Paneer Butter Masala Paneer Makhani

This butter masala dish goes well with any breads like NAAN, ROTI, CHAPATI or rice items such as steamed rice, JEERA RICE or GHEE RICE. This is one of the popular vegetarian dishes served for lunch or dinner. This delicious dish is available at almost all Indian restaurants along with kadai paneer, PALAK PANEER, paneer lababdar, paneer tikka, and paneer TIKKA MASALA. If you know what paneer is and how to cook it, then directly jump to the recipe for preparing restaurant-style paneer butter masala at home. If you are new to Indian cooking, read the entire post to learn more.

How to make the best restaurant-style paneer butter masala at home?

Do not add any unnecessary spices. As the name, this dish gets it rich taste from the addition of butter. Other simple ingredients needed to prepare this dish are onion, garlic, tomato, cashews, and cream. That’s it. Add cashews or almonds in the gravy. This is going to make it rich, sweet and give that authentic restaurant taste and texture. But if you are allergic to nuts then use melon seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, or poppy seeds - of course the taste will vary slightly.

Do not overcook the paneer. It will only make it more rubbery and chewy. Homemade paneer tastes the best, but it needs time, planning, and prep. So you can use store-bought paneer. You can add this to a bowl of hot water and keep it aside for 15 mins. Again this step of soaking in hot water is optional. Add the paneer to the prepared masala in the final stages of cooking and cook the paneer cubes for a few minutes or until heated through. This way, the paneer will remain soft and melt-in-mouth.

Ingredients

For the Masala

1.5 tablespoon Butter (or vegan butter) 1 teaspoon Cumin seeds or Jeera 1 Onion, roughly chopped 8 to 10 cloves of Garlic, roughly chopped 2 Green chilies, roughly chopped 1 inch Ginger, roughly chopped 16 to 18 Cashews 3 Tomatoes, roughly chopped 1 cup Water

For paneer butter masala dish

2 tablespoon Butter (or vegan butter) Salt, to taste ¾ teaspoon Red chile powder ¾ teaspoon Garam masala powder ½ cup Water 3 to 4 tablespoon of Cream (or Coconut cream for vegan version) 1 teaspoon Kasuri methi or dried fenugreek leaves (optional) 200 to 250g of Paneer (or Tofu for vegan version) 2 tablespoon of Coriander leaves or Cilantro chopped, for garnish

Detailed Steps

Steps to make Paneer Butter Masala

Heat 1.5 tablespoon of butter in pan or kadai. You can add oil instead of butter or use 50% butter and 50% oil in the recipe if needed. But for rich flavor I prefer making this entire dish with butter. Add cumin seeds and sauté for a few seconds. Next, add chopped onion, garlic cloves, green chilies, and ginger, and saute till onions and garlic become translucent in color on medium flame. Now add cashews and saute for 1 minute. Add tomatoes and cook till it becomes soft and mushy. Switch off the flame. Let this mixture cool down. If you want to make this process faster you can start blending with ice cold water. Transfer this mixture to a mixer or blender and add approximately 1 cup of water. Blend it to a smooth paste. This is very important step. If this mixture is not blend to a smooth puree then the texture and taste of the final dish may vary. Transfer the ground mixture back to the pan or kadhai. In the same pan or kadhai, add 2 tablespoon of butter, salt to taste, red chile powder, garam masala powder, and approximately ½ cup of water, and mix. Cover this with a lid and cook on medium flame till the gravy thickens and traces of butter can be seen around the sides and top. Keep checking in between and give it a stir. Once the gravy thickens, check for salt and any other spices if needed. Add the cream and mix. Next, add paneer cubes, if available crush some kasuri methi between the palm of your hands and add it to the gravy. Cook for another 3 minutes on medium heat. Do not overcook the paneer. Garnish it with cilantro and some more cream if desired.

Some other tips before making butter masala from my end :

You can substitute cashews with almonds or use half cashews and half almonds. If you are making this dish for kids, skip red chile powder and green chilies from the recipe. Alternatively, you may reduce their quantities by half. I generally don’t add any whole garam masala spices while making this dish as the highlight here is butter, cashews, and cream. If you like the flavor, you may add 1 bay leaf, 1 cinnamon stick, 2 cardamom pods while sautéing onions and then remove bay leaf and cinnamon sticks just before blending it to avoid the strong flavor. You can add ginger garlic paste instead of garlic cloves and ginger but nothing can beat the flavor from fresh ginger and garlic cloves 🙂 Some people add ½ teaspoon of sugar to balance out the sourness from the tomatoes to the dish. So once you taste the gravy you may add ½ teaspoon sugar if desired. Depending on the brand you use, vary the amount of red chile powder and garam masala powder. I have made this dish both with and without kasuri methi. The dish tastes good in both versions. Dry crushed kasuri methi has a unique umami flavor, so add it if you can find some easily. You can substitute paneer with tofu, corn kernels, mushroom, cauliflower, baby corn, potatoes or soya chunks. Fresh cream, heavy cream, whipping cream any of these can be used. If you want to skip cream completely, increase the amount of cashews.