Lasooni Paneer

🧾ingredients

• paneer/Indian cottage cheese
• onion
• tomato
• garlic
• ginger
• Kashmiri red chilli powder
• garam masala
• turmeric
• raw cashew nuts
• cumin seeds [if you don't want to see cumin seeds in the curry, use cumin powder]
• oil; divided
• butter; optional
• salt to taste [I start with about ¾ tsp of salt and then add more if required]
• kasuri methi
• cream

To know more about the spices used in the recipe, take a look at the most essential spices needed for Indian Cooking.

🍲equipment needed

This is a stovetop recipe for lasooni panner (also called Paneer Lehsuni). We will need the following equipment/utensils to prepare the dish.

• large skillet
• cooking spoons
• measuring cups/spoons (if you are comfortable with eyeballing ingredients, this is optional)
• small blender/ Indian style mixer-grinder
• serving dishes.

prep-work

Cut paneer into bite-sized pieces.

Peel, wash and roughly chop onions

Wash and roughly chop tomatoes

Peel and crush garlic and ginger.

cooking

Heat oil in a skillet on medium heat

Lightly fry the paneer pieces until slightly brown on two sides. Remove from heat.

To the same skillet, add more oil. add onion, garlic, and ginger, and fry until aromatic. add spice powders - Kashmiri red chilli powder, turmeric powder, and garam masala. Fry until fragrant.

Add tomatoes and salt to taste. fry until tomatoes are cooked and mushy.

Once cooled, add to a small blender jar. Add raw cashew nuts. Grind to a smooth paste with about ¼-½ cup water.

(I give a quick rinse to skillet to prevent burning in the next steps of cooking).

Add oil (and butter if using) to the skillet on medium heat. Add cumin seeds and the ground paste. Fry the paste until almost all the liquid evaporates.

Add 1½ cups of water (adjust to suit your desired consistency - I have made it slightly thick in the video by using lesser quantity of water). Bring to a boil. Add paneer pieces and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Sprinkle crushed kasuri methi.

Serve hot garnished with cream.

💭how to keep paneer soft

If you have noticed that paneer gets chewy in your curries, try the following:

Make paneer at home.

Fry the paneer slightly - it should not turn a whole lot brown. Just a hint of golden brown.

Once you remove from heat, soak the paneer pieces in hot water until ready to use. Drain and add to your curries.

Do not cook the paneer in the curry/gravy for a long time, just simmer it for 2-3 minutes once you add the paneer pieces.

💭storing leftovers & reheating

You can store the leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 2-3 days. Reheat on the stovetop or in a microwave.

Just reheat the quantity you need for one-time use. Repeated reheating can make the paneer chewy.

💭difference between paneer butter masala and lasooni paneer

I make Paneer butter masala at home which is an extremely popular Indian paneer recipe. Every Indian restaurant would have this on its menu.

Both have similar ingredients and based on tomato-onion gravy. They are both rich in flavor.

The main difference in my recipes for lasooni paneer and paneer butter masala is that:

I do not use honey/sugar in my recipe for lasooni paneer (in the other one I do to add a hint of sweetness).

Lasooni paneer as the name suggests (lasoon/lehsun is garlic in Hindi) is heavy on the garlic. I use equal quantities of ginger and garlic in my paneer butter masala and in this lehsuni paneer recipe, I use more garlic than ginger.

📖ingredient substitutions

Paneer dishes especially curries are generally calorie-rich with the use of butter in the preparation and cream to finish off the dish. If you want to cut down on calories, but still want to enjoy the dish, you can try the following:

Butter does add a lot of flavor and richness to the dish. Avoid it if you want to cut down on calories.

We use cashew nuts to bring in a rich taste, creaminess and also to thicken the gravy slightly. One of the most commonly used substitutes for cashew nuts is melon seeds, though I have not personally used them. What I do is when I do not have raw cashew nuts, is to avoid the cashew nuts completely and add some more cream at the end for a richer taste. This is a good alternative to adding cashew nuts.

The cream is required to bring in richness as well as mellow down the spices used. I do not always have cream at home. And this recipe needs only a little bit. So, when I don't have cream at home, I substitute it with thick coconut cream. You can use the equivalent amount of thick coconut cream.

📖can you substitute paneer with tofu?

Technically, YES, you can. Use tofu, skip the butter and use coconut cream instead of the dairy-based cream to make the vegan version.

But note that tofu and paneer have different tastes and textures.

📖recipe variation

If you don't want to see cumin seeds in the gravy, you can use ¾ teaspoon of cumin powder. Add the cumin powder along with Kashmiri red chilli powder, garam masala, and turmeric powder. In step 6 of cooking, do not add cumin seeds. The rest of the steps remain the same.

🥣serving suggestions

Plain rice or Jeera Rice works well with the recipe.

Store-bought naan or homemade Rotis are wonderful accompaniments. I usually serve this with chappathi

vegetarian

Bell pepper (or capsicum) yogurt curry is an aromatic dish where shallow fried bell pepper is cooked in a flavorful gravy with yogurt and can be eaten for lunch or dinner. This is an interesting way to include bell pepper or capsicum in your diet and pairs well with rice or roti. It is a pretty straightforward recipe with ingredients mostly available in an Indian Pantry.

The sweetness from the beetroot, and the sourness from the yogurt with a slight hint of heat from the green chillies - beetroot aviyal is a lovely side dish to serve with some steamed rice and sambhar.

Cauliflower chickpea curry is one of my go-to recipes that comes together so quickly and easily. It is so flavorful, that you will go back for seconds.

Non-vegetarian

Tender & succulent pieces of chicken cooked in a medley of aromatic spices, flavors of coconut & cilantro. Serve cilantro chicken curry with rice or naan.

Spicy Kerala Fish Curry - spicy and tangy fish curry with flavors of roasted coconut, ginger, garlic, and different types of peppers. Served best with steamed rice.

Kashmiri Gaadh or Kashir Gaadh is a delicious fish curry from the exotic Kashmiri cuisine. 

📋additional notes

• 1 CUP = 250 ML. (US cups are typically 240 ml. You can use US cups with no significant change to the dish). 
• 1 TEASPOON = 5ML; 1 TABLESPOON= 15 ML
• Grams to cups measurements – we strive to provide these conversions as accurately as possible. There might be some slight variations depending on the brand, weighing scale, etc.
• serving size - this serves 3-4 people. adjust the serving size to suit your dietary needs.
• Prep Time involves chopping all the required requirements and gathering spices etc. Cooking Time indicates the actual time needed for cooking. Additional Time - Keep a few minutes extra in mind to cool down the tomato-onion mix to cool down enough to grind. Always plan a little extra time while cooking. (Read my tips for recipe success)