Paneer Butter Masala

Indian food or any food for that matter is quite emotionally comforting is what I have discovered. Especially in the current environment, when bankruptcy looms about you, when recession seems to be the buzz word and when your jobs hanging precariously on a few strands, there nothing like a good home made meal to lift your spirits.

So here is how I cooked up a comfort meal for my friends at Natgeo.

Ingredients –

Paneer (Cottage cheese) - 1 Slab
Onions - 4
Tomato puree – ½ a can
Cashew nut paste – 2 tablespoons
Coriander powder – 2 tablespoons
Red chilli powder – 1 tablespoon
Turmeric power – ¼ tablespoon
Cumin powder – ¼ tablespoon
Salt to taste
Ginger garlic paste – 2 table spoons
Garam Masala – 1 tablespoon
Butter – 2 tablespoons
Oil as per required
Cream – ¼ cup


Dice the paneer into small cubes and fry them in oil until they are golden brown. Keep the fried paneer aside. Now blend the onions into a fine paste and keep this ready.

In a frying pan add the butter and oil as per required. Once the butter has melted add the onion paste and the ginger garlic paste, sauté this mixture until it turns light brown. Make a paste with all the powders and add this paste to the sautéed onion mixture, let this fry for about two minutes until the masala is cooked. Now add the tomato puree and the cashew nut paste and slightly toss it, add water as required so as to form a smooth sauce. Now add salt to taste and let this sauce boil. Once it starts boiling add the fried paneer to it and let it simmer on a low flame for a few minutes.

I made a variation of this by adding pre boiled potatoes and peas along with the paneer.

Add cream to this and stir gently. Delicious paneer butter masala is now ready.