What a delicious fucking curry! As with most curries it's the perfect blend of savoury, spicy, rich, and just a touch sweet. And with paneer (cheese), it's even more indulgent and pleasurable. This curry has a ton of different ingredients (mostly spices), but it comes together in about 45 minutes and taste fucking great. And I mean, it contains about 300 g paneer, what could go wrong??
There is also a video tutorial (not in English but has subtitles) here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHT8LUqIBLk
The recipe is here, and pictures of the process are below:
Ingredients:
Sauce Base:
1 Tbsp. oil
2 green cardamom pods
2 cloves
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 2-3 inch diameter red onion, roughly diced (130 g) (about 1 1/2 cups)
2 roma tomatoes, cubed (250 g) (about 2 cups)
1-2 roughly chopped Thai green chili(s) (deseeded if preferred)
15 raw cashews (20 g)
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. Kashmiri chili powder
Sauce additions:
2 Tbsp. oil
2 Tbsp. butter
2 minced garlic cloves (about 1 tsp.)
1/2 inch minced ginger (about 1 tsp.)
1 1/2 tsp. Kashmiri chili powder
1 tsp. coriander powder
1/2 tsp. turmeric
3/4 tsp. garam masala
1/2 cup water
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. fenugreek leaves
1 Tbsp. cream
1/2 cup grated paneer (about 40-50 g)
250 g Paneer, cut into cubes (about 1 1/2 cups)
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
Note: if you want to make this a little healthier you can switch out some of the cubed paneer for some lightly fried onions or other vegetables, chickpeas, tofu etc. The sauce is where most of the flavor comes from so substitutions are fine!
Directions:
Sauce base:
Heat 1 Tbsp oil in a non-stick pan on medium heat. Add the cloves, cardamom, and cumin seeds. Then add the onion, chili pepper and mix together.
Tun the heat up to medium-high.
Add in the tomatoes, cashews and mix together. Cook about 2 minutes.
Then add in salt, chili powder. Cover and cook until tomatoes are soft (about 3-5 minutes).
Blend into a smooth paste and set aside.
Sauce additions:
In the same pan heat to medium heat the oil and butter until melted. Add in garlic and ginger, cooking and stirring, about 1 minute.
Mix in 1 1/2 tsp. chili powder.
Then immediately pour in the paste and mix in. Add the 1 tsp. coriander, 1/2 tsp. turmeric, 3/4 tsp. garam masala.
Fill the blender cup with 1/2 cup water, shake to release extra paste, and add this to the curry sauce. Mix well. Then cook about 1 minute, stirring.
Add 1/4 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. sugar, and 1 tsp. fenugreek leaves, mix well. Cover and cook 2-3 minutes on medium-high heat.
Then add the cream and grated paneer, mix well.
Then add the paneer pieces (and a little more water if the sauce is thick) and cook 3-5 more minutes.
Then mix in about 2 Tbsp. fresh chopped cilantro and serve! I serve with any Indian flatbread (roti, paratha, naan etc.)
2-3 servings.
Almost all the ingredients. Except the garlic, ginger, and sugar because I forgot to include them in this picture...
Sauce Base:
Sauce base:Add the cardamom, cloves, and cumin to the oil.
Mix in the onion and chili peppers
Add in the tomatoes and cashews and cook about 2 minutes.
Then add in the salt and kashmiri chili powder. Then mix on and cook for about 3 minutes on higher heat.
After softening. Now it's time to blend! (You can let this mixture cool down first).
Blend what you just cooked until it forms a smooth paste. Set aside.
Sauce Additions:
Start frying garlic and ginger in a mix of butter and oil for about 60 seconds.
Mix in chili powder quickly.
Then pour in the paste you made earlier.
Mix together well and add coriander, turmeric, adn garam masala.
Mix in the spices with 1/2 cup water (i added water I first shook in my blender cup to get any residual paste out). Cook about 1 minute.
THen add in your sugar, salt (optional), and fenugreek seeds. Then you'll cover and cook for 2-3 minutes on high. It will splatter so definitely cover it.
After cooking more, add in the shredded paneer and some heavy cream.
After mixing in the gated paneer and cream add the cubed paneer. You'll mix this in d cook for another 3-5 minutes, covered.
After that add in the cilantro and mix in.
And it's done!
You can garnish to make it purty.
UFFDA