Paneer butter masala recipe: ghee until the fat splits
I learned this paneer butter masala recipe after cream split in a pan that was still boiling. Now I cook the puree in cow ghee until the fat shows. Butter at the end. Paneer last. I stopped frying the cubes.
Paneer butter masala recipe
Restaurant gravy looks orange because they cook the tomato down, then add cream and often a pinch of colour. Home cooks skip the cook and pour cream into pale water. It looks rich for a minute. Then it splits. Cashews do the thickening if you let them. Cream is the last stir.
One serving, about 390 calories. 32g fat, 12g carbs, 15g protein.
I use cow ghee for that long puree, not butter. Butter smells like toast before the water is gone. Heat notes are in cooking with ghee. Butter chicken is the same tomato-cashew base with meat juices. Palak paneer is a different pan. No tomato, no cashew, much shorter.
Ghee first. Butter last.
Ghee takes the 12 to 18 minutes of spitting puree. Butter goes in after that, if you want the sheen. Cream only after you kill the flame. I used to melt all three at once. The pan looked like oil on tomato soup.
Cook the tomato-cashew puree
2 tbsp cow ghee
Butter. It browns before the water leaves.
Hotel look at the end
1 tbsp butter, off the boil
A slab of butter at the start.
Cream
2 to 3 tbsp, off the heat
Cream first. Then an oily orange slick.
Paneer
Hot water soak, last 3 minutes
Deep-fry cubes in Bilona until they bounce.
Ingredients and pan
Four plates. One kadai. Medium heat. High heat scorches tomato and you spend the rest of the cook scraping bitterness off the bottom.
- 250 g paneer, cubes
- 4 ripe tomatoes, about 400 g
- 1 medium onion
- 15 cashews, soaked 15 minutes
- 1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste, 2 green cardamom
- 2 tbsp cow ghee for the masala, 1 tsp to finish
- 1 tbsp butter at the end, optional
- 2 to 3 tbsp cream, optional
- 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp Kashmiri chilli, 1 tsp kasuri methi, 1/2 tsp garam masala, salt
- Pinch of sugar only if the tomatoes are sharp
Cow ghee. Buffalo goes waxy on this once it cools, and the gravy is already pink and heavy. Animal comparison is cow vs buffalo ghee. Definition of the fat is what is ghee.
Paneer notes
Store cubes taste like the fridge. Ten minutes in hot water fixes most of that. I do not fry them. Paneer ghee roast is the dry, coated one. These cubes just sit in gravy.
Method
About fifty minutes if the cashews are already in water. The long cook is the dish. Cream at the end is makeup.
Soak
Cashews in warm water, 15 minutes. Paneer in hot water, 10 minutes. Drain the paneer and pat it dry. Wet cubes thin the gravy you just spent 15 minutes thickening.
Blend
Tomatoes, onion, soaked cashews, ginger-garlic, cardamom. Smooth. A few seeds are fine. Chunky salsa never turns into that hotel gravy, no matter how long you stir. Skip extra water if the tomatoes are juicy.
Cook in ghee until fat splits
Two tablespoons cow ghee, medium. Cumin until it crackles. Pour the puree. It will spit. Stay there. Stir so the bottom does not catch. Twelve to eighteen minutes. First it looks orange and thin. Then it darkens, pulls together, and ghee beads at the edges. The smell shifts from raw onion to cooked tomato. Stop early and cream later just sits on top. If the pan is running too hot, ghee for high-heat cooking is the smoke-point page.
Loosen, then paneer
Kashmiri chilli and salt. A splash of water until it looks like gravy. Paneer in for 3 to 4 minutes. Longer and the cubes toughen. Dal makhani can sit for hours. This cannot.
Finish
Crush kasuri methi in your palm. That smell is how I know I am done, more than the cream swirl. Garam masala. Butter if you want the sheen. Kill the heat. Cream. One teaspoon ghee on top. Leave it bubbling and it splits.
Failure fixes
I have made every one of these. Spice packets were never the problem.
Split, oily
Cream into a bubbling pan, or cream while the puree was still thin. Wait for ghee at the edges. Cream after the flame is off.
Raw tomato, pale
You stopped when it looked orange. Keep going until it smells cooked, not sour, and the ghee has come out.
Too sweet
Ketchup, extra sugar, a heavy pour of cream. Use ripe tomatoes. A pinch of sugar only if they bite.
Rubber paneer
Fried hard, or left in the gravy 15 minutes. Soak. Last 3 to 4 minutes. Reheat in a pan with ghee.
What to serve
Hot ghee chapati. Ghee rice if you want a bowl. Dry roti if it is going in a box. Same-day packing is in ghee for tiffin.
Watch the puree cook until the ghee shows
Cow ghee for a tomato gravy that actually cooks down. Authentic Urban A2 Bilona, made after the order, packing video on the batch.
Which jar to keep
Two tablespoons in this kadai, and you taste it on the spoon. Buy cow ghee you can smell. Named breed, packing video on the batch. We make that jar, curd-churned A2. I would not fry the paneer in it. Cow shortlist is best cow ghee in India. How I pick a jar is how to choose ghee.
Conclusion
Paneer butter masala recipe works when the puree is cooked. Twelve to eighteen minutes in cow ghee, until fat shows at the edges. Paneer in at the end. Cream after the flame is off. If it split, the pan was still boiling. If the cubes squeak, you fried them.
Cow ghee for the puree, not the fryer
Authentic Urban bilona A2 ghee. Toasted-milk aroma, grain when cool, video of the batch. The fat I cook this tomato-cashew in.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I make this paneer butter masala recipe with only butter?
Finish with a tablespoon of butter if you want. I would not cook the puree in it. Butter browns and smells like toast before the tomato water is gone. Cow ghee survives that 12 to 18 minutes. Butter at the end is the hotel look.
Why did my paneer butter masala split or look oily?
You poured cream while it was still bubbling, or the puree was still watery. Wait until ghee shows at the edges. Loosen with water. Kill the flame. Then cream, one stir. More ghee will not glue a split pan back together. I know. I tried.
When do I add the ghee?
Two tablespoons with the puree, at the start. A teaspoon on the bowl. Butter only at the end. Do not stew the paneer in a pool of it.
Cow or buffalo ghee for paneer butter masala?
Cow. Tomato and cream already sit heavy. Buffalo sets waxy as this gravy cools. I keep buffalo for paratha.
Should I fry the paneer in ghee first?
No. Soak store cubes in hot water for 10 minutes. They go in for the last 3 to 4 minutes. Hard frying makes rubber. A dry masala coat is paneer ghee roast. Wrong dish.
How much ghee for 4 servings?
Two tablespoons in the kadai, a teaspoon to finish. A tablespoon of butter at the end if you want. This is not dal makhani. Extra fat floats.
Is paneer butter masala the same as butter chicken without chicken?
Same tomato-cashew base. Butter chicken usually runs hotter and picks up meat juices. This is paneer in a vegetarian kadai. Do not dump a chicken masala packet on cubes and stop.
Can I pack paneer butter masala in a tiffin?
Same day. It thickens in steel. The cubes firm up. A little cow ghee on top helps. Roti in a dry box. Reheat in a pan with a splash of water and a teaspoon of ghee. The microwave makes them squeak.
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