Lasooni Paneer - a delicious paneer recipe from Indian cuisine. Onion and tomatoes form the base of the gravy to which we add fragrant spices. Lightly roasted paneer pieces are simmered in the garlic-flavored gravy and topped with cream.
Paneer is very popular in Inda, especially in North Indian cuisine. Paneer is Indian Cottage Cheese and is typically made at home. It is also easily available at your local Indian grocers. You can use paneer to make this delicious curry that pairs well with roti and naan.
Have you tried the paneer pulao? Serve with a simple onion/mixed-vegetable raitha, papad, and pickle for a wholesome meal.
Jump to:
- 🧾ingredients
- 🍲equipment needed
- 📋step by step instructions
- 💭how to keep paneer soft
- 💭storing leftovers & reheating
- 💭difference between paneer butter masala and lasooni paneer
- 📖ingredient substitutions
- 📖can you substitute paneer with tofu?
- 📖recipe variation
- 🥣serving suggestions
- 🧾more Indian curries
- 📋additional notes
- 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.
📋step by step instructions
Full recipe + measurements + video can be found in the recipe card below.
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
🧾more Indian curries
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)
Lasooni Paneer
Ingredients
- 250 grams paneer; cut into bite-sized pieces
- 140 grams onion approx. 1 cup; roughly chopped
- 125 grams tomato 1 cup; roughly chopped
- 30 grams garlic approx. 8-10 large cloves; crushed
- 10 grams approx. 1-inch piece ginger
- 1 teaspoon Kashmiri red chilli powder; adjust to taste
- 1 teaspoon garam masala ; adjust to taste
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- 8-10 raw cashew nuts
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds; see recipe notes
- 2-3 tablespoon oil; divided
- 1 tablespoon butter; optional- see recipe notes
- Salt to taste
- 1-2 tablespoon kasuri methi
- 2-3 tablespoon cream - see recipe notes
equipment needed
- 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.
Instructions
how to make lasooni paneer/lehsuni paneer
prep-work
- <div>
- Cut paneer into bite-sized pieces.
- Peel, wash, and roughly chop onions
- Wash and roughly chop tomatoes
- Peel and crush garlic and ginger.
- </div>
- <div>
cooking
- Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a skillet on medium heat
- Place the paneer pieces in s single layer and lightly fry the paneer pieces until slightly brown on two sides (approx. 1-2 minutes per side). Remove from heat.
- To the same skillet, add 1 tablespoon of oil. Add onion, garlic, and ginger, and fry until the onion starts to turn translucent. This will take around 3-4 minutes. Add spice powders - Kashmiri red chilli powder, turmeric powder, and garam masala. Fry for 2-3 minutes or until fragrant.
- Add tomatoes and salt to taste. Fry until tomatoes are cooked and mushy [this will take about 6-7 minutes.
- Once cooled, add to a small blender jar. Add raw cashew nuts. Grind to a smooth paste with about ¼-½ cup water.
- [Note: I give a quick rinse to the 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.[Note: The time it takes for this step depends on the water you used to grind the paste. It typically takes me about 8-10 minutes. Taste and make sure that there is no raw taste or smell before proceeding to the next step. If you are unsure, fry for a few more minutes, without burning the mix. You can adjust the seasoning here as well.]
- Add 1½ cups of water (adjust to suit your desired consistency [Note: I have made it slightly thick in the video by using a 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.
- </div>
Video
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.
- Butter does add a lot of flavor and richness to the dish. Skip it if you want to cut down on calories.
- I do not always have cream at home. And this recipe needs only a little bit. Instead of cream used in the recipe, you can use the equivalent amount of thick coconut cream. The cream is required to bring in richness as well as mellow down the spices used.
- If you are using store-bought paneer, make sure it is labeled gluten-free if you are following a GF diet. Some of them may have All-purpose flour.
- If the cashew nuts are a tad bit dry for your blender to grind, soak them in warm water for 10 minutes prior to grinding.
- If you don't want to use cashew nuts, avoid them while grinding the paste. Top the dish at the end with some additional cream to bring in richness.
- 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.
Addison says
These flavors are amazing!
Sree says
Thank you!
Linda says
Ahhhh another delicious paneer recipe to try!
Sree says
Thank you!
Chef Dennis says
I've always loved Indian cuisine! This lasooni paneer looks really delish.
Sree says
Thank you so much!