Recipe- Try Dhaba Style Paneer At Home

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.