Paneer Butter Masala [PBM]/ Indian cottage cheese in spicy tomato gravy

Here is the queen of all dishes according to me. I have always loved it with naan in dhabas and restaurants. I bet nothing can beat a road side dhaba in it's taste. As the name suggests, it is a high fat side... however, in my kitchen, most of the high fat recipes shape up to medium to low fat.  Excellent for parties and to take to lunch. Goes well with roti, chapati and naan. My guess is it will also go well as a dip for pita bread and usual bread... try it, who knows, you may discover a new way to eat this dish. Here goes the recipe.

Prep time: 20 mins

Cook time: 20 mins

Servings: 6 to 8

Ingredients:

1. Indian cottage cheeses/Paneer - 80oz/250 grams (chopped into small cubes and fried)
2. Onion - 1 medium sized, roughly chopped
3. Garlic - 2 pods or 1 tsp paste
4. Ginger - 1 inch roughly chopped piece or 1 tsp paste
5. Cashew - 4 to 5 pods
6. Tomato paste - 2  tbsp (6 oz can), 1/2 to 1 cup puree or 3 to 4 whole tomatoes
7. Garam masala powder- 1 to 2 tsp (depending on the spiciness you desire)
8. Coriander powder - 2 tsp
9. Cuminn powder - 1 tsp
10. Chilli powder - 1/2 to 1 tsp (according to taste)
11. Dry fenugreek leaves / Kasuri methi - 1 tsp
    
12. Salt - to taste
13. Milk - 3 to 4 tbsp
14. Butter - 2 tsp
15. Oil - 2 tbsp
16. Water - enough to make a runny paste of masala and to thin out the gravy to desired consistency
    
17. Fresh coriander leaves - 1 tbsp for garnish

Method:

• In a blender jar, make a paste of onions, gineger, garlic and cashew by adding very little water.
• Heat oil in a nonstick pot on medium heat and add the onion paste plus a pinch of salt and let it get slightly brown.
• in a bowl, take tomato paste and thin it out to consistency slightly watery than puree. If you use puree skip this process. If you use whole tomatoes, blend them in the blender without using water or as little water as possible and set aside.
• When the onion paste seems to get slightly brown, add the tomato puree and let it cook for a minute. 
• While the tomato puree is cooking, in a bowl, add garam masala, coriander, chilli, cumin powders, dry fenugreek leaves and add water to make a runny paste. Add this paste to the tomato cooking tomato puree and let it cook for 2 minutes or till it starts smelling aromatic.  If you think the mixture is getting too thick, add water to thin it down as much as you desire. Keep in mind, the gravy should not go thinner than tomato puree consistency.
• Add desired amount of salt at this point, stir in to mix all the ingredients. 
• Add fried paneer cubes to the gravy and cook for 5 minutes or till the paneer pieces absorb the gravy.
• Add milk and stir in to mix it. Adding milk gives a creamy texture without adding too much butter. 
• Now add butter and stir it in. You can save a small piece of butter and let it afloat when you serve.
• Transfer it into a serving container, garnish with coriander leaves and serve with hot bread.
  

Serving Suggestions:

Along with any kind of bread, serve a few lime wedges and sliced onion...Let your guests squeeze the lime to their PBM and after they put the roti and PBM in their mouth let them take a bite of an onion slice... you will see how much they will love it. Some serve very mild green chillies too... yummm.

Tips:

You can make this ahead of time for parties and heat it up the next day. If you refrigerate, it will absorb more Flavour.

To fry paneer cubes, Heat 2 tbsp oil in a big skillet, add these paneer pieces and saute them till they become golden brown on two sides atleast. You can also rub 1 tbsp oil on them and arrange them on a cookie sheet and bake the at 350F for 15 minutes on each side or till they become brown on both sides. 

Khara Biscuit / Savory Biscuit

This biscuit reminds me of Iyengari bakery in Bangalore. There are some signature items made only in bakeries of karnataka, and This is one of those items. If you don't like eating the sweet version of biscuit, just cut the sugar and add a twist by blending green chillies and some herbs to make these amazingly tasty biscuits... the aroma which they emanate when they bake its sublime ... Makes an excellent snack for kids, great for tea parties and other informal occasions. Hmmm.... Here goes the recipe.

Prep time: 20 mins

Bake time: 15 to 20 mins

Servings: 16 to 20 pieces.

Ingredients:

1. All purpose flour/Maida - 2 Cups
2. Unsalted Butter/oil - 3/4 cups, if you use oil 1/4 to close to 1/2 cup will be enough. If you use slated butter, use less salt or no slat depending on your taste.
3. Salt - 1 tsp
4. Sugar - 2 tsp
5. Baking powder - 1 1/2 tsp
6. Yogurt - 2tbsp or the amount needed to make the dough.
7. Cilantro/ coriander leaves - 1/2 tbsp finely chopped
8. Green chillies - 6 to 8 finely chopped
9. Curry Leaves - 1/2 tbsp finely chopped
10. Dry feugreek leaves/kasuri methi - 1 tsp or you can use fresh finely chopped leaves 1/2 tbsp(optional)
11. Mint - 1/2 tbsp finely chopped (Optional) 
12. Dill leaves - 1/2 tbsp finely chopped (optional)
13. Carom seeds/ ajwain - 1/2 tsp 
14. Grated Ginger - 1/2 tsp

Method:

• Sieve the flour, salt, sugar and baking powder into a large plate or tray which will enable you to work with the flour easily.
• To the sieved flour, add pieces of butter and rub till the flour forms granules like semolina/rava. If you use oil, please use 1/2 the given quantity first. If you use all of it at once, it may make the dough instantly.. this will do the recipe no good. Keep in mind, you may not need all the oil...if 1/4 to 1/2 cup works then just use that. The oil absorption depends on the flour. The whole point is to blend fat and flour together to make a semolina like consistency.
• Now add all the chopped ingredients and rub a little more. Keep in mind to  do so gently, if you apply a lot of pressure while rubbing, the texture of the biscuit will go hard.
• Add yogurt little by little and start to make the dough. It should form a ball like the pie crust or chapati dough. You may need less or more yogurt to make the dough, so add it carefully.
• Now Divide the roll into two balls and roll them to 1/2 cm thick sheet. 
• Cut the Biscuits out into your desired shape and repeat the same process for the rest of the dough. You can use biscuit cutter to give them interesting shapes...
• Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and dust a cookie sheet or a baking tray, arrange all these Cookies in it. Be sure to leave a little space between each of them as they expand while baking.
• Set it on the middle rack of the oven and bake it for 15 to 20 minutes or till you see a light brown bottom of the cookie and golden brown top... 

They are ready to eat as soon as they cool.

Tips:

Use cold butter for extra flaky texture.

I have used less oil or butter coz i wanted to make it low fat. You may use slightly more butter if you need. I have used Whole wheat flour as well, you can try blending, 1/2 of all purpose and whole wheat...All whole wheat flour takes away from the good taste. If you are baking it for the first time, use all purpose flour, next trial you can use whole wheat or blend  :D.