Rajasthani achari paneer
Serves 4
More effort
Prep:
Cook:
plus cooling
Enjoy a north Indian dish of paneer cooked with pickling spices, yogurt, chilli and lemon. Serve with naan to scoop up the creamy, spicy sauce
Skip to ingredients
Units:
- 3 garlic clovesroughly chopped
- thumb size piece of gingerroughly chopped
- 180g tomatoesroughly chopped
- 3 tbsp mustard oilor vegetable oil
- 2 medium onions (about 200g)finely chopped
- 1 green bird’s-eye chillislit lengthways
- 3 tbsp Greek yogurt
- 1 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder(see below)
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- 225g paneercut into cubes
- 50g frozen peas
- 2 tbsp dried fenugreek leavescoarsely crushed
- coriander leaveslemon wedges and naan, to serve
For the achari spice mix
- 1 tbsp coriander seeds
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp black mustard seeds
- ½ tsp nigella seeds
- ½ tsp fenugreek seeds
Nutrition: Per serving
- kcal366
- fat27g
- saturates12g
- carbs10g
- sugars7g
- fibre4g
- protein19g
- salt0.18g
Method
step 1
Toast all the ingredients for the achari spice mix in a dry frying pan over a low heat for 3-4 mins, stirring often to prevent it from burning, until fragrant. Cool, then coarsely grind using a pestle and mortar or spice grinder. Set aside.
step 2
Blitz the garlic, ginger and a splash of water together in a blender to a smooth paste (or use shop-bought ginger & garlic purée). Scrape this into a bowl then, using the same blender, blitz the tomatoes to a smooth purée. Set both aside.
step 3
Heat the oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pan over a medium heat and fry the onions for 10-12 mins until softened. Turn down the heat to low, stir in the garlic & ginger purée and fry for 3 mins until fragrant. Add the green chilli and cook for another minute. Turn the heat up to medium and add the puréed tomatoes. Cook for 6-8 mins until the oil starts to split from the sauce.
step 4
Combine the yogurt, chilli powder and turmeric, and stir this into the pan. Cook over a low heat, stirring continuously for 3 mins until the oil separates.
step 5
Stir in the achari spice mix along with 200ml water and a little seasoning. Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat to a simmer and cook for 2-3 mins until slightly reduced. Add the paneer and peas and cook for 2-3 mins, until heated through. Stir in the dried fenugreek and remove from the heat. Garnish with coriander leaves and a squeeze of lemon, and serve with naan and lemon wedges on the side.
