A promise is a promise. So here’s a look at what I decided to put in my Indian lunchbox. Star of the show is this paneer curry: big chunks of paneer and juicy green peas in a thick, spicy sauce with tomatoes and ground raw cashews. It was a bit of an experiment, but the result was everything I could have hoped for. The cashew butter is a revelation. It doesn’t come cheap, but it’s incredibly smooth and sweet, almost like white chocolate, and it instantly makes sauces thick and creamy. It also saves you the hassle of soaking and grinding cashew nuts yourself.
I made about 1.5 to 2 times the amount I would normally make for two people in order to have enough for both dinner and my boyfriend’s lunch the next day (he loved it! ). I served this curry with homemade chapatis (using this recipe) and a refreshing cucumber raita, but it would also be great with some fragrant basmati rice. Although I’m generally successful in the kitchen when it comes to cooking, bread-making is a skill I haven’t quite mastered yet. These chapatis where quite tasty, but in no way behaved like the recipe told me they would and came out looking rather less like circles and rather more like cumulus clouds. Ah well, with a good curry like this, who cares.
Ingredients for 3-4 people
1 can of chopped tomatoes in juice 400g, blended until smooth
2 tbsp of white cashew butter (just pure raw cashews blended to a creamy paste, they sell it in health stores)
1 chunk of fresh ginger, finely grated
2 large garlic cloves, pressed
salt
200 g frozen peas
1 tsp garam masala
2 dried bird’s eye chillies, crumbled
fresh coriander
200 g paneer, cut into cubes
1/2 tbsp butter
1/2 tbsp oil
- Fry the garlic and ginger in 1/2 tbsp butter and 1/2 tbsp oil until golden brown
- Add the blended tomatoes
- Add the crumbled chillies.
- In a separate bowl, mix the cashew paste with a bit of water so it becomes a little thinner.
- Add the cashew paste to the pan along with some salt. Adjust the consistency of the sauce by adding more water.
- Add frozen peas and paneer and allow to simmer for a few minutes until the peas are just done and the paneer has become soft.
- Add the garam masala and stir through
- Top off with fresh coriander and serve with raita and chapatis.
You cook like a seasoned Indian chef
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Thank you so much! I’m very flattered 🙂
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Mouth watering! And proper heat from bird’s eye chillies. Awesom. I am crazy about paneer, yum yum 🙂
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Thanks, Jin! And yes I love using those little dried chillies! They pack a punch and they’re always reliable, unlike fresh chillies which seem to vary a lot in spicyness. xx
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Yum 🙂 looks incredibly delicious!!! I sooo love Indian cuisine 🙂
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Thanks, Sam! And that’s something we have in common then 😉
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I double checked to make sure I wasn’t reading an Indian blog! Your paneer curry looks perfect. And the Indian lunch box made me smile. 🙂
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Thanks so much, Diana! I love Indian food so this is a huge compliment for me 😀
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Are you sure, you are not Indian 😀 ! Your recipes can make Indians dumbstruck
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Aww, thank you! What a compliment, you’re making me blush! I absolutely love Indian food: so rich and fragrant 🙂
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That looks so good!! Mouthwatering!
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Thank you!! The curry was soo good, and just as tasty the next day! I do need a bit of chapati practice though 😛
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Hahaha, but the pics look delicious! Maybe you can try kneading the dough with lukewarm water (if you haven’t tried that already, of course!) That paneer looked so appetising I made just that last night to satisfy my craving! 🙂
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Ah thanks for the tip! The recipe I used stated cold water, so maybe that’s where it went wrong. I’ll try that next time 🙂 !
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Yum!
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