Kadai Paneer

Kadai Paneer is a spicy paneer (cottage cheese) curry with crunchy capsicums, onions and tomatoes. It is traditionally made in Kadai (Indian Wok) which gives an amazing flavour to the ingredients. It's totally fine if you don't have a Kadai, you can use a saucepan. Adjust the spice level of this recipe as you prefer. For a vegan recipe, you can tofu or any vegetables of your choice and skip the usage of butter.

Serves: 4
Cooking Time: 40 to 60 minutes

Ingredients

Kadai masala

• 1.5 tablespoon coriander seeds
• 2 tablespoon cumin seeds
• 5 to 6 dry red chillies, broken into two pieces
• 1 tablespoon black peppercorns

Tomato Onion puree

• 100 grams onion, chopped
• 300 grams tomatoes, chopped
• 1-inch ginger, chopped
• 1 large garlic clove, chopped
• 2 teaspoon oil

Curry

• 250 grams of paneer, chopped
• 1 medium onion, julienne
• 1 medium capsicum, julienne
• 1 medium tomato, julienne
• 1-inch ginger, chopped
• 1 teaspoon dry fenugreek leaves
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 2 tablespoon oil
• 1 teaspoon butter
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1/2 red chilli powder (optional)
• salt to taste
• 3 to 5 coriander spring, chopped

Procedure

Kadai Masala

• In a pan, add the coriander seeds, cumin seeds and dry red chillies. Roast them for 2 to 3 minutes.
• Add the black peppercorns and roast for 2 to 3 minutes.
• Turn off the flame and empty the spices in a container.
• Once they have cooled down, powder them.
• Kadai Masala is ready.

Onion Tomato Puree
Note:   I don't like the flavour of raw onion and tomato puree with paneer. So this is an additional step. However, if you enjoy that flavour just puree onion and tomatoes separately. Use ginger garlic paste. While making the curry, cook the onion puree and ginger garlic paste before tomato puree.

• In a pan, add 2 teaspoons of oil and once it has heated.
• Add the chopped onion, ginger and garlic. Cook till onions have turned translucent.
• Add the chopped tomatoes and cook till tomatoes are soft.
• Empty the contents in a plate and let them cool down. Puree them as a thick paste.

Curry

• In a Kadai or wok or saucepan, add 2 tablespoon oil.
• Once the oil has heated, add cumin seeds and let them crackle.
• Then add the dry fenugreek leaves and stir it once. Add the prepared puree.
• Add 1 tablespoon of prepared Kadai Masala. Increase or decrease the quantity of Kadai Masala as per your preference. (Store the remaining Kadai Masala in an airtight container. It can be used again or it can be used to spice up other curries).
• Add turmeric powder, red chilli powder and salt to taste.
• Stir the curry and let it cook. Note:   If you are using a Kadai or Wok, curry can get burnt easily so keep an eye.
• Once the curry is boiled. Turn the flame off.
• In a separate pan, add 1 tablespoon oil and butter.
• Toss the onion, capsicum and tomatoes in the pan until crispy and onions turn golden but make sure vegetables are not soft as the essence of Kadai Paneer is a crunchy bite of vegetable.
• Finally, toss the paneer too till they turn slightly golden.
• Add a pinch of Kadai Masala to the tossed ingredients.
• Add the tossed ingredients to the cooked curry and reheat for a few minutes.

Kadai Paneer is ready. Garnish it with chopped ginger and coriander. Serve it hot with rice or your favourite bread.

Tips

• For soft paneer, get the fresh paneer from the shop. Then boil paneer for 5 to 6 minutes. Then transfer the paneer to a bowl of chilled water. Remove from chilled water when you are ready to add it to curry.