Paneer Butter Masala

I do not make rich gravies like this often. Only time I do is when we have company. Not that I want to offer unhealthy stuff it's just that richness makes it more than ordinary. But this time I made this Paneer Butter Masala just for ourselves on weekday as an experiment. Sure it worked. This is very close to the way we are used to eat in restaurants. Do give it a try.

Ingredients

Serves 4-6

1 1/2 cup cubed Paneer

4 Medium size tomato

2 medium size onion

2 tbsp ginger garlic paste

3 tbsp cashews

1/4 cup milk (preferably full fat)

3 tbsp oil

1 1/2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp Kasuri Methi (Dried Fenugreek leaves)

1 tbsp Honey

1 tsp Cardamom powder

2 tsp Garam masala

2 tsp Red Chilli Powder (If you have Kashmiri Chilli powder that will add a nice color)

Salt to taste

Recipe

Chop tomato and onions in quarters.

Heat 2 tbsp oil in a pan. Add cashews and stir them. After about a minute add chopped onion. Saute for 2 minutes. Then add chopped tomatoes. Cook them for about 6 minutes.

Let the cooked tomato-onion-cashew mixture cool for a while. Then blend it using a blender. Strain this puree to get that silky smooth gravy.

Now again heat a pan and add butter and 1 tbsp oil. Add ginger-garlic paste. After a minute when raw smell from ginger garlic has gone add red chili powder. You may want to lower the heat at this point so that red chill powder doesn't burn. To this add strained puree.

Add salt. Now cover the pan and let it simmer on low heat for about 15 minutes.

By now fat should have separated . Add honey, cardamom and Garam Masala and crushed fenugreek leaves. Let it simmer for another couple of minutes.

At this point if you want you can add 1/4 cup cream for another layer of creaminess. I opted to add full fat milk. Finally add cubed paneer. Stir well and serve hot with naan/ roti.