Paneer Butter Masala (Indian cottage cheese curry)
Feb 25th, 2009 | By Sowjanya | Category: All Recipes, Curries & Gravies, Paneer Recipes, Veg - Recipes 
This is one lip-smacking, finger licking north indian flavour that anyone would fall in love with. That velvetty gravy cooked with cubes of paneer and indian spices, garnished with coriander is sure going to be a treat for all those veggie lovers out there. The richness of this dish comes with the butter, cashewnut paste and tomatoes. Try this and I bet you’ll be surprised to see how easy you can make this dish that tastes just like the one you tasted at your favorite restaurant.Â
Ingredients:
250 gms paneer (about 24 cubes)
3 medium sized onionsÂ
2 tsp ginger-garlic paste
2 tsps red chilli powderÂ
4 ripe tomatoes
3 tbsps cashewnut (grind to smooth paste with little water)
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powderÂ
1/2 tsp kasuri methi (dry fenugreek leaves)
1 1/2 tsp  garam masala powderÂ
salt to taste
3 tbsps butter
2 pinches of orange food color
Coriander leaves for garnish
3 medium sized onionsÂ
2 tsp ginger-garlic paste
2 tsps red chilli powderÂ
4 ripe tomatoes
3 tbsps cashewnut (grind to smooth paste with little water)
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powderÂ
1/2 tsp kasuri methi (dry fenugreek leaves)
1 1/2 tsp  garam masala powderÂ
salt to taste
3 tbsps butter
2 pinches of orange food color
Coriander leaves for garnish
How to:
- Â In a saucepan, bring about 4 cups of water to boil. When the water starts dancing, gently drop in the onions, and tomatoes. Let them cook on high flame for 10 mts.
- Drain the water and let onions and tomatoes cool down. Once cool grind onions to smooth paste. Peel the skin of the tomatoes and grind to smooth paste separately. Set aside.
- Heat a tbsp of ghee and fry the paneer cubes to golden brown as shown in the picture.
- While the paneer fries, bring one cup of water to boil and switch the flame off. To this add the fried paneer cubes and let it sit for 5 mts in.
- In a pan/kadhai heat 3 tbps of butter on medium low flame. Add the onion paste to the butter, increase the flame to medium, and fry for 5 mts stirring frequently till the gravy starts turning brown in color and the raw smell disappears.
- Add ginger-galic paste and fry for another minute. Add chilli powder, turmeric, cashew nut paste, and salt to taste. Combine well.
- Add tomato puree, kasoori methi, coriander powder, garam masala. simmer the flame and let it cook for 4 mts.
- Add fried paneer, mix gently and let it cook for another 4 mts
- Now add 3/4 cup of water, and cook on medium flame till the gravy turns to a thick consistency. Check the salt and add if required.
- Add 3 tbps of water to the food color and mix it to the curry. cook for another minute or two before turning off the flame.
- Let it sit for atleast 10 minutes and garnish with freshly chopped coriander before serving.
- Serve hot with rotis, paranthas or naan or steamed white rice
Hey Sowjanya,
Paneer butter masala looks awsome…it wld be perfect with naan 🙂
Cheers,
Vishali
That’s my favorite combo. naan with paneer butter masala. Thanks for dropping by vishali.
awesome! great cooking tip and cool website. hope to see more dishes here 🙂
Thanks for dropping by santosh.
thank you for posting the above recipe.
sowjanya:
Greetings!
I made this curry yesterday for dinner and it came out really well. I was praised by all my family including my parents who came from India. But they don’t know that the credit goes to you. Thanks for such a wonderful recipe. Please post me how to make palak paneer when you get a chance.
cheers,
sravya
Sravya,
Happy to hear from you. Will surely post the recipe for palak paneer for you. I’m glad you liked the curry.
Wow……..Great
wow… it looks awsome…. will make it today…..for dinner…. and let u know the result….
hi, i like ur recipe’s, they r simple and tasty. tried out many of ur recipes and i get good compliments. thanks.
Thanks deepthi. I am happy you liked my recipes and oh, the compliments absolutely goes to your credit 🙂
I am a very new to cooking…how do you grind onions to a paste?- how do you ground anything to a paste?
Hi Chandini,
You can grind the onions to paste using a blender/food processor. Onions do not require water to make them to a paste. In this recipe, after you remove theo onions from water, roughly chop them and throw them in the grinder to make a smooth paste. Hope that helps.
Hai,
Sowjanya garu,
I’m from Bhimavaram, Andhra pradesh. I hope that u know this place.
I’m searching for andhra recipes from a long time. Atlast i really liked ur recipes. u r simply great.
Ur detailed explanation to everything is very good. Now i’m trying ur recipes. I want to try all of ur recipes. Now i got confidence that i can cook well by following ur recipes.
Can u please post the recipes for palak paneer, Curry masala powder.
Please.
hi sowjanya
i have tried out many of you recipes.all of them came out very well especially your hyderabadi dum biriyani . it would be of great help if you could post the recipe for the same with increased quantity of rice{1 kg}.
Hi Sowjanya,
I tried your recipe and it came very good! The stage by stage pics also helped me a lot in making sure that I am on right track.
Thanks a lot!!
Sowjanya,
Your pic’s are really tempting and forcing us to try the recipe. I liked your recipe for Mysore bonda. I’m gonna surely try it.
Thanks a ton 🙂 for your posts.
masala looks so colourful ..even the recipe looks so yummy