Recipe: Appetizing Kadai Paneer

Kadai Paneer. Kadai Paneer is a delicious dish made from firm cottage cheese, onions, tomatoes, capsicum (green bell peppers) and Indian spices. There are two ways the recipe can be made and I am sharing both the versions in this post. Kadai paneer recipe - Indian cottage cheese (paneer) cooked in onion tomato gravy with homemade kadai masala & bell peppers.

Kadai Paneer Recipe - About Kadai Paneer Recipe Paneer Recipe: A quintessential paneer specialty that can be always found on a restaurant menu and dinner parties! A sumptuous paneer dish that tops a vegetarian's list, this paneer recipe can be made dry, semi dry or in a gravy version. You can have Kadai Paneer using 17 ingredients and 19 steps. Here is how you cook that.

Ingredients of Kadai Paneer

1. You need 5 of Dry red chilies.
2. Prepare 3 tbsp of Coriander Seeds.
3. It's 1 of Cinnamon Stick.
4. It's 2-3 of Cloves.
5. You need 2 of Black Cardamoms.
6. You need 5-6 of Black Peppercorns.
7. You need 1 of Onion (Finely Chopped).
8. Prepare 2 of Green Chillis (Slit in Half).
9. It's 2 tsp of Garlic Paste.
10. It's 1/4 cup of Tomato Puree.
11. Prepare 1/2 cup of Tomato.
12. You need 1 tsp of Garam masala.
13. It's of Salt.
14. Prepare 1 tsp of Red Chili powder.
15. You need 1/2 cup of Green Bell Pepper (Cubed).
16. It's 250 g of Paneer.
17. It's 1 tbsp of Lemon Juice.

We have here is a semi dry paneer recipe that can be served as a main dish at a dinner party or on festivals. Kadai Paneer is a popular paneer recipe where paneer and bell peppers are cooked in a spicy masala. It is one of the most popular paneer recipes. It's there on the menu in almost all Indian restaurants.

Kadai Paneer instructions

1. Dry roast coriander seeds and 2-3 dry red chilies till slightly browned and a nice aroma starts to come..
2. Grind to make a slightly coarse powder.
3. Heat oil in a pan.
4. When the oil is hot, add the remaining dry red chilies, cloves, black cardamom, black peppercorns and cinnamon stick..
5. Fry for 20 seconds..
6. Add onion and fry till translucent.
7. Add green chilies and ginger garlic paste.
8. Fry till onion turns golden brown.
9. Add tomato puree and tomato and fry for 2-3 minutes.
10. Add the ground masala powder, salt, Kashmiri red chilli powder and garam masala powder.
11. Now add half cup water and cook for 2-3 minutes..
12. Add capsicum and paneer and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add some more water if the gravy is too thick..
13. Cook until oil starts to separate from the sides..
14. Add ghee and lemon juice and mix well..
15. For smoky flavour, heat a piece of coal for 5-6 minutes on flame till it is red hot..
16. Keep a piece of aluminium foil over the curry and keep the piece of coal over it..
17. Pour 1 tbsp ghee on the hot coal and immediately close the lid for 15-20 minutes..
18. Reheat before serving..
19. Serve hot with phulke, naan or laccha paratha..

I remember always ordering it when we ate out. If you like your paneer in a spicy chatpata masala then kadai paneer recipe is custom made for you. Chunks of pan fried cottage cheese and cubes of tomato and green capsicum cooked in a delicious bhuna onion and tomato masala. The paneer chunks are pan fried and then soaked in warm water which makes them so soft that they just melt in your mouth. Kadai paneer is one of the very popular paneer dishes from North India.