Authentic Kadai Paneer Recipe for a Restaurant-Style Delight

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Cooking With Anadi

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This Kadai Paneer recipe will totally steal your heart! As I write this, I’m literally having leftovers from dinner last night and wow is it amazing! If you follow me on Instagram, then you saw that story of me enjoying leftovers for lunch! By the way, if you’re not following me on Instagram, then you definitely should so you can see sneak peeks for upcoming recipes and all of my kitchen experiments!

I can officially declare that Kadai Paneer is one of my favorite vegetarian dishes for sure! I’ve had it quite a few times at Indian restaurants and this version definitely reminds me of my wonderful experiences at the restaurants! This dish highlights a luscious creamy tomato gravy, soft chunks of paneer, and sautéed veggies, all paired with a wonderful spice blend that’s so aromatic and shines throughout!

Make sure to watch the video so you get a visual representation of how to make the dish from start to finish! I’ll show exactly how to cook the veggies, make the gravy, and how to prepare the spice mixture. If you’re not already, be sure to subscribe to me on YouTube so you’re updated when the corresponding recipe video is live! I love filming the recipes since I find watching the demonstration is a nice complement to the written recipe and you’re set up for success! Let’s get cooking!

Kadai Paneer vs. Paneer Tikka Masala

If you’ve seen my Paneer Tikka Masala recipe, you may see that the two recipes are very similar. Both dishes have peppers and onions in the gravy, both gravies are hearty and thick, and they really look identical! Are they interchangeable? Nope, there are subtle differences making them two separate dishes! The distinguishing factors between Kadai Paneer and Paneer Tikka Masala are:

• The paneer for Kadai Paneer is not skewered and broiled or grilled. The raw paneer is added directly to the curry.
• The main flavors from Kadai Paneer come from the homemade masala, called kadai masala. You’ll see how this is made in the recipe below.

Tools Needed

• Wok
• Mortar and pestle
• Wooden spoon
• Measuring spoons
• Garlic press
• Cutting board
• Chef's knife
• Plate

Ingredients for This Restaurant-Style Kadai Paneer Recipe

Let’s go over what we’ll need for our freshly ground kadai masala and for the curry itself. 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 let you choose the number of servings you want to make, so you can easily scale all of the ingredients for the curry and the amount of masala to make the appropriate amount! I definitely recommend making more rather than less, since I think you’ll want leftovers to relive this wonderful paneer dish!

For the Kadai Masala

• Coriander seeds
• Shahi jeera
• Fennel seeds
• Dried red chilies

For the Garnish

• Paneer
• Onions
• Green pepper
• Olive oil

For the Gravy

• Garlic, minced
• Garlic, julienned
• Tomatoes
• Kadai masala, as described above
• Deggi mirch
• Passata/strained tomatoes
• Kasoori methi
• Salt, to taste
• Honey
• Garam masala
• Cream

How to Prepare the Best Kadai Paneer Recipe

For the Kadai Masala

Add all of the whole spices to a pan on medium to medium high heat. Roast for 5-10 minutes or until the spices are aromatic and have browned slightly.

Let the spices cool for a few minutes and then transfer to a mortar and pestle or a spice grinder.

Grind to a coarse consistency and store in an air tight container.

To Finish the Kadai Paneer

Heat a wok on medium-high heat and add oil, sauté peppers and onion for 3-4 minutes. The veggies should get some color but should still remain crisp. Transfer veggies to a plate and reserve for garnish.

For the Gravy

In the same wok, add butter and rest of the oil, add cumin seeds and roast until they begin to change color and become aromatic.

Add the diced onions, pinch of salt and sauté until soft. Stir often to ensure the onions don’t get too brown. Add julienned ginger and minced garlic, cook until the rawness of the ginger and garlic has cooked out.

Add tomatoes, the juices released will help deglaze the pan. Cook for 1-2 minutes and add the kadai masala and deggi mirch. Mix well and cook until tomatoes are on the verge of breaking down.

Add passata and bring to a simmer on medium heat. Then, add in a pinch of salt and cook for 7 - 8 minutes, or until the sauce has reduced and is released from the pan easily. Stir occasionally to ensure sauce does not burn.

Add 1 Tbsp of honey. Mix well and taste, add more honey if you prefer the sauce to be sweeter. Cook for about 30 seconds

Add cream, mix well and toss in the paneer pieces and the sautéed veggies from step 1 and simmer for 1-2 minutes to achieve the desired consistency.

Serve hot and enjoy!

Tips for the Perfect Kadai Paneer

• Ensure to lightly saute the veggies and paneer in oil to par-cook the veggies.
• While preparing the homemade kadai spice, ensure to grind just enough to leave a coarse texture. This will add to the texture and flavor in the sauce.
• If you cannot find passata or pureed tomatoes, you can substitute with freshly pureed tomatoes, 1:1 volume.
• 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 for Kadai Paneer

The thick and chunky gravy of Kadai Paneer makes Rumali Roti an ideal bread to pair with the dish, since the paper-thin bread can be smothered with the spicy tomato masala and paneer. I would also recommend serving with Homemade Tandoori Naan or Punjabi Lachha Paratha!

If you want rice in addition to or in place of bread, here are my recommendations!

• Basmati Rice - Boiled or Steamed
• Light & Healthy Vegetable Rice Pulao
• Jeera Rice

What Goes Into This Kadai Masala — and What It Deliberately Leaves Out

The kadai masala is the whole point of this dish, so it is worth knowing exactly what is in it before you grind. Mine is five things: 3 tablespoons of coriander seeds, 2 tablespoons of shahi jeera, 6 green cardamoms, 1 tablespoon of fennel seeds and 4 dried red chilies. Those whole spices go into a dry pan on the stove over medium to medium-high heat for 5 to 10 minutes, until they are aromatic and have browned slightly. Those roasted spices are what give the blend its depth, and a kadai made with unroasted spices tastes raw and flat no matter how long you simmer the gravy.

Just as telling is what I leave out. There are no cloves and no black peppercorns in this blend, even though plenty of Indian cooking adds both to a kadai masala. There is no turmeric powder either — the color in this gravy comes from 1 teaspoon of deggi mirch, the mild Kashmiri-style red chili powder I reach for when I want a deep red without much heat. The amount of red chilies is the one dial I would actually tell you to touch: four gives a gentle warmth, and you can drop to two or push to six depending on who is at your table.

One more thing, and it matters: do not grind this to a fine powder. Take it to a coarse texture in a mortar and pestle or a spice grinder and stop there. That coarseness is something you feel in the finished sauce, and it makes a huge difference to how the dish eats. Store what you do not use in an airtight container — this curry only needs 1 1/2 tablespoons of it.

Kadai Paneer Swaps, Substitutions and Sourcing

A few honest swaps, in case your pantry does not match mine. Kadai simply means the deep, round pan the dish is cooked in, used all over India; I use a wok, and any wide, heavy pan will do the same job. What you want is surface area, so the veggies take on color in 3 to 4 minutes instead of steaming. For the gravy I use 1 tablespoon of oil and 1 tablespoon of butter. Ghee works beautifully in place of both if you want a rounder, nuttier base, and it is the more traditional choice in Indian cuisine.

I do not use ginger garlic paste here, and that is deliberate. One tablespoon of minced garlic and 2 tablespoons of ginger juliennes go in fresh, and those ginger strips stay visible in the finished sabzi the way they do at a restaurant. Cook them until the raw smell has gone before the tomatoes go in. If a jarred paste is genuinely what you have, use about a tablespoon and add it once the onions have softened.

Passata is nothing more exotic than strained tomato puree. If you cannot find it, chop tomatoes and puree them fresh, 1:1 by volume — the recipe uses 300 ml. Green pepper is what I use for the garnish, which is the same thing as capsicum, and red or yellow peppers work if that is what is in the fridge. And if you are cooking for someone who avoids dairy, firm tofu, pressed and cut into 1-inch cubes, stands in for the 250 g of paneer without changing the method at all, since the gravy is what carries this popular paneer recipe. Whichever you use, the rule for cooking paneer is the same one I follow across all my paneer recipes: keep the final simmer gentle and give it 1 to 2 minutes, no more, or the cubes tighten up and go rubbery.