SHAHI LASOONI PANEER

 Hi all, it's winter break, and my kids are off, they wanted the day to be special. So I decided to make a dish with their favourite ingredient, Paneer. Now, you can find various versions of this dish, however, I decided to do my own, add my own touch to it. Kids loved it, we all enjoyed it so sharing it with you all. Here it goes, its called

SHAHI LASOONI (Garlic) PANEER

Now I gave it this title because the ingredients I used were such that, it had the touch of luxury in it. Shahi means royal and as the name suggests, there's a lot of lasoon (garlic) used in this.

INGREDIENTS

For Curry Paste

Garlic: About 5-8 pods

Ginger: 1 Tbsp chopped

Coriander seeds: 1/2 Tsp

Cardamom seeds: 2-3

Cinnamon stick: 1 small stick

Red chillies: 2 medium

Jeera: 1 Tsp

Turmeric powder: 1/4th tsp

Red Chilli powder: 1/2 Tsp

Jeera-Dhania powder: 1 Tsp

Onion: 1 medium 

Tomatoes: 1 big or 2 medium chopped

Cashew Nuts: 10-12 

Raisins: about 8-10

Turmeric powder: 1/4th Tsp

Red Chilli powder: 1/2 Tsp

Salt as required

Oil & ghee: 1 Tbsp

FOR GRAVY

Paneer: 1-2 cups cubed pieces

Onion: 1 medium finely chopped

Green Chilli: 1 thinly sliced or slit

Garlic: 1-2 pods thinly sliced

Ginger: 1 Thinly sliced

Salt as required

Curry paste (mentioned above)

Yoghurt: 1 cup

Cream: 1-2 Tbsp

Garam Masala: 1-2 Tsp

Kasuri Methi: 1 Tsp crushed

Oil & Ghee (1 Tbsp)

FOR TADKA 

Ghee: 1 Tsp

Garlic thinly sliced: 1-2 pods

Red chilli powder: 1/4th Tsp

                                        

Shahi Lasooni Paneer

MAKING

Although you may think, its such a long list of ingredients and tedious. Believe me, it wasn't. Once you had all the ingredients ready, it was simple. Take a pan, add some ghee & oil ( 1 Tbsp), add in the Jeera, once aromatic, add in the cardamom seeds, cinnamon stick, ginger-garlic, onions, tomatoes, red chillies, dhania seeds, Turmeric, red chilli powder, cashew nuts, raisins with enough salt and saute for about 5-8 minutes until the onion raw taste is gone and all the spices are well blended. Switch off the gas, once the mixture is cool, grind it into a nice paste consistency. Curry paste is ready, set it aside.

Now proceed to make the gravy. In the same pan, add some Ghee ( 1 Tbsp), add in some ginger garlic, 1 Green chilli, add in the onions, once golden brown, add in the curry paste that you made. Saute it for a few minutes in low flame, add in the cubed paneer, mix it well and again saute it for a couple of minutes before adding in the yoghurt. Mix it well, add salt and cook in low flame for about 4-5 minutes, add some Garam Masala, Kasuri Methi and fresh cream. Cook for a couple of minutes, switch off the gas.

Finally, take a tadka pan, add ghee, put in some sliced garlic, watch it turn brown, add a little bit of red chilli and pour the tadka onto the gravy.

Garnish it with fresh cream and freshly chopped coriander leaves. 

Delicious, Shahi Lasooni Paneer is ready to eat. Serve it hot with Rotis or Naans or paratha.

TIPS/VARIATIONS

You could add more cream to take off the heat.

The Gravy should be thick and creamy. The cashews and the raisins give a creamy consistency to the curry paste. When grinding, you could add some water but not too much, as we need a thicker paste consistency.

you could remove some ingredients if you want, like dry red chillies, cinnamon or dhania seeds. I added it as I like it spicy and flavorful.