Paneer lababdar is a scrumptious restaurant style curry dish. Here grated and cubed paneer is added into rich, creamy and super flavorful onion-tomato gravy.
1teaspoonKasoori methi (Dried fenugreek leaves)crushed before added
2tablespoonsButter
¼cupHeavy whipping cream or fresh cream or malai
Instructions
Soak the cashew nuts in hot water for 15 minutes. Make a smooth paste out of it and keep it aside.
Heat the oil in a pan on medium heat. Once hot add whole spices (cloves, cinnamon, bay leaf, green cardamoms, black cardamom and mace) and saute for a minute or until you get a nice aroma of the spices.
Add chopped onion and cook until they turn light brown.
Add ginger garlic paste. Mix and saute for 40-60 seconds or until the raw smell of ginger garlic goes away.
Add pureed tomato and slit green chili. Mix and cook until all the moisture evaporates and it becomes like a thick paste. In the beginning, it may splutter a lot. So partially cover the pan with a lid and stir in between to make sure that it is not sticking to the bottom of the pan. Once it stops spluttering, you can remove the lid and continue cooking.
Add salt, red chili powder, coriander powder and cumin powder. Mix and cook for a minute.
Add cashew nut paste. Mix and cook for a minute.
Add water and let the gravy simmer on medium-low for 5 minutes.
Taste the gravy and add sugar accordingly.
Add garam masala and crushed kasoori methi. Mix well.
Add paneer cubes and grated paneer. Mix and let the mixture come to a boil.
Add butter and heavy cream. Mix and cook until butter is melted. Paneer lababdar is ready to serve.
Notes
Keep the paneer cubes in warm water until you are ready to use them. This way paneer absorbs some water and becomes soft. Skip this if using a homemade one.
Avoid using unripe tomatoes. They make the gravy sour. Try to use ripe Roma or plum tomatoes.
I highly recommend using Roma tomatoes when it comes to the Indian gravy dishes,. Stay away from the beefsteaks or wine-ripe tomatoes which make sour gravy.
Adjust the amount of sugar, as per the tanginess of the paneer lababdar gravy. If the tomatoes are less sour then you may need to reduce the sugar amount.
Do not simmer the gravy longer after adding paneer otherwise, paneer will get chewy and overcooked.
Instead of adding butter at the end of cooking, you can add a dollop of soft butter to the curry right before serving.