Paneer masala
A healthy paneer masala recipe with tons of hidden veggies
Equipment
- Pressure cooker/ Instapot
- Kadhai/ wide saucepan
Ingredients
- 200 gm fresh/frozen paneer
- 1 medium sized onion sliced
- 2 medium sized tomatoes cubed
- 1 large carrot
- 10-12 cashewnut
- 3-4 pods of garlic
- 5-6 black peppercorns
- 1 stick of cinnamon
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tsp kashmiri chilli powder
- 1 tbsp garam masala powder
- 0.5 tsp honey
- 2 tbsp oil
Instructions
- Add the tomatoes, onions, carrots, cashew nuts and garlic to a pressure cooker/instapot and cook till soft (3 whistles is a pressure cooker/ 8-10 minutes in Instapot). Allow the cooker to cool down.
- Grind the cooled vegetables and cashew nuts to a smooth paste. Reserve the water in which the vegetables were boiled for use later.
- Heat a saucepan with 2 tbsp of oil or butter. Add the black pepper, cinnamon and bay leaf. Once the spices release their aromas, pour in the vegetable puree.
- Cook on low-medium flame with some reserved water from the cooked vegetables. Once the gravy starts to simmer, add the Kashmiri chilli powder or paprika and garam masala.
- Bring the gravy to a simmer. Add the honey and salt to taste. You may shallow fry the paneer before adding it or just add it directly.
- Simmer for another 1-2 minutes, just long enough to heat the paneer through.
- Turn off the flame and serve the healthiest paneer masala recipe piping hot!
Notes
Variations:
Add other vegetables in place of or in addition to paneer - mushrooms, peas, baby corn, and sweetcorn.
Separately roast cubed onions, capsicum and mushrooms till slightly charred and add to the gravy. Add a tbsp of dried kasoori methi/fenugreek leaves at the end to finish off with a nice flavour.