| Cashew paste |
- 10-12 cashew nuts
- ¼ cup hot water
|
- Soak the cashew nuts in hot water for 15-20 minutes.
|
| Saffron-cream mixture |
- ½ cup heavy whipping cream or fresh cream or malai (warm)
- 6-7 strands saffron crushed
|
- Warm up the heavy cream in the microwave for a few seconds. Take few saffron strands, crush and add to the warm cream. Mix and keep it aside.
|
| Boiled onion paste |
- 2 tbsp oil
- 2 small red onion roughly chopped
- 2-3 green chili roughly chopped
- 1 tbsp ginger paste
- 6 peppercorn
- 1 tbsp ginger minced
- 1 tbsp garlic paste
- 5-6 cloves
- 8-10 green cardamoms
- ½ inch cinnamon stick
- ⅓ cup water
|
- Mix all the ingredients in a saucepan. Turn the heat on medium. Let it cook for 8-10 minutes or till the onions become soft. Let it cool down.
|
| Tomato paste |
- 2 medium or 1¼ cups tomatoes chopped and pureed
|
- Make a puree with the tomatoes.
|
| Other ingredients |
- The three purées
- 200g paneer cut into triangles or cubes
- 1 tbsp ghee
- 1½ tsp kashmiri red chili powder
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- a pinch turmeric powder
- ½ tsp sugar
- 1 cup water
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp kasoori methi (dried fenugreek leaves) lightly crushed
- ⅛ tsp green cardamom seeds powder
- 2 tbsp fresh coriander
- Saffron-cream mixture
- 🧂 salt to taste
|
- Now make three kinds of purées in the following order: First, make cashew paste. Then grind cooked onion into a fine paste and then grind roughly chopped tomatoes into a puree.
- Heat the ghee in a pan on medium heat. Once hot, sieve and add the prepared onion paste. Cook with stirring occasionally till it comes thick. It may take around 5-6 minutes.
- Now add the tomato puree and salt. Mix, cook till all the moisture evaporated and it becomes a thick paste. So stir in between and make sure that it is not sticking to the sides and bottom of the pan. If it is spluttering too much then you can partially cover the pan.
- Now add the red chili powder, coriander powder and turmeric powder. Mix well and cook for a minute.
- Now mix in the cashew paste, water, and sugar. Simmer for 5-6 minutes. Do stir in between.
- Now add garam masala and kasoori methi (crushed between your palm). Mix well. See notes.
- Add paneer cubes. Mix and simmer for 1-2 minutes.
- Now add saffron-cream mixture. Mix and let it come to a simmer.
- Lastly, add cardamom powder and turn off the stove. See notes.
- Stir well and add shahi paneer. See notes.
- Garnish witch coriander leaves.
|
| 📝 Notes |
- Cardamom powder must be added at the end of the cooking process. After adding, do not boil or simmer the gravy otherwise it loses its aroma.
- You should not simmer for longer after adding paneer pieces. Otherwise, paneer will get chewy.
- Always crush kasoori methi between your palm before adding. By doing so, it releases its flavor at most. Sometimes, kasoori methi catches up moisture (if living in a humid climate) and you cannot crush into powder. In that case, toast it into the microwave for 45 seconds. Let cool down and then crush.
|
| Sources |
|
|