Paneer lababdar is a rich onion tomato based , restaurant style paneer gravy. I have come across this name in Kailash parbat menu card here in Singapore. They have Paneer tikka lababdar in their menu. As i planned to post paneer tikka masala soon, i thought i will try Paneer lababdar and post the recipe. I don’t know the exact recipe but i have noted down a recipe of a paneer gravy from a Cookery show which i watched in Delhi long time back during a holiday. Everyone at home loved the paneer gravy and we had it with peas pulao for a weekend lunch. You can serve this with roti|kulcha too. Though the recipe may look it has many steps but it is quite easy and worth trying too.
 Preparation Time : 15 mins | Cooking Time : 35 Mins |Serves: 4-5
   Paneer cubes   1 cup
   Red chili  4-5
   Cashew nuts  8
   Tomato  1 big
   Garlic   5 pods
   Tomato puree  1/4 cup
   Onion  2
   Coriander powder   1/2 tsp
   Jeera powder  1 tsp
   Garam masala  1/4 tsp
   Oil   1 tblsp
   Fresh cream   2 tblsp
   Kasoori methi  2 pinches
   Salt  as needed
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Method:
- Break the red chili into two and take out the seeds.
- Soak the cashew nuts and red chili in hot water for 10 minutes.
- Grind this into a fine paste.
- Chop the tomatoes into big and peel the skin of the garlic. Cook this for 5 minutes in 1/2 cup of water. If you do not want to add tomato puree in the recipe, add one more tomato now.
- Chop the onions finely. In a pan add oil and cook the onions till they become nicely brown.
- Allow this to completely cool.
- Grind the roasted onions and the cooked tomato and garlic into a fine paste.
- In a pan add the ground paste and cook in a low flame. Do not keep the flame high as the gravy will splutter. Add the tomato puree.
- Cook this for a minutes and add the coriander powder, jeera powder and garam masala.
- Mix well and cook till the raw smell goes.
- Add the ground red chili and cashew paste now and cook for few minutes.
- Add the salt and add the paneer cubes.
- You can roast the paneer in a pan and add too.
- Add water to adjust the consistency. If you feel the gravy is bit spicy, add 1/2 tsp of sugar to the gravy.
- Add crushed kasoori methi to this.
- Add the fresh cream and mix well. Boil for 2 minutes and switch off the flame.
- Creamy, yummy paneer lababdar is ready to serve.
- Instead of grinding the red chili you can add red chili powder to the gravy, while adding the garam masala and other powders.
- Instead of adding cream in the last, you can add 1/4 cup of thick milk.
Yummy 🙂
When I make this recipe, I used bydagi red Chillies while grinding. They are red and wrinkled, and give color but not the spice. So it is the best to use here.
Yes you can use the bydagi red chili.
My son loves anything with paneer……I will try this ….looks yum…thanks.
My son loves anything with paneer……I will try this ….looks yum…thanks.
Looks so yummy Jey…I love the color of the gravy!
Shobha
http://www.anubhavati.wordpress.com
(By the way your blog does not allow WordPress comments still!)
Such a simple recipe to follow and tastes great!
Grinding the chillies and cashews is Ingenious.
My mom was under the weather so my dad and I ended up making this for dinner. We had no paneer either so we substituted it with some aloo and capsicum instead. Had a lot of fun and the process was least messy compared to all our kitchen adventures (making Amma aka owner of the entire kitchen extremely grateful :p)
Thanks Jeyashri Akka!
Sriram and Sruthi (Aswins cousin)
Hey that's nice to know Sruthi. Happy to know that you all liked it too.
I think one thing is missing is crushed sesame seeds to this!
I think one thing is missing is crushed sesame seeds to this!
Tried the recipe today. It was very tasty and my family liked it. Thanks for sharing.