Kerala Style Paneer Masala
Paneer!! Paneer Masala!! Who doesn’t love them!! My children just love Paneer and so as to say any dish made with Paneer! Being basically Malayalees(from Kerala), I tried out a new recipe – Kerala Style Paneer Masala. It came out very well. So I thought I will share the recipe with you all.
What is Paneer?
Paneer is a South Asian version of soft cheese prepared by acid and heat coagulation of milk. Paneer is a widely used North Indian milk product. It is a rich source of animal protein forming an important source of animal protein for vegetarians.
The manufacture of Paneer in factories involves the coagulation of milk proteins to form curd. During this process, large clumps of proteins are formed in which fat and other colloidal and dissolved solids get entrapped. These are then hooped in a muslin cloth and pressed under heavy weight, removing the fluid and collecting the clumps and forming a single mass of protein called Paneer.
A detailed post about Paneer will come very soon!
Common Preparations with Paneer
Being a common North Indian ingredient, most of the recipes that use paneer are flavoured in the North Indian Style. In South India, we get to taste these flavours from restaurants. The most popular dishes are namely Kadai Paneer, Paneer Butter Masala, Matar Paneer, Palak Paneer etc. Yum!! They all are my favourites.
Kerala Style Paneer Masala
Today, I am presenting a totally different recipe with very few ingredients that are found in every kitchen.
Tips for the perfect result:
Chopping of Onion – This is the main ingredient of the masala base. Take your time and chop onions finely and evenly. This will allow even frying and cooking of the masala and you will not be able to find big onion pieces in the masala while eating.
You can serve this with Rice, Chapathi, Tandoori or Nan Roti, Poori, Appam, Idiappam etc. Actually, anything goes with this dish! Try out! Believe me, you will not feel sorry about it at all!
Kerala Style Paneer Masala
Ingredients
- 200 g Paneer cut into cubes
- 4 medium Onion chopped finely
- 1 tbsp Coconut Oil
- ½ tsp Mustard Seeds
- 2 nos Green Chilli chopped finely
- ¾ tsp Ginger – Garlic paste or crushed
- 1 medium Tomato chopped finely
Dry masala
- ½ tsp Turmeric Powder
- ½ tsp Kashmiri Chilli Powder
- ¾ tsp Red Chilli Powder
- ½ tsp Pepper Powder
- 1 tbsp Coriander Powder
- Salt to taste
- 1 cup Water
Whole Spices
- ½ inch Cinnamon stick
- 2 nos Clove
- 2 nos Cardamom
Extra Flavouring
- a pinch Fenugreek Powder
- 1-2 sprigs Curry Leaves
Instructions
- Marinate paneer cubes with some salt, turmeric and chilli powder. Use ¼ tsp of both. Take care not to mix with hand as this might break the pieces. Shake the bowl and round and round and it will get marinated finely.
- Take oil in Kadai and heat it up. Lower flame and lightly fry the paneer pieces. Take care not to overcrowd the pan. If your pan is small, then fry in them in batches.
- Add mustard seeds and allow them to splutter.
- Next, add in the whole spices and let them fry for 30 seconds.
- Now is the time to add in the chopped Onion. You can increase the flame to medium. Allow the onion to attain a brownish tinge, not forgetting to stirring in betwee.
- Add in the chopped green chillies and fry for a minute or two.
- Next add the crushed(or paste) ginger- garlic. Fry, stirring in between, till the raw smell vanishes.
- Once the onion base is nicely mixed and it comes together, add in the dry masala powders. Mix well and allow to fry for 30 seconds.
- Add in the chopped tomatoes and give it a nice mix.
- Add in a quarter of the cup of warm water and allow the masala to cook on medium-low flame. Cook till oil starts oozing out from the masala.
- Now add the 1 sprig of curry leaves.
- Now we will add the fried paneer pieces and let them get coated with the onion base. Add in the remaining warm water and bring to boil.
- Once the gravy starts to thicken, add the fenugreek powder and curry leaves. Give a nice stir and off the stove.
- Let the dish sit in the pan for a few minutes before serving.
Notes
- Chop Onion, Green chilli and tomatoes finely so that we do not get big chunks in the end result.
- Best to use freshly crushed ginger and garlic. You can use around 6-7 cloves of garlic and half an inch of ginger. Crush it together and use it. You can also crush on green chilli together with it.
- Dry fry and powder Fenugreek Seeds and store. In this recipe, use just a pinch or two or it will overpower the flavours of the masala
