This is a typical Indian restaurant dish for paneer butter masala. Both rice and naan pair well with this dish.
| Prep Time: | 10 mins |
| Cook Time: | 20 mins |
| Total Time: | 30 mins |
| Servings: | 4 |
Ingredients
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- ½ pound paneer, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 onions, finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon ginger paste
- 1 teaspoon garlic paste
- 1 tablespoon ground cashews
- 1 teaspoon ground red chiles
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon ground coriander
- ½ teaspoon garam masala
- 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
- ½ cup half-and-half
- ½ cup milk
- ½ teaspoon white sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat; fry paneer in batches until golden, about 5 minutes. Transfer fried paneer to a paper towel-lined plate to drain, retaining vegetable oil in skillet.
- Melt butter in the same skillet over medium heat; cook and stir onion until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Add ginger paste and garlic paste. Continue to cook until fragrant, about 1 minute more. Stir cashews, ground red chiles, cumin, coriander, and garam masala into the onion mixture. Cook and stir for 1 minute.
- Stir tomato sauce, half-and-half, milk, sugar, and salt into spice mixture; simmer until thickened, about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to low. Add fried paneer and simmer until heated through, about 5 minutes more.
- I think frying the paneer is an important step since it can become mushy if added raw. However, you can skip the step if you are concerned about fried food.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 469 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 15 g |
| Cholesterol | 37 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Protein | 11 g |
| Saturated Fat | 12 g |
| Sodium | 947 mg |
| Sugars | 7 g |
| Fat | 41 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I followed this word for word and loved it. I could not stop eating it. It made 3.5 cups, as I measured. The paneer chunks taste so good. Not sure if tofu would have worked as well. For me this is perfect, but it leans on the sweeter side and mine was not very hot. I think some will find this lacking heat. But it could have been my chile powder being weak. I will make this again.
Tastes really good! However, I’d say this recipe makes 2 to 2 1/2 servings, not 4. Mine looks a bit “oilier” than the picture but still tastes great!
This was great. I added an extra tablespoon of ghee at the end for added richness (like my local Indian restaurant) and added some frozen cauliflower. Next time, I think I could add even more cauliflower.
we used fresh tomatoes, made tomato cream and used it instead of tomato sauce. used fresh cream instead of half and half because it wasn’t available. it appeared pink/orange in colour than red. but taste was delicious and just how we expected it to be. thank you so much for sharing this recipe
Really enjoyed the recipe. Next time I’ll up the amount of spice a little bit, but the dish has a decent kick as is. I had trouble browning the paneer on all sides without overcooking, something I’ll have to work on.
Yum. This is a new favorite.
I love paneer and this looks delicious!
Thank so much for the recipe, excellent work
I made this for a graduation diner and it was well recieved.
Excellent! I loved it. My only problem was MY paneer. Could not find so tried to make. I messed it up. I loved the recipe. Thank you!
Oh my goodness. This is super incredibly delicious! But I am a huge fan of paneer (my own or the frozen cheese I can get at my market), so maybe I’m biased. But this is a 10 out of 10 for me.
I really liked it, i The only thing I added was some frozen green peas and steamed tender cauliflower just because I thought it might taste good. It did!
This is YUMMY! Made almost exactly as written–didn’t have the red chilles so I substituted a bit of Thai red curry paste I had in the fridge. Otherwise followed to a t, it is superb! Made my own paneer (very easy to do and economical) from the paneer recipe on this site, my whole family loved this.
Paneer is always delicious and I love eating it and making it. This recipe exploits the flavours very well.
Only used one onion, but otherwise made exactly as listed.
This recipe has been an excellent introduction into Indian cooking. I have used fresh garlic and ginger instead of the paste, and it still comes out good. This is a household favorite!
Added following extra cilantro, green chilli, bell peppers, and 1 tsp turmeric powder. Tastes amazing…
This recipe was really wonderful. I was trying to make this cheap and use ingredients I had on hand. Made my own garam masala using a recipe for the spice mix, blended fresh ginger and garlic to make paste and used sriracha hot sauce instead of red pepper paste. Also used fresh almonds stuck in a blender with some oil instead of the cashew paste and only milk (no half and half). My only issue is that it turned out very dull in color. I was expecting bright orange/red and it was sorta peach/pink. Maybe use tomato paste instead of sauce?
Thanks so much for the recipe! The only changes I made was to substitute grated almonds for the cashew paste; I did not have enough chilies so I added red curry paste and sriracha chili sauce; I substituted almond milk for the cream and milk. This is a new family favourite.
This recipe was excellent – thank you so much! The paneer is easily substituted with tofu and the spice can be adjusted up or down, according to your preferences. We loved this and will definitely be making this again.