A paneer curry with a refreshing flavour of a peanut and buttermilk gravy and garnished with lots of coriander leaves
Table of Contents
This Paneer Curry is a semi gravy curry made with paneer and capsicum. It goes great with rotis, parathas or as a side sabji with rice and dal.
The gravy base used is a combination of peanut powder, coriander leaves and buttermilk. Most of us almost always use onions and tomatoes in a gravy base, and if you are looking for a change, this recipe is for you.
This makes for a fantastic side dish for rotis in your tiffin box.
Ingredients for the paneer curry
The principal ingredients for the gravy base are – Peanuts, buttermilk and coriander leaves. This forms the base of the curry.
Paneer and capsicum are the two ingredients that I have chosen to add to this gravy base. You can choose to add diced onions, diced tomatoes or just capsicum as well. You can pick any coloured capsicum. Red and yellow bell peppers will be slightly sweeter than the green variety.
The spice powders – Coriander powder, jeera powder, turmeric powder, red chilli powder and garam masala powder.
I’ve also used ginger garlic paste.
For the final garnish – you will only need lemon juice. One half of a lemon is sufficient.
How to make paneer curry in a peanut grav
Prep Work
For this recipe, the maximum time goes into the prep work. So let’s see what are the ingredients you need to prep.
Chop the capsicum into small cubes and keep aside.
Prep the paneer by putting the block in a bowl of hot water with 1/4 tsp of salt. This will really help the paneer get soft and remain soft through the day. I don’t like it when the paneer gets rubbery and reheating it also does not help. Keep it in the water until you are going to use it in the dish.
The next ingredient is the peanuts. Roast the peanuts on a low flame until you hear the crackling sound. This means that the skin is breaking off. Turn off the heat and roast it on the residual heat for another 10-15 seconds. Allow it to cool before removing the skin.
Removing the skin in an optional step. If you want a smooth texture of peanut powder, removing the skin will help with that. Once the peanuts have cooled or at the temperature that you can handle the heat, rub them in between your palms and fingers to remove the skin. Do this over a sink so that you can blow off the skins into the sink and deal with it later.
Once you’ve skinned the peanuts (or not), add it to the small grinder and make it into a fine powder. This will happen in less than 7-10 seconds in the mixer. If you grind more than that, the texture of the peanut will be like peanut-butter and will not taste great in the curry.
Take the curd in a bowl and beat it with the help of a whisk. You do this so that the curd/buttermilk does not split when in contact with heat. After beating the curd, mix in 100-120 ml of water to make the buttermilk.
Wash and chop the coriander leaves as fine as possible and keep aside. This recipe called for coriander leaves as a major ingredient than in its usual position of “final garnish”.
Now, remove the big paneer cube from the warm water and chop it into small cubes, the size similar to the capsicum.
Take a large bowl or basin, add the chopped capsicum, paneer, peanut powder, all the spice powders, ginger-garlic paste and salt. Mix all the ingredients well.
Cooking the Paneer curry
Place a pan/kadai on medium heat. Add 2-3 tbsp of cooking oil. Once the oil is warm, add the contents of the basin – the paneer with all the flavours and mix well with the oil. Add the chopped coriander as well.
Lower the flame and add the buttermilk to the pan. Mix all the ingredients well and close the lid of the pan.
Let the peanut powder, buttermilk, and all spice powders cook well. The capsicum also cooks along with the rest of the ingredients.
The masalas and the capsicum should cook within 5-7 minutes. Taste a small amount of the masala to ensure that the spices have cooked well.
Turn off the heat and drizzle with some lemon juice.
Serve this lip smacking paneer curry with rotis or parathas.
Storage and Shelf Life
This paneer curry tastes the best when hot off the stove with this lemon drizzled on top of it. It also makes for a great side dish for lunch boxes.
If you have leftovers, it is best to store it in the fridge 1-2 hours after it’s prepared. Do not keep this curry in the fridge for more than a day or two.
When you remove it from the fridge, leave it out for 10-15 minutes, before reheating it. It is best if you do not reheat it again.
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Recipe
Paneer Curry
Ingredients
- 200 g Paneer
- 1 Capsicum any colour of your choice
- 100 g Peanuts little more than a handful
- 50-80 g Curd to make buttermilk
- ½ tsp Turmeric powder
- 1 tsp Red Chilli powder
- 1 tsp Coriander powder
- 1 tsp Jeera powder
- ½ tsp Garam Masala powder
- 2 tbsp Ginger garlic paste
- 50 g Coriander Leaves finely chopped
- 2-3 tbsp Cooking oil
- Lemon Juice garnish
- 1 tsp Salt
Instructions
Prep Work
- Take a bowl of hot water and add a pinch of salt – place the cube of paneer in it. This will help soften the paneer and prevent it from hardening after cooking.
- Place a pan on medium flame and add the peanuts. Roast it for a minute or two until you hear the crackle. This means that the skin of the peanut is cracking. Roast for another minute and turn it off. Keep it under a fan to let it cool. Once you feel you can touch the peanuts, remove the skin by rubbing it between your palms and fingers. (This step is optional)
- Once the peanuts are relatively cool, grind it in a mixer until you have a powdery texture.
- Wash and finely chop the coriander leaves – as fine as possible.
- Add the curd to a small bowl and whisk it. You can use either a wooden "mathu" or a whisk to beat the curd. Add 100 ml water and make the buttermilk.
- Take the paneer out of the water and cut it into cubes. At this stage, you can also cut the capsicum into a similar size of the paneer. Add the paneer and capcisum to a large basin.
- Mix all the spice powders and salt. Add this mixture to the basin containing the paneer. Add the peanut powder and ginger-garlic paste too. Mix all the ingredients well and do a taste test to adjust spice levels.
Making the Paneer curry
- Place a pan on medium heat. Once the pan is warm, add the oil. Once the oil is warm, add the contents of the basin to the pan.
- Give it a good mix and then add the finely chopped coriander leaves. Mix it well. Finally, add the buttermilk and mix all the ingredients well.
- Close the lid of the pan and reduce the flame to low. Let all the ingredients cook well in the peanut and buttermilk sauce. Keep stirring in between to make sure that the paneer doesn't stick to the base.
- If you feel the gravy is too dry, add a little more buttermilk. In less than five minutes, the capsicum will cook and the spice powders would have cooked as well.
- Do a taste test of the gravy and do a final adjustment of the taste. Turn off the flame and squeeze lemon on top.
- You Paneer Curry is ready to be served as a side dish for roti or parathas.
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