Ok, I know I've been posting about paneer quite a lot recently, but this one might be the best curry experiment I've done to date so I really wanted to share it with you. Coming up to the festive season, you can easily substitute the paneer for any leftover Christmas dinner meat , and there's nothing that beats a homemade turkey curry in the run up to the new year.
My 30-Minute Paneer Makhani is a really quick one to pull together, and doesn't need to sit to build flavour. It's rich, creamy, and the heat level can be easily moderated, depending on who you are cooking for. I also highly recommend holding back a little bit of uncooked paneer and a cup of the curry sauce to turn into flatbread pizzas the next day; we topped ours with a little cheese and fresh coriander before grilling and they were so tasty!! Hope you enjoy this one as much as I do, and that it's a useful one to fall back on over the festive period.
INGREDIENTS (Serves 3-4)
300-400g paneer (we usually get two blocks and hold some back for pizzas!)
3 tablespoons of ghee (or rapeseed oil if you don't have it)
3 cardamom pod, whole
2 cloves
1 small cinnamon stick
3 cloves of garlic
1 white onion
1 tablespoon ginger paste
x2 teaspoons kashmiri chilli powder (this gives it a nice red colour but if you don't have any then normal chilli powder will work ok. This is where the heat comes from so if you'd prefer a milder sauce, reduce the amount slightly)
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon coriander
1 teapsoon garam masala
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
Carton of passata plus 1 tablespoon of tomato puree
Approx 100ml of double cream (you can add a little more if you want it more creamy)
Optional serving extras:
Fresh coriander, chopped
Mango chutney
Naan bread
DIRECTIONS
Heat the ghee in the pan, then add the whole spices (cinnamon, cloves and cardamon) and leave to fry for 2 minutes.
Add the chopped onion, and sauté for five minutes. Then add the ginger paste and garlic and cook for another 2 minutes.
Next add the dried spices - the kashmiri chilli powder, turmeric, ground coriander, garam masala -and salt. Give it a good mix then leave to cook out for another 2 minutes. After this point, take out the cardamon, cinnamon stick and cloves as you don't want to blend them later on.
Add the tomato puree and passata and cook on a low heat for 5 minutes. If you aren't able to use a hand mixer in the pan you're using (like us as we don't want to scratch the dutch oven!), carefully pour the contents of the pan into a large jug and use a hand mixer to blend into a thick sauce.
Carefully pour the sauce back into the pan and leave on a low heat.
Shortly before you are ready to eat, pour the double cream into the sauce. We usually use around 100ml, but if you want to make it really creamy you can add a little more.
Finally, chop the paneer into cubes and either do a quick shallow fry then add to the sauce or put the paneer straight into the pan as it is and cook for 3-4 minutes. It's fine to do this either way, depending on what texture you prefer.
Serve up with a wedge of naan bread and top with fresh coriander.
And that's it, my easy 30-Minute Paneer Makhani. As ever if you give this one a try, do let me know, and don't forget to snap a picture and tag me on instagram or twitter.