Paneer Makhani – First Attempt at a Restaurant Favorite

Paneer Makhani is a North Indian dish I like to order at restaurants when I am feeling particularly unhealthy – it's basically a cheese dish coated in a tomato cream sauce (yep, dairy on dairy).  There is something comforting about eating such a rich meal, especially when soaking up the sauce with lots of rice or Indian breads.

Like my other attempts at other North Indian restaurant favorites, the recipe below was a strong first step toward re-creating my intended dish, but more work still needs to be done to perfect it.   The below recipe resulted in a meal that was a little too spicy for me and in a texture I didn't fully love because I didn't puree the sauce fully after cooking it.  To recreate the creamy, saucy restaurant versions I like, I think that latter change will definitely be critical for future attempts.

(Paneer Makhani on bottom left of plate)

Paneer Makhani v.1

Ingredients:

• 2.5 plum tomatoes, coarsely chopped
• 1/3 yellow onion, chopped
• 2 Thai green chiles, sliced in half
• 3/4 inch ginger
• 1.5 – 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 cinnamon stick (approx. 2 inches in length)
• 2 cardamon pods
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp. ground turmeric
• 3/4 tsp. chile powder
• hing, few pinches (optional)
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 package of paneer, cubed into 1/2-inch square pieces
• salt, to taste

Directions:

• Puree tomatoes, onion, and ginger in a food processor or magic bullet (I originally included the chiles, but I think that led to too much spice, so would skip this step and instead cook intact with the spices).
• Heat 1.5 – 2 tbsp. oil in a medium sauté pan on medium-high heat.  Add cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves, and sauté for 1 minute or until fragrant.  Then add the hing, cumin, turmeric, chile powder and garlic, sautéing for 30 seconds.

• Add the pureed tomato mixture to the pan, cooking the tomatoes down for 10 – 15 minutes on medium-low heat.

• When tomatoes are broken down and more sauce-like, add approx. 1/4 cup of heavy cream.

• Bring mixture to a low boil and then add salt to the mixture to taste.
• Raise heat to medium, and add cubed paneer to the dish.  Cook until the paneer is warmed through, and serve immediately.