Shahi paneer. Create a cozy dinner with this easy to make creamy paneer curry recipe. Load up the sauce with classic spices, tomatoes, cashews, cream, herbs and deliciously soft paneer. Top with more coriander leaves, and pair with your favorite side for restaurant-worthy dinner at home.
Sometimes a cozy weeknight meal calls for a luxurious touch that brings in restaurant vibes at home so you never have to leave your comfort zone. This restaurant favorite features soft paneer, rich and creamy sauce and all the deliciousness you can squeeze into a curry. From making the best base sauce to adding the final garnish, I have uncovered the secret to making the best paneer curry to help you recreate one of my favorite classics.
While the sauce is a basic tomato mix consisting of whole spices, onions, tomatoes, ginger, garlic, green chilies and coriander stems, the curry also gets a spice infusion from ground spices like turmeric, coriander, cumin and red chili powder at a later stage. The dish is picture-perfect as well as loaded with flavors. The cashews are a key element in this recipe making the sauce creamy and packed with flavor. Other elements that make this dish uniquely delicious: the combo of spicy tomatoes and cream, the aroma of fenugreek leaves and good quality paneer, plus the wide array of fragrant spices.
Key Ingredients In Shahi Paneer
- Paneer or Indian cottage cheese - Curries made with this ‘no-melt’ cheese are very popular in Indian cuisine.
- Cashew nuts - The essential creamy addition to this curry.
- Whole spices - This includes cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, bay leaf and cumin seeds.
- Powdered spices - Spices like ground turmeric, ground cumin, red chili powder and ground coriander are added to the curry sauce.
- Tomatoes - These can be in the form of canned or fresh diced tomatoes.
- Cream - These tomato mixture combines with cream to create the best sauce ever.
How To Make Shahi Paneer
Make the creamy tomato based sauce - Start with sauteing the whole spices followed by diced onions. The onions will turn soft in about 2-3 minutes. At this stage, you can add in tomatoes in the form of canned or fresh tomatoes.
When they are cooked and turn mushy, add a few coriander stems, and cook again. Now, you can purée this mixture alongside some soaked cashew nuts. The purée should be really smooth.
Make the creamy curry - This classic curry falls into the category of ‘rich’ dishes, so we’ll start with melting some butter followed by lightly stir frying the ground spices. This includes coriander, cumin, chili powder and turmeric.
Next, the tomato purée goes in. Give this a quick simmer, and then add cream and water to make the sauce. Cook paneer in this sauce. The curry also gets a beautiful green garnish from chopped coriander (cilantro) leaves.
Shahi Paneer
Ingredients
Sauce:
- 10 cashew nuts
- 2 teaspoons oil
- 1 bay leaf
- 3 cloves
- 2 green cardamom pods
- 2 cm cinnamon stick
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 onion diced
- 3 garlic cloves roughly chopped
- 2 cm fresh ginger chopped
- 2 green chilies chopped
- 1 cup canned tomatoes or 2 tomatoes diced
- ¼ cup coriander (cilantro) stems
Curry:
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 2 teaspoons oil
- ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon red chili powder
- ½ cup heavy or thickened cream
- 1 teaspoon dried fenugreek leaves kasuri methi
- 600 g paneer or Indian cottage cheese, cut into cubes
- 2 tablespoons chopped coriander (cilantro) leaves
- 1 cup water
- Salt to taste
Garnish:
- Coriander cilantro leaves
- 1 tablespoon fresh cream
To serve:
- Rice paratha, naan or roti
Instructions
Make sauce:
- Soak cashew nuts in warm water for about 10 minutes.
- Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat.
- Add bay leaf, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon stick and cumin seeds. Saute, stirring, for about 1 minute or until fragrant.
- Add onions. Saute, stirring occasionally, for about 2-3 minutes or until soft and translucent.
- Add garlic, ginger, green chilies, tomatoes and coriander stems. Saute, stirring occasionally, for about 2-3 minutes or until the tomatoes are cooked and mushy.
- Remove from heat. Allow to cool completely.
- Add to a food processor alongside cashew nuts. Grind to a smooth paste.
Make the curry:
- Heat butter and oil in the same pan.
- Add turmeric, cumin, coriander and red chili powder. Saute, stirring, for about 1 minute or until fragrant.
- Add tomato-spice paste. Stir to combine. Season with salt.
- Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes.
- Add cream, water and fenugreek leaves. Stir to combine.
- When the mixture starts to boil, add paneer. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 3-4 minutes. Add more water if required.
- Stir in coriander (cilantro) leaves. Heat through.
Garnish and serve:
- Garnish with coriander (cilantro) leaves. Drizzle with fresh cream.
- Serve with rice, paratha, naan or roti.
Video
Notes
- More spices - Add 1 black cardamom to the whole spices if you like. It’s totally optional.
Nutrition
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Anonymous says
nina says
Followed the recipe and just turned out perfect.
Sunaina says
Absolutely love the creamy paneer curry from restaurants, so can’t wait to try this!