This restaurant-style Kadhai paneer is made with freshly ground spices, chunks of paneer, and a blend of onions, peppers, and a spicy masala sauce. Serve it with fresh roti or naan for a filling weeknight dinner.
Heat a heavy bottomed pan over medium heat. Dry roast all the spices while stirring continuously. In about 30 seconds, the spices will turn aromatic and that's the cue to taking the pan off heat.
Wait for the spices to completely cool down. It should take about 10 minutes.
Grind the spices to a fine powder using a blender. [Note: Don't rinse the blender jar, you can reuse it to puree the tomatoes]
Making the base curry
If using frozen paneer, let it thaw in the refrigerator overnight.
Microwave the paneer for a minute so that the excess water oozes out. Drain the water and chop the paneer into bite-sized pieces.
Chop the onion into half. Finely dice one half of the the onions while chop the other half into chunks. Set aside the chunky pieces of onion for later.
Place a wok or kadhai over medium heat. Add oil. Once the oil heats up, add cumin seeds.
When the cumin seeds start to sizzle, add the finely diced onions along with a teaspoon of salt and turmeric. Mix well to combine. Cook the onions till it soften and turn transparent.
Add the ginger-garlic paste to the onions and cook them for about 30-60 seconds till the raw taste disappears.
Add the spice powders (chili, coriander and cumin powder) along with the pureed tomatoes to the wok and mix well.
Cover the wok and let the tomatoes cook for about 10 minutes. Around the 5-minute mark, uncover the wok and stir the onion-tomato paste to avoid burning. Cover it again and cook for another 5 minutes.
As the tomatoes are cooking, chop the bell peppers into chunks and set them aside.
Once the ten minutes are up, uncover the wok and stir again. Cook for another 5 minutes uncovered till the oil starts to leave the side of the paste. Transfer the paste to a bowl and set it aside.
Add 1 tablespoon of oil to the wok and once it heats up, add the veggies - chopped onions and bell peppers along with a tablespoon of kadhai masala and 1/2 a teaspoon of salt. [Note: You'll have leftover kadhai masala - use it the next time you make the dish]
Let the veggies cook for about 5-6 minutes before adding paneer. Gently combine the paneer with the veggie mixture.
Allow the paneer to cook for about 2-3 minutes.
Add the cooked onion-tomato paste back into the wok and mix well. If the gravy is too dry, add about 1/4 - 1/2 cup water as needed.
Sprinkle garam masala and dried fenugreek leaves. Mix well to combine.
Garnish it with chopped cilantro. Serve hot with rotis or naan.
Notes
Tips
As the onions are cooking, use that time to coarsely chop the tomatoes and blend them into a puree. Like I said before, you can use the same blender cup that you used to grind the spices - no need to rinse!
Microwave the store-bought paneer pieces to remove excess water and soften them.
Do not overcook the veggies - they need to have a bite.
Meal Prep Tips
I usually chop 4 bell peppers in assorted colors and use half of the bell peppers for this recipe and freeze the rest.
The kadhai masala yields enough masala that you can use for at least 2 times. Save the rest in an air-tight container.
To make this meal faster, replace the onion-tomato masala base with 2 cups of curry sauce.