Quick Paneer Butter Masala Recipe | Restaurant Style at Home

Usually, when you go to any dhaba or restaurant, you find many different varieties of Paneer Butter Masala. Typically, restaurants and dhabas prepare a lot of base gravies in advance and keep them ready—like Makhanwi gravy, onion-tomato masala, what some call “chop masala,” or white gravy. They use these gravies by mixing and matching them in different combinations. By adding different ingredients and making slight adjustments to the spiciness, sweetness, etc., they create different recipes.

So, the recipe for Paneer Butter Masala will change slightly wherever you go; the recipe will vary a little. Basically, Paneer Butter Masala should have paneer, butter, and masala. But if you make it with “chop masala” or roasted spices, it becomes “Paneer Bhuna.” The version I make has an orange or rich kind of gravy.

The recipe I am sharing today is a very quick one. You don’t need to make any separate gravy base, there’s not a lot of elaborate preparation, and there isn’t much chopping or shopping involved. It’s a simple way to make Paneer Butter Masala very quickly, and the results are mind-blowing.

Let’s see how it’s made quickly without much prep.

Instructions:

1. In a mixer-grinder jar, add the following:
   • 4 tomatoes
   • 8-10 garlic cloves
   • 1 inch ginger
   • 2 tablespoons coriander seeds (I’m adding them here)
   • 1 green chili
   • 1.5 tablespoons Kashmiri or Degi red chili powder
   • 1 tablespoon coriander powder
   • 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
   • 15 cashews (I had soaked these for 15-20 minutes. You can also boil them for 5 minutes. Drain the water and add the cashews.)
2. Now, grind all these ingredients into a fine paste without adding any water.

You can see I have ground it into a fine paste.

At this point, almost all our preparation for the Paneer Butter Masala is done. We didn’t make any separate gravy. We just ground all the ingredients in the mixer grinder. We didn’t make a separate ginger-garlic paste, we didn’t make a separate cashew paste collection, we didn’t make a separate tomato puree. We ground everything together, and our preparation is ready.

Now, we just need to toss the paneer and keep it aside, and then cook this gravy we made in the mixer grinder with some onions, and the Paneer Butter Masala will be ready, very quickly.

Let’s see how to toss the paneer.

How to Toss the Paneer:

1. Take a fry pan or wok, add 1 tablespoon of oil and 1 tablespoon of butter to it, and heat it slightly.
2. Now, add 1/2 kg of paneer (which I had cut into cubes).
3. Add salt to taste and a pinch of Kashmiri red chili powder.
4. Toss it gently with light hands so that the paneer doesn’t break.
5. You just need to cook the paneer for a minute or two.

Doing this step helps the paneer hold its structure. I have tossed the paneer like this. Now, transfer it to a bowl and set it aside until the masala is ready.

Making the Gravy:

1. In the same pan, add 2 tablespoons of oil and 1 tablespoon of butter. Heat it slightly.
2. Add the following tempering (tadka) spices:
   • 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
   • 3 green cardamoms
   • 1/2 inch cinnamon stick
   • 1 bay leaf
   • 1 tablespoon chopped ginger
   • 1 chopped green chili
3. Sauté them well.
4. Now, add 3 medium-sized onions (which I had chopped).
5. Sauté these onions on a medium-high flame until they turn light golden brown.
6. Once the onions are light golden brown, reduce the flame to low.
7. Add 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder and 1/2 teaspoon Kashmiri red chili powder (for color).
8. Stir lightly here, splash in a little hot water, and cook the spices for one to two minutes.
9. Once the spices are cooked, add the gravy paste we prepared earlier.
10. Also add salt to taste and a pinch of sugar (to balance the tartness of the tomatoes).
11. Mix all the ingredients well.
12. Now, cook this gravy on a medium-high flame for 10-15 minutes, stirring continuously. Since it has cashews, the gravy can stick to the bottom. So, just cook it for 10-15 minutes on a medium-high flame until the gravy starts to leave the sides of the pan and the oil starts to separate.

You can see, after about 15 minutes, how the gravy has reduced. It has left the sides of the pan and the oil has also separated.

13. At this stage, to adjust the consistency, add a little hot water.
14. Add the hot water, mix well, and let the gravy cook for another two to three minutes.
15. Once the gravy is cooked, taste it and adjust the salt and sugar as needed.

Final Assembly:

1. After that, add the paneer we had tossed and set aside.
2. Add 2 tablespoons of butter.
3. Add a pinch of kasoori methi (dried fenugreek leaves) powder, a pinch of garam masala, 3-4 tablespoons of fresh cream, and some freshly chopped coriander.
4. Now, you need to mix this very gently with light hands so that your paneer doesn’t break.
5. Just let it cook for a minute or two on low heat.
6. Garnish with a little more freshly chopped coriander.

And you can see, our Paneer Butter Masala is ready! Let’s plate it.