Paneer Nazakat recipe | Nazakat-e-paneer recipe
Paneer Nazakat is a delightful dish featuring soft paneer stuffed with spiced nuts and herbs, cooked to perfection for a flavorful experience.
Ingredients
FOR PANEER PIECES
- 250 gram paneer/indian cottage cheese
- 1 tsp ginger paste
- 1 tbsp cashews (chopped)
- 1 tbsp raisins (chopped)
- 1/4 tsp cardamom powder
- 1/4 tsp red chilli powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp desi ghee or oil
- 2 tbsp oil for frying
FOR TOMATO PASTE
- 3 tomatoes
- 1 inch piece of ginger
- 4 garlic cloves
- 3 green chilies
- 1/4 cup water
FOR CASHEW-SESAME PASTE
- 15 cashews
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds
- 1/4 cup water
FOR BROWN ONION PASTE
- 2 onions (thinly sliced)
- 1 tsp oil
- Pinch of salt
FOR GRAVY
- 2 tbsp desi ghee
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 green cardamoms
- 1 black cardamom
- Small piece of cinnamon
- 1 star anise
- Small piece of maze
- Red chilli powder to taste
- 2 tbsp coriander powder
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 2 tbsp curd
- 2 tbsp fresh cream
- Salt to taste
- 1/2 tsp kewra water
FOR GARNISH
- Fried cashews
- Fresh cream
Instructions
PREPARATION OF PANEER PIECES
- Cut paneer into square pieces.
- Scoop out some of the paneer from the middle of each piece making a kind of well in the centre. Keep aside. This scooped out paneer will be used later.
- For making its stuffing, add ghee in a pan.
- Add ginger paste and saute until it is slightly cooked.
- Add cashews, raisins, cardamom powder, red chilli powder, salt and saute for a minute only.
- Then add that scooped out paneer after mashing along with coriander leaves.
- Give them a good mix and cook just for a minute.
- When this mixture turns cool, fill it inside the hollow paneer pieces.
- Add oil in the same pan in which stuffing was cooked.
- Arrange paneer pieces.
- Fry from both the sides delicately so that stuffing doesn't come out.
- Take out. These paneer pieces can be eaten as a snack.
PREPARATION OF GRAVY
- For making gravy, we need three kind of pastes, which we will make one by one.
- For making TOMATO PASTE, add tomatoes, garlic, ginger, green chilies and water in a grinder jar.
- Grind them to a fine paste.
- For making CASHEW-SESAME PASTE, soak cashews and sesame paste in water for 15 minutes.
- Grind them to a paste alongwith that water in which they were soaked.
- For making BROWN ONION PASTE, you can use stove top method and simply fry onion in oil until they turn brown but we have made it in oven because it consumes less oil. For this, add thinly sliced onion in microwave safe bowl.
- Add oil and pich of salt.
- Microwave 10-15 minutes while stirring occasionally until it turns brown.
- When this onion turns completely cool, grind it to a paste by adding bit of water as well.
MAKING OF GRAVY
- After frying paneer pieces, if you are finding the oil less in pan, you can add more oil or ghee.
- Add whole spices like bay leaf, maze, green cardamoms, black cardamom, cumin seeds and star anise.
- Saute till cumin seeds begin to splutter.
- Then add tomato paste.
- Add dry spices like red chilli powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder, sugar and salt. Mix.
- Cook the tomato paste by putting a lid.
- While cooking tomato paste, do stir it occasionally.
- Once the paste turns dry, starts leaving the sides of the pan and oil is seen separating from it, it's a sign that the tomatoes are thoroughly cooked.
- Then add cashew paste along with two tablespoon of curd.
- Saute while whisking the curd continuously for a minute or two.
- Then add brown onion paste and water.
- Let water come to boil.
- Lastly add kewra water, cream and garam masala.
- Mix well. Gravy is ready.
SERVING
- Spread the gravy in a serving dish.
- Arrange paneer pieces over it.
- Top the paneer pieces with a piece of roasted cashew nut.
- Enjoy.
Notes
Do not put the paneer pieces into gravy until you are ready to be served. If you add paneer into gravy before time, paneer will turn elastic and stretchy.