Paneer Lababdar recipe is a restaurant-style North Indian curried dish made with paneer in a creamy onion, tomato and cashew gravy. The curry base has a mild tang with a slight sweetness and balanced spices. It pairs well with naan, roti or jeera rice.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 15 minutes
  • Cook time: 25 minutes
  • Total time: 40 minutes
  • Yield: 4
  • Category: Main Course
  • Cuisine: North Indian, Punjabi

Ingredients

  • 1.5 cups chopped tomatoes ((ripe and red), 250 grams)
  • 10 to 12 cashews
  • 1 inch ginger (- chopped)
  • 2 to 3 garlic ((medium-sized) - chopped)
  • ½ cup water
  • 1 green cardamom
  • 2 cloves
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1 tej patta ((Indian bay leaf))
  • ½ cup finely chopped onions (- 100 grams)
  • ½ teaspoon cumin powder ((ground cumin))
  • ½ teaspoon coriander powder ((ground coriander))
  • ½ teaspoon red chili powder (or kashmiri red chili powder or cayenne pepper)
  • 1 or 1.25 cups water (or add as required)
  • 1 or 2 green chilies (or serrano peppers - slit)
  • salt (as required)
  • ¼ to ½ teaspoon sugar (or add as required)
  • 200 grams paneer ((cottage cheese))
  • 2 tablespoon grated paneer
  • ¼ teaspoon garam masala
  • 1 teaspoon kasuri methi ((dry fenugreek leaves) - crushed)
  • ¼ cup low-fat cream (or 1 to 2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream)
  • 1 tablespoon butter (added later - (optional))
  • 1 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves ((cilantro leaves))
  • 1 inch ginger (- julienne)

Method

Preparing tomato-cashew paste

  1. Take chopped tomatoes, cashews, chopped ginger and garlic, green cardamom, cloves and water in a small pan. Use tomatoes which are not too tangy or sour.
  2. Turn on the stovetop and simmer this mixture on a low heat.
  3. Cook until the tomatoes are softened. If the water dries up and the tomatoes are not softened, then add about 2 to 3 tablespoons water and continue to cook.
  4. Allow this mixture to become warm or cool completely and add to a grinder or blender jar.
  5. Grind to a smooth paste without any cashews or tomato chunks or pieces. You may add some water if required while grinding. Keep this ground tomato-cashew-spices paste aside.

Sautéing onions and tomato-cashew paste

  1. Heat butter in pan or kadai or wok. Add the tej patta and sauté for a couple of seconds.
  2. Add finely chopped onions. Stir well.
  3. Then continue to saute as well as stir and cook till the onions become light golden or golden.
  4. Then add the tomato-cashew-spices paste. The mixture will splutter if there is water in it, so be careful. Stir very well.
  5. Add cumin powder, coriander powder and red chili powder.
  6. Stir and saute this masala. You will see the masala clumping and gathering around itself.
  7. Saute till you see fat leaving the sides of the masala paste.

Making paneer lababdar

  1. Then add water. Mix very well.
  2. Add the slit green chilies.
  3. Stir and allow the gravy to come to a simmer. Then season with salt and sugar.
  4. Add paneer cubes and grated paneer.
  5. Gently mix and combine.
  6. Then sprinkle kasuri methi which has been crushed with the garam masala powder. Stir very well again.
  7. Lastly add the low-fat cream or heavy whipping cream. Switch off the heat & combine very well. You can also add 1 tablespoon butter at this step. This is optional.
  8. Garnish paneer lababdar with chopped coriander leaves and ginger julienne. Serve with chapati, tandoori roti or naan. It also goes well with cumin rice or veg pulao.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.