Shahi Paneer Recipe

Shahi Paneer is a delicious, popular North Indian dish with tender paneer cubes simmered in a luscious, creamy tomato-based gravy. It is known for the generous amount of cream and cashews used in its preparation, and hence has the name ‘shahi’, which literally translates to ‘royal’ in english.

With this simple step by step recipe, you can easily prepare restaurant style Shahi Paneer at home. Traditionally shahi paneer dish belongs to Mughlai cuisine and is served with breads like butter naan, garlic naan or tandoori roti. Its gravy is rich velvety in texture, with subtle sweetness & beautiful blend of various fragrant spices.

When it comes to paneer dishes there are endless varieties like kadhai paneer, paneer butter masala, panner tikka masala, paneer do pyaza and the list goes on. Though almost all gravies use onion & tomatoes, what differentiates their flavour is the proportion of these ingredients and use of different spices.

Shahi Paneer Ingredients:

Paneer, also known as Indian Cottage Cheese, is an essential part of this recipe. Use freshest possible paneer as it will have softer, and melt in the mouth texture. You can use store bought or homemade paneer in this recipe.

I have added paneer in shahi paneer gravy as it is without frying or sautéing. If you wish you can sauté or shallow fry it in ghee before adding to gravy.

The different Indian spices used in making shahi paneer gravy are : turmeric, red chilli, bay leaf, green cardamom, black cardamom, clove and cinnamon. To someone who is cooking for the first time it may seem too much of effort or spices but trust me the end result is totally worth it and you will be pleasantly surprised how these spices merge so beautifully with each other conferring divine aroma and sweetness to the dish.

Heavy Cream & cashews together give the gravy silky velvety texture and make it luscious smooth. If you are looking forward to make a low calorie version, then you can use less amount of oil or ghee (clarified butter) while cooking. Also you can use low fat cream in gravy.

How to keep paneer soft in shahi paneer ?

If you are using market bought paneer, then dip it in warm water for 10 minutes. This step helps in making the paneer soft & supple.

Also, don’t cook the paneer in gravy for a long time as it tends to get chewy / rubbery if overcooked. If you are planning to serve this dish after few hours, then add the paneer 5 minutes before when you are ready to serve (at the time of reheating).

How can I make vegan shahi paneer?

• Prep Time: 5 minutes
• Cook Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients : (Serves 3-4)

• Paneer Cubes- 200 g
• Ghee / Cooking Oil- 1 tbsp
• Ginger (chopped)- 1/2 tbsp
• Garlic (chopped)- 2 to 3 cloves
• Green Chilli (chopped)- 1
• Onions (chopped)- 2 medium
• Tomatoes (chopped)- 4 to 5 medium
• Cashews (chopped)- 1/4 cup
• Red Chilli Powder- 1/2 tsp
• Turmeric Powder / Haldi– 1/4 tsp
• Cinnamon powder / Dalchini– 1/4 tsp
• Clove / Laung– 1
• Bayleaf / Tej Patta– 1
• Green Cardamom / Chhoti Elaichi– 1
• Black Cardamom / Badi Elaichi– 1
• Sugar- 2 tsp
• Salt- 1 tsp (to taste)
• Heavy Cream- 3 to 4 tbsp
• Dried Kasuri Methi- 2 tsp
• Water- 1 cup
• For garnishing:
  • Heavy Cream- 1 to 2 tsp
  • Chopped coriander (or cilantro)- 2 tsp

(All veggies need to be roughly chopped. For substitutions and tips, check out the end of post).

Directions:

Step 1:
Heat 1/2 tbsp ghee or oil in a pan. Add ginger, garlic & green chillies to it. Sauté for 30-40 sec. Add onions & cashews. Sauté till onions turn pinkish in colour (We don’t want to brown them but just soften a bit).

Step 2:
Add whole spices- cinnamon, bay leaf, cardamom, black cardamom, clove. Mix well. Cook for 1-2 min on medium-low flame till the spices start releasing their aroma.

Step 3:
Add tomatoes, sugar, salt, chilli powder & turmeric powder. Mix well. Cook for 2-3 min till tomatoes begin to soften up.

Step 4:
Add 3/4 cup water to the pan. Cover with a lid and simmer for 12-15 min.

Step 5:
Turn off the heat. Once the above mixture cool downs a bit, blend it to get a smooth masala-gravy (remove bay leaf & black cardamom). Pass it through a sieve once to make sure there are no pieces left. If the gravy is too thick, you can add some water while sieving.

Step 6:
Heat 1/2 tbsp oil in the same pan & add gravy to it. Mix well. Simmer for 12-15 min. Keep stirring in between while scraping the sides of pan.

Step 7:
Once the gravy thickens up and becomes glossy, add 2-3 tbsp of water & mix well. Bring it to boil and then simmer. Add cream and kasuri methi while mixing continuously (to avoid cream from splitting).

Step 8:
Add paneer cubes to the gravy and mix gently (so that the pieces don’t break). Cover & simmer for 5 min to give time to absorb all flavours. Garnish shahi paneer with some cream or kasuri methi or chopped cilantro at the time of serving !! Serve it hot with paratha, naan or rice.

Tips / Tricks :

1. If you don’t have fresh tomatoes you can use canned tomatoes or tomato puree in this recipe.
2. Some people avoid the use of red chilli powder. You can replace it with whole black pepper kernels / powder. Add it in step 3 with rest of the spices while roasting.
3. To get more vibrant colour in gravy without making it too spicy, use ‘Kashmiri Red Chilli Powder‘.
4. Sugar is added to to balance the sourness of tomatoes. If the tomatoes are ripe and sweet, skip adding sugar to the gravy.
5. For rich texture use full fat cream and if you are trying to lower the calories in this recipe use low fat cream.

Can I freeze shahi paneer?

If you are planning to freeze the shahi paneer gravy, don’t add cream and paneer to it. Whenever you want to serve the dish just thaw it at room temp and heat in microwave or in a pan on stovetop. Add heavy cream and paneer later (continue from step 6 above).

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(6 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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