How to Make Tomato Paneer Pulao - Paneer Pulao Recipe Step by Step

Learn how to make tomato paneer pulao, a tangy paneer pulao recipe with simple spices and ingredients. Paneer pulao is a great lunchbox recipe and stores well. 

Paneer and tomatoes go really well together and form the base of many popular dishes we know and love (like paneer butter masala and paneer jalfrezi) so why not marry the two to make a tomato paneer pulao, I thought one day. Most similar thoughts tend to just remain in my head while I go about doing more lazy things but on this particular Saturday, the pulao got made and both TH and I loved it. The moment he saw the finished pulao in the pan, he asked "can we make something else for lunch so I can take this in my lunchbox tomorrow?". I don't share paneer well since I love it but I did grudgingly agree. True love and all that.

Oh wait, dear reader. Why am I rambling about pulao lunches and TH's lunchbox when I have larger things to talk about? First things first. If you've been reading me long enough you'd know I moved to Sydney last year around this time, from Singapore. Well, as things turned out, this August found us packing up our apartment (yet again) and moving right back to Singapore. If you ask me why, it's a long story but suffice to say it was primarily a career-driven decision. Oh, and I work with Twitter now. Why change just one part of your life when there are so many other avenues to change around I thought. So that's that. New job, back to old city. We are still settling down and have dived into the highly unpleasant but thankfully quick process of apartment-hunting in Singapore. Wish us luck!

There's no good segue from that into a paneer pulao recipe so let me just get to it. If you love pulao recipes ( they do make wonderful lunchbox food) then try my vegetable pulao, methi pulao, and one of my favourites, mint pulao. I usually cook rice separately when making pulao so check out how to cook rice for pulao.

TOMATO PANEER PULAO RECIPE

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Serves 3-4

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups of cooked basmati rice
1 cup of cubed paneer
2 tbsp of ghee or butter
5-6 cloves
A large stick of cinnamon
1 bay leaf
A few green cardamom pods
1 cup of fresh tomato puree
1 tsp of ginger garlic paste
1 tsp of dried fenugreek leaves (kasuri methi)
1/2 tsp of red chilli powder (adjust to taste)

INSTRUCTIONS:

Heat 1 tbsp ghee or butter in a pan and lightly fry the paneer cubes. If using frozen paneer, make sure to completely defrost before this step. You can also make paneer at home and use that. Set aside to drain on kitchen napkins.

Add the remaining 1 tbsp ghee to the same pan and add the whole spices - bay leaf, cinnamon, cloves, and cardamom.

Fry on low flame until fragrant (about 10 seconds) and add the ginger garlic paste. Saute for a few seconds longer and add the pureed tomatoes and chilli powder.

Cook it down a bit, stirring frequently. Add salt.

When the tomato mixture has thickened a bit, add the kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves). Turn off the heat.

Add the cooked rice and paneer cubes. Mix gently to combine and keep closed for an hour or so for the flavours to get friendly.

Serve warm with a cooling raita and vegetable curry of choice.

Paneer pulao stores well so you can keep in refrigerator for up to 2 days. Gently re-heat before serving.

Notes:
You can replace red chilli powder with whole slit green chillies
Add some roasted cashew nuts or almonds to add some texture to the paneer pulao
Instead of kasuri methi, you can add some fresh coriander leaves, chopped
If the tomatoes are not sour enough, squeeze some lime juice over your pulao
Throw in some vegetables and peas to make it more nutritious and interesting

How to Make Chilli Paneer Gravy - Easy Step by Step Recipe

Learn how to make chilli paneer gravy, one of the vegetarian highlights of Indo-Chinese cooking. The dry chilli paneer recipe is often served as as a starter while the gravy version makes a great side dish for fried rice or vegetable noodles.

For all paneer lovers out there, this one's for you, especially if you also love Indo-Chinese food. I am yet to meet an Indian that says no to this cuisine but over the years, I have come to realise how much hidden calories these dishes contain. Of course, when eating out once in a while calories are not in my list of things to think about (my mind is busy enough, thank you very much) but when cooking at home, I try to tone down the oil and deep frying a bit if I can. Please note this doesn't apply to pooris and such.

{Check out how to make paneer at home}

Coming back to chilli paneer, I love both the dry and gravy versions and recently I made this chilli paneer gravy to pair with mushroom fried rice (recipe coming soon). I must confess that cooking Indo-Chinese food consistently well is hard for me and I do have my misses here and there. While I have more or less mastered gobi manchurian by now, I have inconsistent results with other recipes which explains why they haven't shown up here yet. This chilli paneer gravy though, it's a winner!

Read on for the recipe of chilli paneer with gravy and check out all Indo-Chinese recipes if you love them like us.

CHILLI PANEER WITH GRAVY

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Serves 2-4

INGREDIENTS:
1.5 cups of paneer, cut into small cubes
2 tbsp of cornflour
1 tbsp of plain flour or maida
1 tsp of minced garlic
1/4 tsp black pepper powder
A fat pinch of salt
2-3 tbsp water
Oil as required
For the sauce:
3 stalks of spring onions
1 tsp of minced ginger
1.5 tsp of minced garlic
1 tsp soya sauce
3-4 slit green chillies (adjust to taste)
1/2 cup cubed green capsicum (bell pepper)
1 tsp cornflour (cornstarch)
Salt if required

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Place the cornflour, plan flour, salt, minced garlic, pepper powder, and water in a bowl. Mix without lumps to form a light batter.

2. Add the paneer cubes to this and mix well to coat. If using frozen paneer, defrost until just cold and follow this step. If using freshly made paneer, refrigerate until a bit firm and then use, otherwise the paneer may crumble.

2. Heat 2 tbsp oil (or as required) in a pan and shallow fry the paneer pieces until light golden brown. Drain into paper towels and set aside until needed.

3. In the same pan, (add more oil if required), add the sliced spring onions, ginger and garlic. Saute until the ginger and garlic turn fragrant.

4. Now turn the flame to high and add the soya sauce. Let it cook on high heat for 5-6 seconds and lower heat back.

5. Add the chillies and capsicum and cook for 3-4 mins until the capsicum turns a bit soft. It should still remain crunchy mostly.

6. Add 1.5 cups water to this and bring to boil. Meanwhile, mix the 1 tsp cornflour in 1 tbsp water to form a thick mixture.

7. Gently pour this into the boiling water and lower flame completely.

8. Add the paneer pieces and turn off the flame. The gravy will thicken considerably on cooling so don't cook it further than this. Add salt only if required since you have salted the paneer pieces and the soya sauce will be highly salted too.

Enjoy chilli paneer gravy with some egg fried rice or noodles with vegetables for a delicious meal.

Paneer Jalfrezi Recipe - How to Make Restaurant-Style Paneer Jalfrezi

Learn how to make Paneer Jalfrezi, a popular restaurant-style paneer recipe that has some vegetables thrown in. Paneer Jalfrezi goes fabulously with nan or pulao and gives a nice protein kick to the meal, especially for vegetarians.

It's no secret that paneer is one of my absolute favourite things to cook and eat. TH, thankfully, is the same so I make paneer at home often and freeze it in cubes. Freezing the paneer makes it easier to saute and cook without crumbling, and also, it's great to pull out on a busy day and make paneer burji, which is the easiest paneer recipe I can think of.

Vegetable jalfrezi is one of those dishes we order in North Indian restaurants to add some 'vegetables' and therefore nutrition to our meal. We're obviously kidding ourselves since most of these places use cream as the base of the gravy but still, it's our vice and we 'indulge' with pride. A jalfrezi with paneer in it is hardly ever an option since we opt for paneer butter masala or TH's favourite palak paneer when we eat out. But there's lots to be said of the subtle gravy and tang in a jalfrezi. I especially loved this homemade version which came together way quicker than I had expected, and tasted so good with some simple vegetable pulao and cucumber raita.

Paneer Jalfrezi is also an excellent filling if you want to make some paneer kathi rolls. Just warm up some wraps or chapatis, pile on some filling, roll up tightly, and serve warm.

Check out all Paneer Recipes in Edible Garden. I also make vegetable jalfrezi when I am out of paneer, equally healthy and tasty. These paneer bread rolls are especially popular so you may want to try them out!

PANEER JALFREZI RECIPE

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Serves 3-4
Recipe loosely adapted from Sailu

INGREDIENTS:
1.5 cups of cubed paneer
1 tbsp of oil
1/2 tsp of nigells seeds (kalonji)
1/2 tsp of cumin seeds
1 cup of thinly sliced onions
1 tsp of freshly minced ginger
1 tsp of freshly minced garlic
3/4 tsp of red chilli powder (adjust to taste)
2 tsp of coriander powder
1/4 tsp of turmeric powder
1 cup of green capsicum, cut into long strips
1/2 cup of carrots, cut into long strips
1 cup of canned whole tomatoes, crushed (see notes)
1/2 cup of cubed ripe tomatoes
1 tsp of garam masala (I use Kitchen King Masala)
One large pinch of kasuri methi (fried fenugreek leaves)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Heat half the oil in a large pan and on low heat, lightly fry the paneer until golden brown on all sides. Drain and set aside.

2. Add the remaining oil to the pan and add the cumin seeds and kalonji.

3. When the cumin seeds sizzle and turn a golden brown, add the sliced onions.

4. When the onions turn soft and translucent, add the ginger and garlic. Saute until fragrant, about 2 mins or so.

5. Add the chilli powder, coriander powder, and turmeric powder. Fry for 30 seconds, taking care not to burn the masala.

6. Add the crushed canned tomato, carrots, and capsicum. Mix well and top up with one more cup of water.

7. Bring to boil and cook covered for 3-5 mins until the carrots are cooked.

8. Add the paneer and cubed tomato, mix well, and simmer for another 3-4 mins. The gravy should be fairly thick by now. If too watery, cook a bit more until thickened.

9. Finally, add the kasuri methi and garam masala. Mix again, add salt, and remove from flame.

Serve paneer jalfrezi hot with chapatis, pulao, or rolled up with a wrap or roti.

Note - you can use fresh pureed tomatoes (about 2 cups) instead of canned tomatoes. The colour of the gravy may not be as deep as in the pictures above, so to offset that, just add 1 tbsp of tomato ketchup. Also, if you'd like to make vegetable jalfrezi, omit the paneer and add more vegetables like beans, baby corn, etc.

For Paneer Jalfrezi Recipe in Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, Kannada, etc, use the Google Translate button in the sidebar.

Matar Paneer Recipe - Mattar Paneer - How to Make Mutter Paneer Masala

Learn how to make Matar Paneer (also called Mattar Paneer or Mutter Paneer Masala), a popular vegetarian Indian side dish recipe with paneer and green peas in an onion-tomato-cashew gravy. Mattar Paneer is a fantastic side dish for roti and pulao, perfect for when you have guests.

The first time I made a Paneer Peas Masala at home was many years ago, in our first home in Singapore. Cooking with paneer was new to me then and since TH loves it so much, I was experimenting with a recipe that came out wonderfully, in my novice opinion. Since then, I have made Mattar Paneer countless times, almost always when entertaining, and I felt I owed you guys an updated recipe with step by step pictures.

Anything with paneer is a definite win in our home, especially if it's homemade paneer. I love experimenting with different paneer recipes but tend to default to tried and tested recipes - like this paneer butter masala, kadai paneer, or chilli paneer - when it comes to cooking for guests. This time around, I wanted to use up the frozen peas in the freezer and wanted something with a mild gravy for the kids in the group so ended up making this delicious Mattar Paneer. It went really well with rotis and the vegetable pulao that were part of the meal. Check notes to see how I prepare Matar Paneer for guests by splitting up the cooking process.

Check out all Paneer Recipes here.

MATAR PANEER RECIPE

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Serves 4-6

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups of sliced onions
1 tsp of minced garlic
1 tsp of grated ginger
1 tsp of red chilli powder
2 tsp of coriander powder
1/2 tsp of cumin powder
1/2 tsp of turmeric powder
1.5 cups of chopped, ripe tomatoes
1/2 cup of cashew nuts, soaked in water for 30 mins
1 heaping tsp of canned tomato paste
3/4 cup of fresh or frozen shelled green peas
1.5 cups of cubed paneer
1 pinch of kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves)
1 tsp of garam masala (I use Kitchen King masala)
1 tbsp of cream
1/4 cup of chopped coriander leaves (cilantro), for garnish
2 tbsp of oil

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Heat oil in a large pan and saute the onions onion the edges start turning brown.

2. Add the ginger and garlic and saute again for a minute.

3. Add the chilli powder, coriander powder, and cumin powder, along with the turmeric. Saute for 30 seconds until fragrant.

4. Add tomatoes. Mix and cook until the tomatoes turn soggy and soft.

5. Top off with the tomato paste and mix again well.

The tomato paste gives a nice depth to the dish and also gives the matar paneer some colour. You can omit if you want but I highly recommend adding some. You can transfer the remaining paste to an air tight container and keep in fridge for up to a week. Add to any tomato-based gravy, you won't regret it.

6. Turn off flame and leave the above mixture to cool. Meanwhile, grind the soaked cashew nuts with some water. to a smooth paste. Set aside.

7. Saute the paneer cubes in some oil until all sides are light golden brown. Drain and set aside.

8. Once the tomato onion mixture is cool, grind to an almost-smooth paste.

9. Return this to the stove in the same pan along with the cashew paste and peas.

10. Add about 1.5 cups water and bring to a boil. Let it simmer for 5-6 mins or until the peas is cooked. You can add more water if the gravy is too thick.

11. Add the kasuri methi, cream, required amount of salt, and garam masala. Mix well.

12. Finally add the fried paneer and coriander leaves. Mix gently until the paneer is well covered in the gravy.

Steaming hot Matar Paneer is ready!

Notes:
- The cream is optional but I like adding some for flavour. If you don't have any, don't go out and buy it just for this dish. You can also add a dash of milk for some flavour
- When I prepare Matar Paneer for guests, I make the gravy in advance the previous day (until step 8 above). I also leave soaked cashews in the fridge. On the day, just grind the cashew paste and proceed. Also fry the paneer on the day of serving so it stays spongy and fresh

Dingri Dolma - Mushroom Paneer Masala Recipe - Awadhi Cuisine

The name Dingri Dolma (or Dhingri Dolma) struck me as funny the first time we read it on a menu in one of our favourite Andhra recipes in Singapore. TH ordered it since the Dingri Dolma had two of his favourite ingredients - paneer and mushroom, a popular Awadhi dish from Lucknow beautiful because of its Mughal and royal influence. We both fell in love with the dish instantly and each time we go back to that restaurant, it's very hard to pick anything else knowing that their Dingri Dolma is so delicious.

Even then, it never occurred to me to make Dhingri Dolma at home although I cook with paneer and mushrooms all the time. Then one day, while talking to Dassana, she mentioned that she had made Dingri Dolma from Jiggs Kalra's book Prashad which she highly recommended. She was kind enough to send me a picture of the recipe page and I followed the recipe verbatim except to reduce the ridiculous amount of ghee mentioned in the recipe. The restaurant version of Dingri Dolma has some gravy whereas this version was semi-dry but we loved it.

Dingri Dolma is an Awadhi or Lucknowi dish and its simplicity really shone through in this recipe. I served it with some jeera rice and homemade curd and we had a lovely lunch that day.

DINGRI DOLMA (MUSHROOM PANEER MASALA)

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Serves 4
Recipe source: The highly recommend book Prashad by Jiggs Kalra (buy in US, or much cheaper in India)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of button mushrooms, quartered (fresh or canned)
• 1 cup of crumbled or grated paneer
• 2 tbsp of ghee
• 1 tsp of black cumin / shahjeera / caraway (called cake jeerakam in Kerala)
• 1 cup of chopped onions
• 1 tsp of ginger, grated
• 1 tsp of garlic, grated
• 1/2 tsp of red chilli powder
• 1 tsp of pepper powder
• 1 cup of chopped tomatoes
• 1/2 tsp of garam masala (I used Kitchen King masala)
• A small bunch of coriander leaves (cilantro) chopped

How to Make Dingri Dolma:

1. Prepare all the ingredients first since cooking this dish just involves adding them one by one to your heated pan.

2. Heat ghee in a pan and add the caraway seeds.

3. When they sizzle, add the onions. Saute until light brown. Follow with the ginger and garlic and fry until fragrant and the moisture leaves the mixture.

4. Next, add the chilli powder, pepper and salt and stir to combine.

5. Throw in the mushrooms, mix, and cook for 3-4 mins.

6. Add the paneer and cook for another 3-4 mins, stirring occasionally.

7. Add the tomatoes next and mix well. Stir and cook for another 5 mins until the tomatoes are soft and almost mushy.

8. Finally, sprinkle garam masala on top, garnish with chopped coriander leaves and remove from fire.

Serve Dingri Dolma hot with roti, jeera pulao, vegetable pulao, etc.

Note - I used canned button mushrooms which explains the colour and texture you see in the pictures.