Skip to content
Open menu Close menu

Feed your appetite for cooking with Penguin’s expert authors

penguin logo

Fresh Indian Cheese in a Butter-tomato Sauce (Paneer Makhani)

Fresh Indian Cheese in a Butter Tomato Sauce (Paneer Makhani) from Madhur Jaffrey's Curry Easy Vegetarian cookbook. This delicious recipe is perfect to serve as a vegetarian main or as a side dish and is generally eaten with Indian flatbreads, especially naans.

From the book

Introduction

This is the vegetarian version of Chicken in a Butter-tomato Sauce, for which a tandoor-roasted bird is cut up and enfolded in a rich, creamy sauce. This vegetarian incarnation is much loved and generally eaten with Indian flatbreads, especially naans.

Read more Read less

Ingredients

250 ml/8 fl oz tomato passata
250 ml/8 fl oz double cream
2 tsp peeled and finely grated fresh ginger
1 tsp garam masala
2 tsp lemon juice
½ tsp sugar
1 fresh hot green chilli, finely chopped
1¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp nice red chilli powder
1 tsp ground roasted cumin seeds
1 tbsp dried fenugreek leaves (kasuri methi), crumbled (optional)
400 g/14 oz fresh Indian cheese (paneer), cut into 2 cm/ ¾ inch squares
freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp unsalted butter plus
1 tbsp olive or peanut oil
¼ tsp whole cumin seeds
2–3 tbsp chopped fresh coriander

Method

Combine the tomato passata, cream, ginger, garam masala, lemon juice, sugar, green chilli, 1 teaspoon of the salt, chilli powder, ground roasted cumin and dried fenugreek leaves (if using) in a bowl. Stir thoroughly and set aside.

Put the cubed cheese into another bowl. Add ¼ teaspoon of salt and some black pepper. Toss well to mix.

Put the butter, oil and cumin seeds in a medium, non-stick pan and set over a medium heat. Put all the cheese cubes in the pan in a single layer and brown them very lightly on at least two sides. Pour the tomato sauce over the top and stir to mix. Bring to a simmer, then heat very gently for 4–5 minutes, stirring with a light hand as you do so. Sprinkle the fresh coriander over the top before serving.

Comments are closed.

newsletter

Subscribe to The Happy Foodie email newsletter

Get our latest recipes, features, book news and ebook deals straight to your inbox every week

From the book: Curry Easy Vegetarian

Close menu