Shahi Paneer - A different take!

Ok, so I am kind of behind on writing some of my posts and am trying to get to them one by one over this weekend.  So, I thought why not start with a food post since that's what I started my 2011 blog with.  I started my 2011 blog year with writing my experience of cooking Shahi Paneer and surprisingly, I will start 2012's blog post with Shahi Paneer as well, but with different take than the last one :).

Over a week ago, my brother wanted to try out Shahi Paneer and he found a recipe from online, I think it was showmethecurry.com.  The recipe was different from when I had tried it earlier (my earlier post: Shahi Paneer), but he wanted to try it and I liked their recipe as well, so we gave it a try.  We made some changes to the recipe to make it our own way, but it turned out great.  It was spicy and delicious!!!  The credit goes to my brother for finding the recipe and trying it out and I helped and supervised as needed.  Before I put the recipe, here is a picture of the Shahi Paneer we made :).

Home made Shahi Paneer

Ingredients:
Vegetables:
Tomatoes (3-4 medium size) or tomato sauce, Onions (1 big or 2 small), Garlic, Green Chillies (1 or 2 jalapenos)

Spices:
Red chili powder, Coriander powder, Cumin powder, Garam masala, Shredded ginger, Salt, Sugar

Other:
Cooking oil, Cashews (3/4th cup), Milk(1 cup), Water, Cilantro, Paneer(1/3rd of frozen 1 lb. paneer)

Preparation:
1) Soak cashews in milk for about 15 minutes.
2) Finely chop onions, green chilies, garlic and cilantro
3) Shred the ginger
4) Cook paneer in butter or oil, and once they turn slightly brownish, keep them aside.
5) Take the tomatoes (or tomato sauce), onions (3/4th), garlic, green chilies, ginger, and make puree from it.
6) Blend the cashews and milk until they smooth.

Process:
1) Heat oil on medium heat in a utensil
2) Add finely chopped onions and stir until they turn brownish
3) Add remaining chopped green chilies, and garlic and stir them
4) Add the onions/tomatoes puree to this mixture and stir everything together
5) Once the oil starts to separate from the mixture, add cumin powder, coriander powder, garam masala, and little bit of red chili powder
6) Mix everything and let it cook for 3-4 minutes.
7) Add cashew and milk mixture in this and mix well.There should be no lumps in the gravy!
8) At this point, if needed, add little bit of water to make more gravy
9) Add salt, and little bit of sugar and let the gravy come to boil
10) Taste the gravy and add any spices per taste if you feel if something is missing
11) Once the gravy comes to boil, add the paneer and mix well
12) Let it cook for another 2-4 minutes and turn off the heat
13) Garnish with cilantro or crushed cashews.
14) Be ready to eat this delicious dish!!!

Hope you enjoy this recipe and I am def. going to make it again since it turned out so good.  It wasn't even much time consuming!!  Have fun :)