry ahead of serving time
Curries can be cooked in advance and most often tastes even better. However, I do find that with paneer dishes it doesn’t really work that well.
The paneer does absorb a lot of the sauce, especially with the soft homemade paneer.
Therefore if I am making a Butter Paneer and not serving it immediately, I cook the sauce but I do not add the paneer to the sauce.
I add the paneer during serving time. Just re-heat the sauce and add the paneer.
Spices
I love using freshly roasted spices in my cooking. I usually roast and grind my spices in a coffee grinder.
The coffee grinder is perfect for small batches of spice. So for this dish I used my own homemade Garam Masala.
The store-bought ground spices doesn’t have much aroma and feels really stale and flavorless. Roasting and grinding your own spices may be a little bit of extra work but it is so worth the effort.
Ever since I’ve started using freshly ground spices I’ve never looked back, I could never go back to buying store-bought ground spices.
One positive thing about this dish is that you don’t need loads of spice.
Minimal spice doesn’t mean minimal flavor, it is still so rich and flavor-filled.
If you’re watching your diet I suggest you make this dish on your cheat days or special occasions.
More Indian Dishes to try:
Cauliflower with Cumin and Cream
Green Bean Curry with Coconut Milk
First Posted September 7,2020 Updated 30 May 2023
Butter Paneer
Ingredients
- 300 gram paneer cut into cubes
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2-3 tablespoon butter
- 4 green elachie
- 4 cloves
- 1 large red onion thinly sliced
- 2 tsp ginger garlic paste
- 2 green chillies
- 3 large roma tomatoes remove skin and chop into 4 pieces
- 10 cashew nuts soaked in warm water
- 1/2 cup vegetable stock
- 2 tspn kashmiri chilli powder
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- 1&1/2 tsp cumin powder
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 1/4 cup fresh cream or more
- 1&1/2 tsp dried methi leaves see note 4
- 1-2 tsp sugar if required
- salt
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a pot. If using butter add a few drops of oil to prevent burning. Add the elachie and cloves to the pot and fry for about a minute, until fragrant.
- Add the onion and fry until slightly brown. Add the ginger/garlic paste and fry for a minute. Add the green chillies, cashews and tomatoes together with 1 tablespoon butter. Cook for 5 minutes
- Add the chilli powder,cardamom powder, cumin powder and turmeric. Cook for 2 minutes. Add 1/2 cup of vegetable stock and cook for about 15 minutes or until tomatoes are cooked. The butter will surface to the top.
- Allow the sauce to cool down a bit. Remove the cardamom pods and cloves from the sauce. Pop the sauce into a blender and blend until smooth.Add about a 1/4 cup of warm water, if the sauce is too thick. Use a sieve and strain the sauce back into the pot, it should be smooth. Season with salt. Add sugar only if necessary or if you prefer a sweeter sauce.
- Add the fresh cream, you can add more or less depending on your taste.Fry the paneer in one tablespoon butter and add it with the butter from the pan into the sauce. Add dried methi leaves and garam masala and heat through. You can add the other tablespoon of butter to the sauce if you prefer a richer more buttery sauce.
- Garnish with fresh coriander and serve
Notes
- The cashew nuts can be replaced with almonds. You can also totally omit the nuts, it won't impact the flavour that much
- You can use some tomato passata instead of the tomatoes, I would suggest about 2 cups
- You can add more cream if you wish
- The dried methi leaves is also know as kasuri methi which can be found in most Indian spice shops. although you can leave it out, it is highly recommended as it makes all the difference to the flavour
- If you don't have vegetable stock replace with warm water
Thank you so much. This recipe is simple and a winner. Love paneer❤️❤️❤️
Dearest Lorraine
Another magical flavour bomb. This was Mondays meal, leftover tasted even better, thank you again, so pleased there is no more stress what to cook????????????????