Paneer Badami

Paneer, cooked with onions, almonds or badams, ginger and flavorful whole spices and masalas.

This recipe of mine, involves minimal chopping, the knife is only used to chop onions, a tiny piece of ginger and the paneer. Actually, the onions can be tossed in to the food processor for a quick chop. Let the handy food processor do all the work. Which is exactly what it does, to form the delicious and aromatic masala paste for the curry. A vegetarian, easy to make, delightful and flavorful paneer dish, best eaten with parathas and perhaps rice, too.

Ingredients:

Paneer, cut into small cubes – 2 cups

Whole spices- 1 bay leaf, 1 black cardamom, few peppercorns, 1” cinnamon stick.

A little piece of dried mace and few saffron strands (optional).

1 onion, diced

1/2 cup whole raw almonds. Soak them in water for a few hours and remove skins.

1/2 tsp. fennel seeds

1/2 tsp. cumin seeds

1 tsp. paprika or Kashmiri red chili powder

1 tsp. coriander powder

1/2 tsp. garam masala powder

1 tsp. chopped ginger

1 tsp. kasuri methi

1 tsp. ghee

Salt, to taste

In a Dutch oven or large pan, heat ghee. Add bay leaf, cinnamon stick, peppercorns. Add the onions and stir fry till golden brown. Add the fennel seeds, cumin seeds, mace, saffron, ginger, coriander powder, paprika and almonds. Stir fry for a minute. Remove from heat. Grind along with half cup water to a smooth paste.

Add the masala paste back to the pan. Turn on heat, add the black cardamom and kasuri methi. Add the paneer cubes. Simmer on low heat for 5 minutes. Serve.