Paneer Do Pyaza Recipe (Restaurant Style)
Paneer Do Pyaza represents a flavorful concoction featuring tender cottage cheese cubes immersed in a creamy and slightly thick gravy, abundant with onions. This recipe also incorporates the unique step of introducing onions twice as part of the cooking process.
Ingredients
For Blanching
- 2 onions (small to medium-sized) – 75 to 80 grams, or 5 to 6 button onions or small pearl onions or shallots
- 2 tomatoes (small to medium-sized) – 75 to 80 grams
- water – as required
For Sautéing Blanched Onion Layers
- 2 teaspoons Butter for sautéing the blanched onions
Other Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons oil – neutral flavored
- ½ to ⅔ cup finely chopped onions – 75 to 80 grams or 2 small to medium-sized
- ½ teaspoon Ginger Garlic Paste or ½ inch ginger and 2 small garlic cloves crushed in mortar-pestle
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder (ground turmeric)
- ½ teaspoon Coriander Powder (ground coriander)
- ½ teaspoon cumin powder (ground cumin)
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper powder
- ¼ teaspoon Garam Masala
- 2 pinches grated nutmeg or nutmeg powder – optional
- 250 grams Paneer (cottage cheese)
- ¼ cup light cream or low-fat cream or cooking cream or 2 tbsp of heavy or whipping cream
- salt as required
Whole Spices
- 1 inch cinnamon
- 3 green cardamoms
- 2 to 3 cloves
- 1 single strand of mace – optional
- 1 tej patta (medium-sized) or 2 small-sized
- 2 to 3 dry red chilies (seeds removed if preferred)
For Garnish
- 1 teaspoon ginger julienne – optional
- ½ to 1 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves (cilantro)
- 1 tablespoon grated paneer (Indian cottage cheese)
Instructions
Blanching Onions And Tomatoes
- Peel and rinse the onions. Rinse the tomatoes. Halve or quarter the onions.
- You can also use pearl or button onions instead of regular onions
- Blanch halved or quartered onions and tomatoes in hot water. For this method, first boil water in a pan till the water begins to boil.
- Add the onions and tomatoes and let them cook for a minute or two. Then switch off the flame.
- Cover the pan and let the onions and tomatoes blanch in the hot water for about 20 to 25 minutes.
- Drain and once the onions are cooled, separate each onion layers and set aside. If the onion layers are large, then chop them in halves.
Sautéing Blanched Onions
- Heat butter in a pan.
- Add the onion layers and sauté until they are lightly browned from the edges. Set aside.
Chopping Fresh Onions And Blanched Tomatoes
- Peel the skin from the blanched tomatoes and chop them finely.
- Also peel, rinse and finely chop two small to medium onions. You will need ½ to ⅔ cup of finely chopped onions.
Sautéing Spices And Onions
- Heat oil in the same pan. Lower the heat and add all the whole spices – cinnamon, cardamoms, cloves, mace, bay leaf and dry red chilies. Mix and sauté the spices for some seconds until aromatic. Take care not to burn them.
- Add the chopped onions. Stir and sauté the onions until they become golden.
Sautéing Tomatoes
- Add the blanched and finely chopped tomatoes. Mix well.
- Then add ginger-garlic paste. Mix and stir the masala mixture very well and sauté on a low to medium-low heat until the oil begins to release from the sides.
- The tomatoes should soften and be completely cooked.
- Keep heat to a low and add ground spices – coriander powder, cumin powder, turmeric powder, black pepper powder, nutmeg powder and garam masala powder.
- You can also add red chili powder if you prefer. Add about ¼ to ½ teaspoon of red chili powder depending on your taste.
- Stir and mix the ground spices very well on low heat.
Making Paneer Do Pyaza
- Then add the blanched and sautéed onion layers. Mix and sauté for 2 minutes on low heat.
- Add the paneer cubes.
- Season with salt and stir everything well.
- Add the light cream or low-fat cream. Mix gently and cook for about thirty seconds to a minute. If you have whipped cream, then add 2 tablespoons of it.
- You can also add kasuri methi at this step. Add about ½ teaspoon of crushed kasuri methi (dry fenugreek leaves).
- Garnish with coriander leaves, ginger julienne or grated paneer.
- Serve paneer do pyaza hot or warm with Indian flatbreads like chapati, roti or naan.
Nutrition
Calories: 445kcalCarbohydrates: 18gProtein: 15gFat: 36gSaturated Fat: 18gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 78mgSodium: 813mgPotassium: 407mgFiber: 4gSugar: 7gCalcium: 485mgIron: 1mg
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