Dhaba style paneer is a lip-smacking spicy paneer masala, prepared in an onion-tomato base with lots of spices and curd.
Ingredients
To marinate:300 g paneer
¼ tsp salt
1/ tsp chilli powder
To grind(paste 1):½ tsp cumin
½ tsp pepper
1 green chilli
4 garlic pods
1 inch ginger
1 onion
To grind(paste 2):2 tomatoes
8 cashews
Other ingredients:1 tsp ghee
1 bay leaf
2 cinnamon
1 cardamom
1 tsp chilli powder
¾ tsp coriander powder
1 tsp salt
¾ cup curd
1 cup water
1 tsp Kasuri methi dried fenugreek
¼ tsp garam masala
1 tbsp butter
Ingredients* Cut paneer into an inch size cubes.
* Add some salt and chilli powder, mix well with fingers and keep aside.
* In a mixer jar, take cumin seeds, whole black peppercorns, green chillies.
* Also add onion, ginger and garlic.
* Grind everything together as a paste and keep aside.
* Grind tomatoes and cashews into a fine paste and keep ready. You may soak the cashews for 15 mins before grinding to get a smooth paste.
* Heat a pan with some oil, place the paneer cubes and fry them for two minutes. Fry both the sides to golden color and remove them to keep aside in a plate.
* To the same pan with leftover oil, add ghee(optional) and heat.
* Saute bay leaf, cinnamon and cardamom followed by onion masala paste(paste no:1).
* Now saute well for few to minutes until the raw smell of onion and garlic disappear completely.
* Add paste no 2, the tomato and cashews paste and stir with the cooked onion paste.
* Cook tomato for five minutes until oil separates on the top layer.
* Add chilli powder and coriander powder with the masala.
* Now add salt and thick beaten curd and mix well in simmer mode.
* Also, pour a cup of water, mix well to get a creamy base gravy.
* Cover and cook this for three minutes on low heat.
* Add the paneer cubes we kept aside and mix with the masala.
* Let the paneer cook in the masala for a few minutes to absorb the spices.
* Crush a tsp of Kasuri Methi (dried fenugreek)leaves, add along with garam masala.
* Finally, add a blob of butter(optional to get authentic dhaba style).
* Serve with hot naan, roti, Phulkas, jeera rice, ghee pulav etc.