Paneer Butter Masala
Butter, cashew and slow-cooked tomato turn a bright orange-red, and the paneer soaks up every bit of it.
Ingredients
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Cooking steps
Cut the paneer into cubes. Chop the tomatoes. Peel and finely chop the onion, ginger, and garlic. Finely chop the green chillies and coriander leaves.
Soak the cashews in hot water for 10 minutes, then blend them together with the chopped tomatoes to a smooth puree. Set aside.
Heat the butter in a kadai over medium heat. Add the cumin seeds and allow them to crackle. Add the onion, ginger, garlic, and green chillies and sauté over medium heat until the onions are light golden and soft. At this stage you can optionally cool the mixture, blend to a puree, and return it to the same kadai.
Add the Kashmiri red chilli powder, turmeric powder, garam masala, coriander powder, cumin powder, and cardamom powder and stir for a few seconds.
Add the tomato-cashew puree, cream, paneer, kasuri methi, sugar, and salt to taste. Add a splash of water and simmer for about 10 minutes, until the masala deepens to a bright orange-red.
Taste and adjust salt or chilli as needed. Stir in the coriander leaves and serve hot.
Take this recipe with you
Secrets to a restaurant-red gravy
- Soak the cashews in hot water for the full 10 minutes. Under-soaked cashews grind grainy, and no amount of simmering smooths that out later.
- A dull brown gravy means the wrong chili. Kashmiri red is doing the color work, not the heat, and ordinary chili powder gives you neither.
- Take the optional step. Cool the sauteed onion, ginger and garlic, blend it, send it back into the kadai. That one move is the whole restaurant smoothness.
- Crush the kasuri methi between your palms as it goes in. The warmth wakes up the dried leaves and the gravy starts smelling like a dhaba.
- No cashews: Melon seeds or blanched almonds, soaked the same 10 minutes in hot water, grind into an equally creamy puree. Melon seeds stay the most neutral, almonds nudge it slightly sweet.
- Without the cream: Skip the 2 tablespoons of cream and grind a few extra soaked cashews into the tomato puree instead. The gravy stays plush and it will not split on you.
- Tofu instead of paneer: Firm tofu cubes in place of the 200 grams of paneer. Press them dry first so they hold their shape, and they soak up the masala just as happily.
- Cook the gravy a day ahead and stir the paneer in fresh while reheating. Paneer left sitting overnight in the gravy turns chewy.
- It thickens as it sits. Loosen it with hot water rather than cold, or the butter seizes and the gravy looks split.
- Freeze the gravy on its own for up to a month. Paneer goes crumbly in the freezer, so add the cubes after thawing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I really need the sugar?
One teaspoon, yes. It is not there to make the dish sweet, it is there to round off the sharpness of four tomatoes. Taste at the end and if the gravy still bites, that is the tomatoes talking, not the sugar.
Why does my paneer turn rubbery?
Heat and time. Keep the simmer gentle once the paneer is in and stop at the 10 minutes, because paneer tightens the longer it boils. If you are using store-bought paneer, sit the cubes in warm water while you make the gravy and they will stay soft.
Can I make paneer butter masala without cream?
You can. The cashews are already doing most of the richness, so grind in a few extra soaked ones and the gravy still comes out plush. The butter and the ghee finish carry the rest of the weight.
My gravy split and looks curdled. What went wrong?
Cream met heat that was too high. Add the cream along with the tomato-cashew puree and hold the flame at a gentle simmer, never a rolling boil. If it does split, take it off the heat, let it settle, and stir slowly to bring it back together.
How do I get that restaurant orange-red color and smooth gravy at home?
Two things do it. Kashmiri red chili powder brings the color without the heat, and the tomato-cashew puree has to simmer for the full 10 minutes to deepen. For the silk, use the optional step of blending the sauteed onion, ginger and garlic before the puree goes in.
