Paneer Pasanda
Gravy preparations:
1. in a frying pan or kadai take 1.75 cups roughly chopped tomatoes, 10 to 12 cashews, halved or roughly chopped, ½ inch cinnamon, 2 green cardamoms, 2 single thin strands of mace (optional), 2 cloves and 1 cup water.
2. on a low to medium flame, stir and simmer this mixture till the tomatoes soften.
3. when the tomatoes soften, switch off the flame. some stock will be left in the pan and we will use it while grinding the tomatoes. let this mixture become warm or cool down completely before you grind.
4. meanwhile, heat 2 tbsp oil in a pan and add 1 cup heaped chopped onions.
5. stir and saute the onions on a low flame. add a pinch of salt for the onions to brown faster.
6. once the onions turn to light golden, switch off the flame. let the onions cool. don’t brown the onions too much as then the gravy might become bitter.
7. now in a grinder jar, take the fried onions. add 4 to 5 tbsp water.
8. then grind the fried onions to a smooth paste. keep this paste aside.
9. in the same grinder, add the cooked tomatoes-cashews-spices mixture along with the stock. no need to add any extra water while grinding.
10. grind to a smooth paste. there should be no cashew chunks or pieces in the paste. keep this paste aside.
paneer stuffing preparations:
11. in a bowl or plate, take 2 to 2.5 tbsp finely crumbled or grated paneer (you can substitute grated cheese instead of paneer), 1 tbsp raisins (chopped), 6 to 8 cashews (finely chopped) or 2 tbsp finely chopped cashews, 1 or 2 green chilies (chopped) or about 1 tsp chopped green chilies, 1 tbsp chopped coriander leaves and ½ tbsp chopped mint leaves.
12. now add ¼ tsp red chili powder, ½ tsp cumin powder and ¼ tsp salt or add as required.
13. mix everything and keep aside. check the taste and add more of the spices and salt if required. you can make this stuffing more spicy if you want, by increasing the amount of green chilies or red chili powder. if you want to have a tangy taste in the stuffing add a few drops of lemon juice or amchur powder/dry mango powder.
14. i used homemade paneer for the pasanda. i sliced the paneer as shown in the pic below to get triangles. use your own mathematics while slicing paneer in triangles. you can also slice them in squares or rectangles. for more neat looking shapes, use a cookie cutter.
15. separate them carefully. add the crumbles and bits you get when slicing paneer, to the stuffing.
16. now slice each triangle into two halves gently.
17. slice all triangles this way.
18. now place some of the stuffing on the paneer triangle.
19. cover it with its top triangular slice gently. don’t press. one paneer sandwich is ready.
20. make all paneer sandwiches stuffed with the filling this way.
21. in a bowl, make a paste of ½ cup corn starch (known as corn flour in india) with 4 tbsp water. for a healthier version, i suggest to use yellow colored maize flour (makki ka atta) or gram flour (besan). though note that the sandwiches will be yellow colored and the taste will be different. you might have to adjust the quantity of water if using these flours. make a medium consistency paste with them.
22. dip the paneer sandwich slice in the batter.
23. turn over and coat from all sides. you can also use a spoon or small tongs to coat the slices. if you cannot turn the paneer sandwich in the batter, then with a spoon, pour the batter from the sides on the paneer sandwich and see that the batter coats the sandwich from all over.
24. place the paneer slices in a medium hot oil (4 tbsp oil) for shallow frying.
25. repeating the above steps nos 22 and 23, place more paneer triangles in the hot oil. do stir the corn starch paste before you coat the paneer triangles, as the corn starch settles down.
26. when the base gets some golden specks or edges, then turn over and continue to shallow fry. you can also deep fry these paneer triangles.
27. i fried from all sides so that the corn starch gets cooked. meaning i had to make the paneer triangles stand with a spatula for frying from all sides. if you don’t want to do this, then just add some more oil while frying.
28. now drain the fried paneer sandwiches on kitchen paper towels. keep aside.
making paneer pasanda gravy:
29. in the same pan, in which we cooked the tomatoes, add 1 to 1.5 tbsp fresh oil or the same oil in which the paneer sandwiches were fried. add 1 tej patta and ½ tsp shahjeera (caraway seeds). saute till the shahjeera crackles. substitute cumin/jeera if shahjeera is not there.
30. add 1 to 1.5 tsp ginger garlic paste.
31. stir and saute till raw aroma of ginger-garlic goes away.
32. now add the tomato-cashew-spice paste. saute for 3 to 4 minutes on a low to medium flame.
33. stir and then add the fried onion paste.
34. stir very well and saute for 3 to 4 minutes on a low to medium flame.
35. add ¼ tsp turmeric powder, ½ tsp coriander powder and ½ tsp kashmiri red chili powder or deghi mirch. stir very well.
36. then add 1 cup water.
37. stir again very well.
38. simmer the gravy on a low flame. if the gravy splutters a lot, then cover the pan with a lid.
39. simmer or saute the paneer pasanda gravy till you see some oil specks on the top. the gravy will also thicken. about 4 to 5 minutes on a low to medium flame. then add salt as required.
40. add ¼ to ½ tsp sugar or as required.
41. stir and then add ¼ tsp garam masala, 1 tsp kasuri methi/dry fenugreek leaves, crushed and 2 tbsp low fat cream (i used amul cream). if you don’t have cream then skip adding. the gravy will still taste good.
42. stir till the cream is mixed evenly with the rest of the gravy. switch off the flame. check the taste and add more of the salt or sugar if required as per your taste.
43. now you can place the paneer triangles or pasanda in the gravy. or else you can place them in a serving tray or plate and pour the gravy from top as shown in the final pics.
44. coat the paneer pasanda in the gravy.
serve paneer pasanda hot garnished with some coriander leaves. best accompaniments with paneer pasanda are naan, tandoori roti, chapati, lachha paratha, malabar paratha andjeera rice or veg pulao.
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