Shahi Paneer is a Mughlai restaurant-style paneer curry made in a creamy white gravy of onions, nuts, melon seeds, yogurt, cream and fragrant spices. This recipe does not use tomatoes and has a mildly spiced, rich flavor. Serve hot with naan, roti or jeera rice.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 20 minutes
  • Cook time: 20 minutes
  • Total time: 40 minutes
  • Yield: 4
  • Category: Main Course
  • Cuisine: Indian, Mughlai

Ingredients

  • ½ cup onions (– chopped)
  • 2 tablespoons cashews
  • 1 tablespoon almonds
  • 1 tablespoon muskmelon seeds (or cantaloupe seeds, without the skins (magaz))
  • ½ teaspoon or 3 to 4 small to medium sized cloves of garlic (– chopped)
  • ½ teaspoon or 1 inch ginger (– chopped)
  • 1.5 cups water
  • 3 tablespoons ghee ((clarified butter) or neutral tasting oil or butter)
  • 1 teaspoon coriander powder ((ground coriander))
  • ¼ teaspoon garam masala
  • ½ teaspoon red chili powder (or cayenne pepper)
  • ½ cup or 125 grams curd ((yogurt), whisked till smooth)
  • 1 to 1.5 cups water (or add as needed)
  • ½ to 1 teaspoon sugar (or add as required)
  • salt (as required)
  • ¼ teaspoon cardamom powder
  • 15 to 20 strands saffron (- crushed lightly)
  • 200 grams paneer ((Indian cottage cheese))
  • 1 tablespoon heavy cream (or add as required, optional)
  • 1 teaspoon kewra water ((screwpine water) or rose water, optional)
  • 1 tej patta ((Indian bay leaf))
  • 2 to 3 cloves
  • 2 to 3 green cardamoms
  • 1 black cardamom
  • 1 inch cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon caraway seeds ((shahi jeera))

Method

Preparation

  1. Take the nuts and seeds in a bowl and rinse them a couple of times with water. Drain all the water and set aside.
  2. Cook onions, cashews, almonds, magaz or melon seeds, ginger and garlic in 1.5 cups water for 8 to 10 minutes until the onions soften.
  3. Strain some of the stock (water in which the onions, nuts etc were cooked) and set it aside. Let the onions cool at room temperature.
  4. Make a fine paste of the cooked onions, ginger, garlic along with the nuts and melon seeds, adding 2 to 4 tablespoons of the strained stock.
  5. Whisk fresh curd (yogurt) till smooth and set aside.

Sautéing onion paste

  1. Heat ghee in a frying pan on medium-low to medium heat.
  2. Fry all the whole spices (listed in the above ingredients) until they release their aroma in the ghee. Be very attentive here, as spices are delicate and can burn quickly if you aren’t paying attention.
  3. Add the ground onion paste and mix very well.
  4. On a low heat sauté stirring non-stop for 7 to 8 minutes or until the fat starts to leave the sides of the paste.
  5. Add red chilli powder or cayenne pepper, garam masala powder and coriander powder. Mix well.

Adding curd and simmering further

  1. Reduce heat to a low or turn off the heat.
  2. Add the whisked yogurt, water, sugar and salt as required.
  3. Mix very well and simmer gravy for 10 to 12 minutes until it thickens.

Making Shahi Paneer

  1. Add the cardamom powder and crushed saffron.
  2. Stir and add the cubed paneer and cream.
  3. Mix gently and turn off heat.
  4. Add the kewra water and stir. You can even add rose water.
  5. Garnish Shahi Paneer with some coriander leaves or mint leaves or a few saffron strands. Serve the Shahi Paneer with cumin rice or roti, naan or paratha.

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.