Shahi Paneer without onions and garlic.

Now even I take help from the net when I need some recipe but what I noticed is that most of the recipes are serving two or four or six the max. Now ours is a joint family and we are all together 16 members so I really used to get confused when ever I consulted the net for a recipe. I had to do maths and I hated that. So in my blog you will find recipes serving 20-25 people and my recipes are based on approximation . You can add or subtract a few things according to your taste.

It was my son's birthday a few days back and I had prepared dinner for 20 people. Among all my dishes everyone liked my shahi paneer a lot and since it is Navratri we aren't eating any onions or garlic. So all the dishes were made without using onions and Garlic.

Ingredients:
Amul frozen paneer 800 gm
You can use 1kg fresh Paneer too
6 Large tomatoes
pureed in the blender
Vegetable oil 2 small ladles (kadchhi)
Handful of cashew nuts (half a cup)
Handful of almonds (half a cup)
Handful of rasins (half cup)
Amul cream 1 small pack
2 tspoons cumin seeds (jeera)
2 cassia leaves (tez patta)
Turmeric 2 tspoons
Deghi Mirch 3 tspoons
Coriander powder 3 tspoons
Garam Masala 3 tspoons
Curd 6 serving spoons
Cinamon powder 1tspoon
Sugar 1-2 tspoons
Salt according to taste
Coriander leaves half a cup for garnishing

Method:

Now if you are using the frozen paneer cut the packets and put the cubes of paneer in boiling water with 1 tspoon of salt.
If you have bought fresh paneer, cube it and do the same. simmer for 4 mins. This will make the paneer soft. Strain the paneer and set aside.

Take a large wok and put in 2 small ladles of oil. When the oil is hot enough put in the cassia or tez patta leaves.

 Now add in the cumin seeds. Be careful that the seeds don't burn or turn black

Now add in the pureed tomatoes. From the picture you can get an idea of the ladle I used. Now saute the tomatoes on low flame.

Meanwhile put half a handful of cashews and almonds in half a cup of milk and blend it in the blender

After blending it will look like the picture above. It is better if you soak the cashews and almonds in milk for 30 mins before you blend it. If you forget that is also ok. You can do it instantly too. So no problem relax.

Meanwhile the tomatoes will start to leave oil like shown in the picture

Now add in the turmeric

Then the deghi mirch. In this pic you will get an idea of how big a spoon I have used and I put in 3 heaped spoons of the spices.

Now add in the dhaniya powder.

Stir in the spices for 1 min on low flame

Now add in the cashew almond paste and stir till it is nicely blended in the tomatoes. You will have to keep stirring because the paste tends to stick at the bottom of the wok

Now add in the Amul cream

small pack is what I used. Keep the flame low at all times and keep stirring because this tends to stick at the bottom.

Now add in one tspoon of sugar and stir.

now add in 1 tspoon of salt. Stir again.

Now add in 6 ladles curd. That should be around 1.5 cups of curd.

Stir the mixture for a minute. If you feel the mixture is too thick you can add in a little milk. The consistency should neither be too thin nor too thick.

now add in half a cup of sliced cashews

Take half a handful or half a small bowl of rasins and wash them.

Put in the rasins and stir. Put in the garam masala. Now at this point you can taste the curry and add in sugar or salt according to your taste. If you feel you can add in deghi mirch also if you feel it is less spicy. Sometimes the curd may be sour and so the curry is sour. So put in sugar accordingly. The taste should not be too sweet or sour. This is the point where you should depend on your taste buds.

Now add in the strained paneer and mix well. If you feel the curry is too thick you can add in water accordingly.

Now sprinkle 1 tspoon of cinnamon powder.

This is the cinnamon I use. I find this the best. Cover the wok for 3 minutes and in the meanwhile clear up your kitchen. You must have made a mess by now.

This is what the end product will look like. You can now garnish this with coriander leaves. I am sorry I forgot to click a picture of the end product. But believe me it tastes really good.

Do try this recipe and tell me how it went. 

Happy Cooking!!!