Uppma's Shahi Paneer Recipe

This traditional Indian dish is a favourite in the Virdi household. Recently Uppma and her mother Upinder made this dish together, filling the room with love and spices! 

Whilst Uppma is blessed that there is ALWAYS an endless supply of her mums' famous garam masala in the kitchen, up until now we weren't all so lucky! Thankfully, we've just released our new range of traditional spices and herbs which you can find in Uppma's Pantry, or by clicking on the items highlighted below.

Oh, and another Chai Crusader of ours, Kayla, has a vegan partner so she's going to give this recipe a go using oat milk and cubed tofu - watch this space! 

Shahi Paneer

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons oil or ghee
A pinch of Hing (Asafoetida)
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger or Ginger Chips
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon Garam Masala
1 tablespoon chilli powder
1 tablespoon Cumin Seeds
4 tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 kg cubed paneer
1 cup milk of your choice (dairy, soy, almond, oat)
1/2 cup almond meal

Method:
1. Add oil to a large pan and heat.
2. Add the Hing (Asafoetida) and ginger and stir.
3. Cook for approximately 2 minutes or until browned.

4. Next, add in the salt, garam masala, chilli powder and cumin seeds.
5. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring continuously.
6. Add in the tomato paste, continue stirring and cook for 1 minute.
7. You'll know you're ready for the next step once the oils have separated from the tomato spice mixture.
8. Add the cubed paneer to the pan and mix to ensure the tomato mixture coats all the cubes.
9. Add in the milk and almond meal.
10. Cook for 5 more minutes until the mixture has thickened in to a gravy, and the colour is a nice deep orange.

11. Put into a serving bowl and enjoy with steamed rice and roti bread. Delicious!

Oh, we're getting hungry just reading this! Note: if your spice cupboard is getting a little out of hand, we recommend using a Spice Box (like this one) to store your favourite and most readily used spices! That way, when you make your next curry, you will have all the spices ready to go (and we think the Spice Box looks so pretty on the kitchen counter).