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Shahi paneer (cottage cheese) is a preparation of paneer in a thick gravy made up of cream, tomatoes and spices from the Indian subcontinent.

It is mainly eaten with roti, naan, tandoori roti, rice, other breads. Shahi Paneer is made up of two different words - Paneer is the word for cottage cheese, and shahi is the term for royal (in reference to the Imperial Court). So Shahi Paneer is a royal paneer dish.

Shahi Paneer is an easy to make vegetarian dish that can be made with easily available ingredients e.g. cottage cheese (paneer), tomatoes (puree),chopped onions, ginger, green chilies, cream, cashew nuts or almonds etc.

This is a dish that is normally prepared on some special occasions. You can easily make this at home.

Shahi Paneer is creamy, aromatic and rich in taste, this is one of the popular paneer recipes that is usually cooked in parties.

Personally I like it more with roti, naan or tandoori roti. This is one of the dishes that we cook to celebrate some special day or occasion. It is loved by all my family members.

Shahi Paneer can be served for lunch or for dinner. It is also a good option for tiffin, as it is loved by kids, youngsters and elders also.

Ingredients

Preparation

• Take a pan and add 1 tbsp of ghee or oil into it, heat the oil/ghee on a medium flame. Add cashews nuts, almonds, green cardamoms and fry them till they gets lightly golden in colour. Stir occasionally.

• Add cubes of onions, green chilli and sauté until they gets transparent. Stir in between.

• Now add already chopped tomato into it and cook till it gets mushy. Stir in between. Transfer this to a plate and let it cool.

• Once it gets cool down, blend it with very little water to make a smooth puree or paste.

• Cut Paneer/Cottage cheese either into cubes or in triangles, I normally cut them into triangles of thickness 0.6 cm approximately. Fry the paneer/cottage cheese lightly in ghee/oil. This step is optional. Keep the fried paneer pieces aside for later use.

• Heat up the same pan with the rest of the ghee or oil, add cinnamon stick, cloves and cumin seeds into it and sauté till they you can smell a fragrant, it takes normally 1-2 minutes.

• Now add ginger garlic paste and fry till the raw smell of ginger garlic paste goes off.

• Then add already made paste of onions cashews almonds into it. Mix it well.

• Now add red chilli powder, garam masala, turmeric powder and salt into it and cook the mixture for about 3 - 4 minutes.

• Beat the yogurt/curd well with the help of a fork. Lower the flame completely and then add it to the pan. Mix it well. Cook it till it begins to leave the sides of the pan.

• Pour 3/4 cup of water into it and cook till the gravy thickens or till the oil starts to separate. You can use the water as per the gravy you want to make.

• Now add paneer/cottage cheese pieces and cook for about 5 minutes on a medium flame.

• Hot yummy Shahi Paneer is ready to serve.

• Transfer shahi paneer to a serving bowl to prevent it from cooking further.

• Garnish it with cream and or green chilli and serve it with roti, naan or rice.