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If you’re looking for a special dinner inside, then this recipe has got you covered! It’s extremely quick to make but this exciting paneer recipe will certainly give you restaurant quality results right from home! Enjoy soft cubes of paneer enveloped in a rich and creamy gravy with your favourite bread and/or rice! This is truly a divine vegetarian dish, and I’m sure you and your family will love this for an incredible meal!
This recipe will show you exactly how to make the shahi sauce and recreate this classic restaurant dish easily at home. I recommend that you watch the recipe YouTube video so you get a visual representation of how to make the dish from start to finish! The video will show all the steps and break everything down so you’re set up for success! If you’re not already subscribed to me on YouTube, I definitely recommend that you do, and don’t forget to hit the bell icon next to the subscribe button! Hitting the bell will notify you when the video recipe will be released, complementing all of my written recipes! I love to record the recipes to give a tangible demonstration and really ensure that you’re all set to create some amazing restaurant-quality food at home! Let’s get cooking!
What is shahi paneer?▼
If you’re new, paneer is described as “Indian cottage cheese” in English. I always warn folks that this is a very loose and poor translation, but I suppose there’s no other way to describe paneer! If you can’t find paneer near you, then please don’t substitute for actual cottage cheese. I did that early on in Canada and I instantly regretted it!
Paneer is a fresh cheese that is widely consumed as a vegetarian protein source in India. It is made from whole milk and either buttermilk, lemon or lime, or vinegar. Paneer comes from boiling the milk and extracting the curds. These curds are actually referred to as chenna, and if you stop at this stage, you can use the chenna to enjoy with some buttery toast and tomato chutney for breakfast, or use it in desserts! You can learn more by checking out my chenna recipe!
Otherwise, to make paneer, a cheesecloth is used to extract the moisture, and we press down on it so it’s a solid block. There you go, paneer! You can check out how to make Fresh Homemade Paneer in my recipe, or you can find paneer in the frozen section grocery stores or your local South Asian grocery store. Lots of people have written to me saying they can’t find paneer anywhere, so you’ll have to make it yourself. I’ve actually used a combination of homemade paneer and store-bought paneer for this recipe - I’m using both because I didn’t have enough of my own paneer for the recipe! I typically use store-bought paneer for the sake of convenience.
This dish translates directly to “paneer for royalty.” That name sure sounds accurate to me, and when you give this a try, I’m sure you’ll agree! This recipe originates from Mughlai cuisine. From around the 1400s to 1800s, the Mughals ruled India, and their cuisine consisted of rich dishes that often incorporated nuts and warm spices. For instance, other Indian staple dishes that were inspired from Mughlai cuisine include the essential Murgh Makhani, commonly known as “Butter Chicken”, and the vegetarian complement, Paneer Makhani. The shahi gravy is made with yogurt, onions, cashews, and saffron.
The recipe I’ll be sharing today is a modern take from the original paneer Mughlai recipe, and this is the type of paneer you’ll see served in restaurants, even in India. The old-style Mughlai shahi gravy recipe has no tomatoes, and is only made with onions, yogurt, saffron and cashews, in addition to more aromatic spices. The more common shahi gravy recipe includes tomatoes and has minimal spices, giving it a more mild taste and the iconic vibrant orange colour. You’ll note that this gravy resembles the familiar colour of Punjabi curries, however, the Mughlai paneer has a white gravy. The original Mughlai paneer and the Punjabi version look and taste quite different!
Why Make This Royal Paneer Recipe
Here’s why you need to make this amazing recipe!
- Quick to prepare
- A luscious creamy and rich gravy
- Warm and hearty
- Make-ahead friendly
- Mild in flavor and not spicy at all
- More cost-effective making it at home than ordering out!
Shahi Paneer Ingredients
To make the most amazing paneer dish at home, we need a couple of special ingredients. However, no worries! The ingredient list overall isn’t too long, and you probably have a lot of these on hand already! For all measurements with the full ingredient list, make sure to scroll to the bottom of this post for the FULL PRINTABLE RECIPE CARD, so you can save this recipe for later! The recipe card will also allow you to adjust the number of servings, so whether it’s a romantic dinner for two or a family feast, you’ll know how much of everything you’ll need without having to do any calculations yourself!
- Paneer: Use either fresh homemade paneer or packaged paneer. I’ll be cutting mine into small rectangles.
- Nuts: I’m using a combination of cashews and almonds. If you’re allergic to cashews, feel free to just use onions. You can omit the nuts completely if you or someone you’re cooking for is allergic to all nuts, and simply omit them and add more cream and/or yogurt to compensate for the texture.
- Ghee: Used to sauté the ingredients to make the gravy. You could use oil or butter if you’d like, but I love the flavor that comes from ghee.
- Whole spices: Mace and green cardamom pods to add aroma and flavor. These will be blended up to make a smooth gravy.
- Essentials: Ginger, garlic, and thinly sliced onions.
- Tomatoes: I’ll be using passata/strained tomatoes for this recipe, adding the tomatoes in after our spices and essential ingredients have sautéed.
- Yogurt: Use plain yogurt. This and the cream are the main components to achieve a thick and smooth gravy.
- Deggi Mirch: One of my favourite spices to add a natural red colour to the dish.
- Saffron: While it can be an investment, a little bit will go a long way here!
- Kasoori methi: For garnish to finish our dish.
- salt: Adjust as needed.
- 10% Cream: Add as needed to reach a vibrant orange colour and to make the gravy smooth and velvety.
How to Make Shahi Paneer
Add the cashews and almonds in a bowl, along with 1/2 Cup of warm or hot water. Let them soak for at least 15-20 minutes.
Heat a pan on medium heat and add ghee or butter. Strain out the cashews and almonds from the water. Once hot, add the mace, green cardamoms, cashews, almonds, green chillies and sliced onions.
Mix well and sauté until the onions have completely softened and the mixture is fragrant, about 10-15 minutes.
Add the passata, 1 tsp salt, 1 heaping Tbsp deggi mirch and mix well. Cook for 5-10 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened slightly. Stir occasionally to ensure the sauce doesn't burn.
In the meanwhile, add the yogurt to a bowl and whisk for 15-20 seconds. Add 3-4 spoonfuls of the tomato mixture to the yogurt and whisk that into the yogurt. Add the yogurt mixture into the sauce and mix well.
Transfer the mixture to a food processor and puree until the mixture is completely smooth. Optionally, you can strain this sauce using a fine mesh sieve.
Add the sauce back to the pan and bring it to a gentle simmer. Add cream and a few strands of saffron and mix well. Add the cubes of paneer and simmer the gravy gently until the paneer is warmed through and soft.
Adjust the consistency of the sauce by adding more cream. Garnish with kasoori methi and serve hot with your favourite bread or pulao.
Tips for Amazing Restaurant-Style Paneer
- If you cannot find passata or pureed tomatoes, you can substitute with freshly pureed tomatoes, 1:1 volume.
- Use plain or Balkan yogurt and not Greek yogurt in this dish.
- You may try adding some sweetness to this dish with some sugar or honey. Personally, the sweetness from the cashews, almonds and saffron was enough for me.
- While you can use heavy cream instead of 10% table cream, you might need to use some water to dilute the sauce if it has thickened too much.
Serving Suggestions
As shown in the pictures and in the video I served my paneer with Punjabi Lachha Paratha. This is one of my special breads, and I don’t make it often enough! I just love the flaky layers, and this was such a wonderful combo. I would also recommend Rumali Roti! Rumali roti translates to “handkerchief roti” because it’s shaped like a handkerchief and it’s super thin! That’s perfect to mop up all the bread! Of course you can’t go wrong with Homemade Tandoori Naan, it’s a classic! If you’re in a pinch for time, my One-Hour Cast Iron Naan is the perfect solution and it’s just as delicious as the traditional naan bread recipe!
Feeling like some rice in addition to or instead of bread? Then I’ve got you covered with these recipes!
This royal curry is even better with homemade paneer — soft, fresh, and worth the few extra minutes.
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