Paneer curry ( SERVES 4 )

Photo by Tam West



Growing up, paneer curry was one of my favourite dishes to order off restaurant menus. I loved mopping up the sauce with hot naan. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that when we introduced Hospobaby to this simple curry she fell in love with it as well. Every Sunday morning when I plan my week’s menu, Zoya chimes in with her two cents’ worth and often earnestly requests that we have paneer curry. She knows it is very special to me and will guilt me by reminding me that even my late nanna loved it so much that she asked for it in her last days.

She has talked Sid in to making it with her to share with Bite — Zoya helping to eat and cube the paneer, stir the sauce and add the ingredients into the pan. She has been watching a bit of Masterchef and sticks her spoon into the pan and gingerly tastes the sauce throughout the cooking process. This curry is perfect if you don’t have many Indian spices in your pantry as it needs only a couple and is not too spicy, so kids enjoy it.

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Ingredients



3 Tbsp Vegetable oil
½ tsp Cumin seeds
1 Bay leaf
6 Green cardamom pods
1 Onion, finely chopped
1 tsp Salt
½ tsp White pepper, ground
2 Garlic cloves, chopped
1 piece Ginger, 2cm, peeled and grated
1 tsp Chilli powder
1 can Chopped tomatoes, or pureed tomatoes
80 g Ground almonds
500 g Paneer, we use Gopala paneer from New World, cut into rounds or 2.5cm cubes
1 tsp Fenugreek, leaves, fried (optional)
½ tsp Garam masala
½ tsp Sugar
3 Tbsp Cream
25 g Unsalted butter, diced
½ Lemon, juice only
1 handful Fresh coriander, to garnish



Directions


Heat the oil in a large saucepan (with a lid), add the cumin,bay leaf and cardamom. Once these crackle add the onion and cook on high heat for 2-3 minutes. Do not let the onion colour. Add salt and cover the pan with its lid. Reduce the heat and let the onion cook slowly for 10 minutes.
Uncover the pan and increase the heat to medium. Add the pepper, garlic, ginger and chilli and cook for 3 minutes.
Add the tomatoes and cook for 10 minutes or until the tomatoes have reduced by half and you see the oil leaving the sauce.
Add the ground almonds (this will thicken the sauce further and give it texture). Cook another 3 minutes.
Add the paneer and stir gently, making sure you don’t crumble the paneer, paneer will soften the more sauce it absorbs. Stir in the dried fenugreek if using, followed by garam masala, sugar and cream. Lower the heat and simmer for a 2 minutes.
Remove from the heat, add the butter slowly, a couple of pieces at a time so you emulsify the sauce. Add lemon juice and garnish with chopped coriander.
Serve hot with parathas, roti or naan (we use Kawan frozen wholemeal roti from New World) and basmati rice.