Paneer Kadai

Paneer Kadai

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Paneer Kadai
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Paneer Kadai

Recipe by whenyourhungryCourse: MainCuisine: IndianDifficulty: Medium
Servings

4

servings
Prep time

15

minutes
Cooking time

30

minutes
Total time

45

minutes

Kadai paneer is a popular paneer recipe where cottage cheese (Paneer) and bell peppers are cooked in a spicy masala. This dish is on the menu of almost all Indian restaurants, and ordering it when we ate out was usual! 
Making this dish at home was special as it included stir frying the cottage cheese and cooking this well in the gravy masala. Kadai is like a wok that is used for Indian cooking, however you can use any pan/wok that you have!
Sauteing the dried spices on low heat until aromatic and then grinding the spices to a fine powder is what makes this dish extremely flavorful and irresistible!!

Ingredients

  • 1 tsp coriander seeds

  • 1 tsp cumin seeds

  • 3-4 cloves

  • 3-4 cardamom pods

  • 2 red kashmiri chillies

  • 500 grams cottage cheese (Paneer), cubed

  • 1 tbsp oil + ½ tsp butter

  • 1 onion chopped finely

  • 1 tsp ginger paste

  • 1 tsp garlic paste

  • 1 green chilli, chopped finely

  • 2 tomatoes, finely chopped

  • ½ tsp kashmiri chilli powder

  • ½ cup water (Optional milk)

  • 1 tsp salt

  • ¼ cup heavy cream

  • ½ tsp sugar

  • 1 large red bell pepper, large cubes

  • 1 large onion, large cubes

  • ½ tsp kasuri methi

  • ½ tsp dried/fresh coriander leaves  

Directions

  • Start off this dish by slowly dry roasting spices like coriander seeds, cumin seeds, cloves, cardamom pods and red kashmiri chillies for about 4-5 mins. The coriander seeds and the red kashmiri chillies are the main ingredients for this recipe that brings in the extra flavor
  • Once the spices are dry roasted and fragrant, grind to a fine powder
  • In a large kadai (wok), melt butter with oil on medium heat
  • Add the chopped onions and saute for about 5 minutes with a little salt until the onions are golden brown
  • Add ginger garlic paste and chopped green chillies and saute for a few minutes
  • Add the chopped tomatoes and let this cook until the tomatoes are soft and mushy which would take about 5 minutes
  • Add 4 tsps of the roasted ground masala along with kashmiri chilli powder and stir this spice mix well for about 5 minutes
  • Cool this mixture and coarsely blend in a blender for about a minute and then re-fry this thick masala for about a minute
  • Optionally, in another pan, fry the cubed paneer until golden brown for about 3-5 minutes
  • To the above gravy mix, add ½ cup water, sugar, salt and stir well. You can also add a little milk which is optional, that would make this gravy tastier
  • To enhance the gravy and make it creamier, add heavy cream and mix well for about a minute
  • Add the paneer, red bell peppers, cubed onions, mix and let this simmer for about 5 minutes on medium heat
  • Add dried/ fresh chopped coriander leaver or kasuri methi
  • Serve this kadai paneer with naan or paratha

PRO TIP

  • To make cottage cheese at home, boil 3 cups of milk in a large saucepan. Add 1 tbsp of lime juice or white vinegar and mix well. In a few minutes you will see the milk split & curdle. Let this mix sit for about 5 minutes & strain the milk curds into a cheese cloth. Squeeze off the excess water and what is left behind is cottage cheese (Paneer)