Paneer in Spicy Tomato Sauce Recipe

Hello world!

I’m being lazy on blogging front that does not mean I don’t cook or have stopped to try anything new in my kitchen. The new recipe experiments from all over world is on going and always will be. The only sad thing is I’ve lost my photography mojo. These days, I spend most of the time on reading cookbooks (that I’ve collected in last months) and to list down  try recipes from books. Oh yaa..should I confess that I’ve become addicted to twitter too! Almost everyday, I don’t forget to peek in and say hello to wonderful friends out there. :-)

Well, I did pull out this recipe from last year’s recipe drafts. Today, I was browsing my ‘recipe-to-be-posted’ folder and found this one! Thank god I found all images of this recipe. I took all pictures age ago. I wonder why I didn’t share with you sooner. Believe me, this is SO delicious and tasty paneer dish nicely blended in tomato sauce. I tried this long time ago from Sunita’s kitchen. I remember it turned out perfect and lip-smacking good. I love the bright red color of this curry that you can see from pictures here. All that gorgeous crimson red color came from juicy tomatoes! I’ve tried it couple of times, I encourage you too! Thank you Sunita for wonderful recipe.  Also, check out Veggie Belly’s delicious Paneer and Tomato Curry recipe on her blog.

Don’t cringe at long list of ingredients. I assure you it’s really easy to prepare without any elaborate work. My mouth is watering while writing this recipe!

Paneer in spicy tomato sauce Recipe:
Adapted from: Sunita

Ingredients:

• 4-5 big tomatoes, roughly chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 cardamom pods, split three fourths of the way
• 1 stick cinnamon, about 1 inch
• 1 – ½ C of water
• 2 cloves
• 200gm Paneer, cubed in bite size chunks

Grind into a paste:

• 3 garlic cloves
• 1” ginger
• 1 small onion

Tempering:

• 2 tbsp of oil
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• a pinch of hing
• 1 whole red chilli

Dry masala:

• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp chilli powder (adjust to heat tolerance)
• 1/2 tsp garam masala powder
• salt to taste
• 1 tsp sugar – to reduce the tartness from tomatoes (optional)
• handful of fresh coriander leaves to garnish (optional)

How to

1. Bring to boil the chopped tomatoes in the water, along with 1 bay leave, the cinnamon, cardamom and cloves.

2. Cook it about 10 mins till the tomatoes are cooked till soft. Let it cool down completely. Transfer them to a blender, along with all the juice and also all the whole spices (including the bay leaves) in it, and make a smooth puree.

3. Heat the oil in a pan. Add the cumin seeds, bay leaf and the whole red chilli and hing. Now, add the onion-ginger-garlic paste and stir over medium heat till the paste is lightly browned and the raw smell has gone. About 5 minutes.

4. Add the tomato paste to the pan. Be careful, as the tomato paste will start to splutter around badly. Add the turmeric, cumin and chilli powders. Cover with lid and let it simmer for 10 mins low heat, till the water from the sauce is evaporated.

5. Add the paneer cubes and simmer for another few minutes till the sauce has thickened and the paneer has evenly coated with tomato sauce.

6. Add the garam masala powder, season with salt and sugar. Simmer for another minute.

7. Remove from heat, garnish with the chopped coriander. Serve hot with rotis, paratha or even plain rice. YUM!

 Print Recipe!

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