Shahi Paneer is a rich and luscious dish that uses chunks of Indian cottage cheese, nuts and a creamy gravy base. Serve this with Rotis, Naan or any rice of your choice.
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What is Shahi Paneer?
Shahi paneer is a curry fit for royalty as the name suggests. Shahi refers to Mughals and this is a Mughalai dish that uses a mix of rich ingredients.
We are not big fans of onion tomato gravy based paneer dishes. Somehow, i find it too sweet or too sour when i order them at a restaurant. But Shahi paneer is something we all love.
There are many versions of this popular Paneer dish. Some recipes call for adding yogurt while others use cream. Certain versions dont use tomatoes too.
The shallow fried cubes of paneer swathed in that rich , smooth and silky gravy is a treat indeed.
However, making shahi paneer is a bit time consuming. But it is worth the effort. Any number of efforts is worth this decadence.
Ingredients
- A spice powder – that uses aromatic Indian spices including peppercorns, star anise and black cardamom. Our recipe begins with the prep work for this ground spice mix.
- Onion and tomatoes – are used for creating the body for this dish.
- Aromatics like ginger and garlic along with other spices
- Cashews – for richness. (check variations for more substitute ideas)
- Paneer – you can use both low fat and regular fat paneer for this dish.
- Milk – to adjust consistency and add a subtle hint of sweet.
Variations
- Cashews can easily be substituted with soaked pumpkin or melon seeds. Almonds are a great substitute here too.
-
Vegan Shahi Paneer – Non dairy milk like soy or almond milk will work great here as well.If you want to make this a completely vegan recipe, then use tofu instead of paneer, add non dairy milk or soy cream and use oil as the fat for frying.
- You can also use vegetables like potatoes, peas, carrots, cauliflowers, green beans and mushrooms to make mixed Shahi vegetable curry.
Leftovers, storage and shelf life
- Leftover Shahi Paneer can be stored for upto 1 day in the fridge and for 2 week in the deep freezer.
- Another easier option will be to just make the Shahi gravy and freeze this in soup containers. Whenever you want to make this dish, thaw the gravy, add the fried paneer cubes and your dish will be ready.
- If you want to freeze this curry, I recommend not adding paneer to it. You can add the paneer just before serving.
Success Tips
- Black pepper is what makes this velvety curry a delight. Please dont skip any of the spices mentioned in this recipe.
- I recommend adding Roma tomatoes or tomatoes that are slightly sweet for this recipe. Tangy tomatoes do not work as well here.
- Personally, I prefer adding cream or milk. You can use yogurt in a pinch but there is always the risk of the gravy curdling when yogurt is used.
- How to cut the Paneer for this? – thick chunks that are cubes is what we need here. We need to create some surface area to make the frying even and quick. For this reason, thick cubes of paneer or thick but 1 inch rectangular slabs of paneer are better here.
More Paneer Recipes
Directions
Dry roast all spices in a pan until fragrant. Let cool and grind to a smooth powder. Set aside.
Heat a pan with 1 tbsp oil. Add paneer cubes and fry till golden on all sides. Turn them over using tongs and do this on low flame. Drain and set aside.
Heat the same pan with 2 tsp oil. Add cashews and fry till golden. Drain. Add garlic and ginger. Fry till garlic begins to brown.
Add the onions and fry till pink. Let cool. Add this to a blender along with the cashews. Blend to a smooth paste.
Heat the same pan. Add 1 tbsp oil. Bring down flame to medium and the ground paste. Now cook this till it becomes a light brown color.
Do not leave the gravy unattended. It will burn. Keep stirring while this cooks.
Once it changes color, add the ground masala and the remaining spice powders and mix well. Cook for 2 mins.
By now you will see that the gravy has become a thick paste and also reduced in volume.
Add tomato puree and continue to cook till raw smell of tomato goes away. Takes 4 -5 mins. Once done add salt and sugar. Mix well.
Once done, add the milk and stir to combine. Add paneer cubes at this stage, mix and simmer for 2 mins on low flame.
Your Shahi Paneer is now ready.
Shahi Paneer Recipe| Side Dish For Flatbreads
Equipment
- 1 3 qt deep frying pan
- 1 Blender
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups Paneer cubes
- 1/2 cup Milk
- 1 cup finely chopped Onions
- 1 cup Tomato Puree I recommend using Roma Tomatoes
- 1 inch Ginger minced
- 1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
- 1/2 tsp Chili powder
- 8 Cashews
- Salt to taste
- 1 tsp Sugar
- 3 tbsp Ghee or oil
- 1 tbsp Coriander leaves for garnish
- To roast and grind:
- 7 White pepper corns
- 1/2 inch Cinnamon stick
- 2 cloves
- 1 Bay leaf torn
- 1/2 Star anise
- 1 pod black cardamom discard peel
Instructions
- Dry roast all spices in a pan until fragrant. Let cool and grind to a smooth powder. Set aside.
- Heat a pan with 1 tbsp oil. Add paneer cubes and fry till golden on all sides. Turn them over using tongs and do this on low flame. Drain and set aside.
- Heat the same pan with 2 tsp oil. Add cashews and fry till golden. Drain.
- Add ginger.
- Add the onions and fry till pink. Let cool. Add this to a blender along with the cashews. Blend to a smooth paste.
- Heat the same pan. Add 1 tbsp oil. Bring down flame to medium and the ground paste.
- Now cook this till it becomes a light brown color. Do not leave the gravy unattended. It will burn. Keep stirring while this cooks.
- Once it changes color, add the ground masala and the remaining spice powders and mix well. Cook for 2 mins.
- Now, add tomato puree and continue to cook till raw smell of tomato goes away. Takes 4 -5 mins. Once done add salt and sugar. Mix well.
- Once done, add the milk and mix well.
- Add paneer cubes at this stage, mix and simmer for 2 mins on low flame.
- Your Shahi Paneer is now ready.
For Instant Pot & Air Fryer Recipes
Instant Pot timings may vary based on your geographic location. Air fryer settings and timings may vary based on the capacity and the model of the Air fryer.
Disclaimer
Nutrition values are provided here as a courtesy and are only a rough guide. Please consult a health care provider if you have any concerns.
Roshni says
looks perfect like a professional chef
Priya Sreeram says
love this version too ! good one anusha
Priya says
Irresistible shahi paneer,super tempting..
Aruna Manikandan says
looks delicious 🙂
Avika J Chawla says
Looks tempting n delicious..paneer is my all time fav