Thursday, July 23, 2009

Paneer Mushroom Masala



Have you ever been in a situation where you have liked a dish served at a restaurant so much that it got so etched in your memory, compelling you to recreate a similar one by yourself? Though it has happened to me few times the one that I recall very well is Paneer Mushroom Masala served at a vegetarian restaurant in Pune, India. If you have read my previous posts you would be knowing my craze for non-veg dishes and how much I preferred having non veg dishes rather than veg dishes. But this particular dish completely caught me off guard and I found myself going to the restaurant ever since, for the sole reason of having their Paneer Mushroom Masala.


After few futile attempts at recreating the dish, ever since I started cooking, I should say that this one came very close! After all, it was the proper ratio and combo of ingredients that mattered and I learnt it the hard way. The blend of freshly powdered spices with sauteed ground onion-tomato-cashew mixture gives a lot of flavour to this creamy rich gravy. As in other dishes, I have made this with my choice of ingredients. I love the taste of golden stir fried paneer in my dishes and the flavour imparted by green bell pepper. The use of butter instead of oil gives a rich taste to the dish but since I wanted to cut down on butter, I used it only for stir frying paneer. This dish goes well with Chapati/Roti/Naan.


Ingredients:
Paneer - 10 oz(283 g)
Big White onion - 1 chopped
Tomatoes - 2 pureed
Green bell pepper(Capsicum) - 1 chopped
Mushrooms - 10 oz(283 g) sliced
Bay leaves - 2
Ginger Garlic paste - 2 tsp
Chilly Powder - 3/4 tsp
Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
Coriander Powder - 1/2 tsp
Cumin Powder - 3/4 tsp
Garam masala - 3/4 tsp
Salt to taste
Cashews - 2 tbsp
Poppy seeds - 1.5 tsp
Kasoori methi(Dried Fenugreek Leaves) - 1 tsp
Milk - 3/4 cup
Tomato Ketchup - 1 tbsp
Chopped Cilantro - for garnish
Oil/Butter for cooking
Butter for stir frying paneer
To dry roast:
Cinnamon stick - 2.5" long
Cloves - 6
Cardamom seeds - 1/4 tsp
Star anise - 1

Method:
  • Dry roast the ingredients mentioned above on medium heat until the colour slightly changes and you get the aroma of roasted spices.
  • Cool and grind well. Keep aside.
  • Grease the cooking pan with enough butter over high heat(gas 8) and stir fry paneer until golden brown. Keep aside.
  • Heat oil/butter in the same pan and saute onions till brown.
  • Add ginger garlic paste and saute till raw smell goes.
  • Cool and grind to a paste. Keep aside.
  • Grind cashews and poppy seeds to a paste adding enough water.
  • Heat oil in the cooking pan and saute bay leaves for some time.
  • Add the onion paste and ground spices kept aside before. Saute for few seconds.
  • Add tomato puree and mushrooms and continue cooking till mushrooms are cooked well.
  • When the mushrooms are half cooked add the chopped green pepper.
  • Add chilly powder, turmeric powder, cumin powder, coriander powder, garam masala, enough salt and saute till raw smell of spices go.
  • Add crushed kasoori methi. Mix well.
  • Add cashew-poppy seeds paste along with milk and enough water.
  • Bring to a boil.
  • Reduce heat to low and add fried paneer pieces.
  • Cook for few minutes with closed lid.
  • Open the lid and add ketchup and mix well.
  • Garnish with cilantro and remove from heat.
  • Serve hot with Roti/Naan/Chapati.


Pooja.

Other Vegetarian Dishes:

Palak PaneerMushroom CurryPotato StewChole Paneer MasalaLobia Mushroom CurryKerala Kadala CurryIshtuPaneer Tikka Rolls

89 comments:

Sailaja Damodaran said...

nice click...yummy

Vani said...

Sounds delicious! Nice pic too

Pooja said...

Thanks Ms.Sailaja :)

Pooja said...

Thanks Vani :) It indeed was :)

Jenn said...

Delicious!! No need to go to restaurants anymore. ;-)

Gita Jaishankar said...

Wow Pooja...absoultely delicious dish...love the combo of paneer and mushrooms :)

Unknown said...

Fantastic, looks very professional(restaurant quality).

Vrinda said...

I was in search of some mushroom recipes,will try this for sure..looks tasty,both my fav ingredients..

Home Cooked Oriya Food said...

wow - looks so yummy... have to try this...

Shabs.. said...

Nalla kidilan postukal aanallo......My god, that really looks so yummy pooja....And the other day I came to ur blog seeing the kerala mutton roast.....oh god....vaayil vellam varunnu....i will try this 2 dishes definitely and let u go how it went ok....vaayil kappal odan maathram vellam undu....

Varsha Vipins said...

Ouch..This has left me craving for Paneer right now..!

Christo Gonzales said...

I need to add this to my list of new things I love.

Lisa Turner said...

OH MY! Mushrooms and paneer! I am trying this for sure. Thanks so much for this post!

Mangala Bhat said...

wow! fentastic ..Looking soo yummy!

Pari Vasisht said...

Hey Pooja,Even I posted a paneer dish for my 25th post. Your dish looks so creamy and tasty.Nice click.Thanks for sharing.

Padma said...

Looks too good Pooja :)

Bergamot said...

the pic is nice... very spicy and lot of flavour...yummm

ashsdelicacies.blogspot.ca said...

Loved the combo Pooja...Yummy click too...

Sushma Mallya said...

hi pooja...this looks so rich and delicious....lovely picture as well

Shabs.. said...

Pooja, was just wondering, if u can see the followers in my blog.I thought may be my husband played with my layout and everything just went off. I came into ur blog, i cud see none and i went to paritas blog, i cud see none..its the same prob...

Pooja said...

Thanks Jenn :) Yes that is true :)

Pooja said...

Thanks Gita :) I love that combo too!

Pooja said...

Thanks Sadhana/Muskaan :)

Pooja said...

Thanks Vrinda :) Do try it. You would love this!

Pooja said...

Thanks HCOF :)

Pooja said...

Thanks a lot Shabs :) Glad that you liked it. Do try it sometime. You will like these!

Pooja said...

Hehe...thanks Varsha :)

Pooja said...

DB, you would love this for sure!

Pooja said...

Thanks Lisa :) Do try it dear!

Pooja said...

Thanks Mangala :)

Pooja said...

Thanks Pari :) I will check out your version too!

Pooja said...

Thanks Padma :)

Pooja said...

Thanks Bergamot :)

Pooja said...

Thanks Aysha :) Yes this forms a nice combo!

Pooja said...

Shabs,this is a temporary problem which hasnt been solved yet. At least thats what I read some time back. It will become normal after some time. Or you may try changing your browser. For me this happened with Google Chrome for one whole day and then I switched to Firefox until the problem got resolved! But nothing would happen to your followers list. So dont worry :)

Suparna said...

hi pooja,
This is a superb combo!looks great!
I love paneer ..so shall try this sometime, I'll bookmark it for now :)Thanks dearie
TC

Renus Kitchen said...

very nice detailed recipe...nice click too

lubnakarim06 said...

Oh wow....creamy and delectable....

Parita said...

Thats awesome combination Pooja!

chef and her kitchen said...

what a creamy n yummy masala...looks really yummy..

Pooja said...

Thanks Suparna :) Being a paneer lover you would love this :)

Pooja said...

Thanks Lubna :)

Pooja said...

Thanks Parita :) My favourite combo!

Pooja said...

Thanks Prathibha :) The blended onions,tomato puree and cashew paste gives enough creamy texture so that you neednt add cream!

Ashwini said...

wow.. yummy dish.. lots of masala to work with huh.. nice click

dsdsds said...

Looks yummy... Actually to get the exact taste, get the recipe from an expert chef website like sanjeev kapoor or tarla dalal. They might suggest a few secret ingredients to enhance the taste to restaurant quality!!

Anonymous said...

Pooja,paneer mushroom masala looks so yummy and rich that even i love to taste some ..great clicks too dear
hey,btw i tried to open your blog with windows explorer several times and it failed..now this is firefox..whats the prob ? please check..some of the sites have this prob.

Parita said...

hey pooja dear, i have nominated you for Kreativ Blogger award, pls visit my blog and accept the same :)

Pooja said...

Thanks Ashwini :) Frankly there are only the usual ones we add in any curry plus fresh spices to give more aroma. But believe me this works :)

Pooja said...

Thanks a lot Hema and for the tip too! I will definitely check out their websites next time. Its definitely better than experimenting in kitchen :D

Pooja said...

Thanks Ann :) Oh this is again a prob with Google Blogger that isnt resolved yet. The followers widget causes a problem in loading in few blogs and this is what causes the prob. Acc: to what I have read, IE loads your site from point A to B, so that if any widget fails to load the entire website wont open. Whereas Firefox and other browsers dont function this way! The solution is to move your followers widget to the bottom of your website till the problem is solved. I havent done it since I havent still organized the entries at the bottom of my page :)

Pooja said...

Thanks a lot Parita for the award and for considering me :) I feel so honoured..thanks sweetie..you made my day :)

Valarmathi Sanjeev said...

looks yummy. Nice click.

Ann said...

OH dear! this looks awesome. I would love to have it with Rotis.

Pooja said...

Thanks Valar :)

Pooja said...

Thanks Ann :)

Yasmeen said...

Paired with mushrooms and all the spices,this looks like an ultimate masala paneer recipe,I should try the delicious combo.Thanks for sharing this with WW :D

Pooja said...

Thanks Yasmeen :) I love this combo and with the spice blend it turned out to be very flavourful :)

Anonymous said...

Poojs lovely pics ... looks tempting !!

Kalyani said...

nice one ... looks yummy & delicious pooja ...........

Pooja said...

Thanks Prasu :)

Pooja said...

Thanks Kalyani :)

lissie said...

very very tasty dish! love to have it with naan... :D

Ganga Sreekanth said...

looks delicious pooja

Anonymous said...

Thanks for stopping by simplydelicious ...
Ur blog looks xxlnt dear!
Tasty recipes&tempting pics!!!
Paneer-mushroom masala looks gr8...
Thanks for posting...

Uma said...

that's a lovely dish Pooja! Looks gorgeous and delicious. I am not a great fan of mushrooms though :)

saffronapron.blogspot.com said...

Your recipes have so many ingredients that I feel intimidated to try them :)
U are doing a great job pooja.

Pooja said...

Thanks Lissie :) Yes I like that combo!

Pooja said...

Thanks Sangi for dropping by :) You have a great blog too!

Pooja said...

Thanks Uma :) You may replace mushroom with other veggies you prefer :)

Pooja said...

Thanks Smitha :) Actually its not much dear..I have added only a few extra spices for aroma. Do try it and its not a tough task :)

Unknown said...

Looks flavorful with all those aromatic spices in there.

Pooja said...

Thanks Divya :) Yes it adds a lot of flavour!

Shri said...

Awesome!!It looks so yummy:)

Pooja said...

Thanks Shri :)

Hari Chandana P said...

looks awesome dear... delicious and tempting clicks!!!

Pooja said...

Thanks Hari Chandana :)

Sree vidya said...

looks and sounds nice.
I haven't tried mushroom-paneer combination so far.
Protein rich!

ARUNA said...

ilove anything with Paneer and this dish looks sooooo tempting, nice combination Pooja!

Preety said...

it happened to me recently only, i had malai kofta in a restaurant and wanted to recreate the same taste at home but still trying..your gravy looks so rich and perfect

Pooja said...

Thanks Sree Vidya :) Paneer-Mushroom is a nice combo. Try it. You will like it :)

Pooja said...

Thanks Aruna :) I'm paneer crazy too!

Pooja said...

Thanks Preety :) Frankly Malai Kofta was my project too. Happened to recreate it to my satisfaction. Will post that soon!

Pavithra Elangovan said...

Hey pooja thats really fantabulous dish i too love this combo of paneer and mushroom,,, wish to taste urs with naan..

sangeeta said...

tempting...yum..

Pooja said...

Thanks Pavithra :) Its a nice combo and goes well with Naan. Do try it sometime!

Pooja said...

Thanks Sangeeta :)

sachin said...

Bumped in to this blog while searching for recipe with few main ingredients at hand. Followed recipe and it did turn out to be quite good. Thank you.

Babu Venkat said...

Hi,
I loved the recipe so much and made it on Valentine's Day. It turned out excellent. My wife and kids loved it so much.

Thanks for going thru all the trial & errors to perfect this recipe.

The next time, I'll reduce the ginger garlic paste to 1 tbsp and see how it'll come out.

Thanks for making our Valentine's Day dinner a special one. I felt very proud.

Regards
Babu