Paneer Curry
A paneer curry with a refreshing flavour of a peanut and buttermilk gravy and garnished with lots of coriander leaves
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.