Achari Paneer Masala/ Cottage Cheese in Pickled Spices Gravy

Achari Paneer is an aromatic, flavorful and delicious North Indian dish. This dish is a good option when you want to cook something different . It is an amazing delectable dish which goes well with pulao/roti or naan. Easy and simple to make, this dish can be cooked when you are running short of time and want quick tasty tantalizing curry to pamper your taste buds

I have already prepared Achari Pulao and Achari Chicken curry so the next in the list was using Paneer(Cottage Cheese). I just love the tangy taste of pickle spices very much. This dish is a good option for Vegetarians

*You can double/ triple the quantity of Achari spices and prepare the pickled spices powder in advance and store in air tight container for future use

Preparation time: 6 mins Cooking time: 13 mins Total time: 18 mins

Servings: 3

Ingredients

• 200 g Paneer (Cottage Cheese) cubed
• 1 big Tomato roughly chopped
• 3/4 cup Curd
• 1 tsp Besan 
• 5-6 Cashews
• 1/4 tsp Turmeric powder
• 1/8 tsp Hing
• 1 tsp Coriander powder
• 1/2 tsp Red Chilli powder
• 2 tbsp Oil
• 1 tsp crushed ginger and Green Chillies
• 1/4 tsp crushed kasuri Methi
• 2 tbsp chopped Coriander leaves
• Salt to taste

For Achari Spice

• 1/8 tsp Fenugreek Seeds
• 1/8 tsp Mustard Seeds
• 1/2 tsp Fennel Seeds
• 1 tsp Cumin seeds
• 1/4 tsp Nigella seeds
• 3-4 dried red chilies

Steps to prepare

• Dry roast all the ingredients mentioned in the achari spice section until golden and aromatic.

• Cool them to room temperature and grind into powder.

• Soak cashews in warm water for 15 minutes. Discard excess water
• Grind cashews and tomatoes to form smooth puree

• In a pan, heat oil. Add hing, tomato puree, ginger, green chilies.

• Saute until tomatoes raw taste disappears and mixture starts leaving sides of the pan

• Add in all spice powders including ground pickle spices

• Mix well for 1 minute

• Now whisk curd and besan in a bowl.

• Add this to the pan with salt and over low heat mix well. Cook for 1 minute

• Now add cubed paneer and mix well. Simmer, cover and cook for 3-4 minutes

• Add crushed Kasuri methi, coriander leaves and mix well

• Garnish additionally with coriander leaves and serve hot with roti/naan