Paneer Lababdar, a traditional Punjabi style paneer curry is creamy without any cream. A restaurant style paneer curry, that is rich and perfect for any festivities and easy to make. It’s predominantly made with melon seeds and cashews or almonds. Butter, enhances the flavors. A mild paneer dish that silk creamy smooth, goes so well with naan or jeera rice.
There’s as many paneer dishes in India as there are toppings of a pizza. This is one of my favorite restaurant style paneer curry next paneer tikka masala.
Paneer is such a versatile protein for vegetarians, it takes on the flavor of anything you add it to. It’s creamy and a non meat eater’s meat. There are so many Indian paneer curries that I love: paneer mattar, paneer makhni, paneer pulao, paneer butter masala, paneer masala and the list goes on. If you want to learn how to make paneer from scratch, check this post out. This dish has no cream or milk or lots of butter, it’s creamy from the nuts and tastes excellent.
Festival season is upon us and atleast one paneer dish always makes it to the buffet for the vegetarians. Festivities and rich food goes hand in hand. This Paneer curry is special and rich.
How to Make Restaurant Style Paneer Lababdar
Paneer Curry base
To make this paneer lababdar recipe, we start with boiling little onion, melon seeds, red chillies, melon seeds, cashews, ginger and garlic. It forms the creamy base sauce. Boil the ingredients for the curry, puree and then rest of the spices including paneer are added to the dish.
Tempering for Paneer Lababdar Curry
What takes this paneer masala to next level is the Punjabi style tadka that enhances the flavor so much. The asafoetida, chili powder browned in the ghee is so good.
The final Paneer Masala
It’s creamy and indulgent. The base is the nuts, so be generous with it. It’s a rich and special paneer curry made for special occasions, so a little indulgence is great. I prefer the red onion, since the white just doesn’t have much flavor to it. The red adds a punch that I love in this dish.
If you make this Restaurant style Paneer Lababdar or Paneer masala, tag me on social media#foodfashionparty. I’d love to see it.
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- 200 grams or 7-8 ounce paneer, cubed , fried and soaked in water for 4 hours or overnight.
- 1 tsp of oil
- 3 tbsp butter, divided
- 4 cardamom
- 3 cloves
- 1 inch cinnamom
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- ½ onion, red onion
- 2 tomatoes, quartered
- 1 inch ginger, slied
- 5 cloves garlic
- 3 tbsp melon seeds
- 10 cashews or 15 almonds
- 7-8 red chilies(depending on how spicy you like your curry to be)
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp red chili pdr (red kind, degi mirch)
- ½ tsp cumin powder
- 1 tsp daniya or coriander pdr
- ½ tsp good quality garam masala
- ½ tsp crushed kasoori meethi
- ⅓ cup Grated paneer
- 2 tsp jaggery or sugar
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp ghee
- ⅓ tsp cumin seeds
- pinch of hing or asafoetida
- ⅓ tsp red chili powder
- Cube the paneer, fry in oil until it browns all sides. Put in a box which has a lid and pour water to cover it fully. Cover and leave it in the refrigerator overnight or atleast 4 hours. This step is a must for soft spongy paneer.
- In a pan, add 1 tbsp of butter. Melt it. Add the whole spices and ginger garlic. Fry for a minute. Later add the tomatoes, melon seeds, onion, cashews or almonds, red chilies. Pour 2 cups of water and bring it to a boil for about 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and grind it to a smooth paste. Set aside.
- In a large thick bottomed pan, add 2 tbsp of butter. add the masala paste to it. One cup water. Add red chili powder, cumin powder, daniya or coriander powder, garam masala. Mix it well with salt and bring it to a simmer for about 5 minutes.
- Add the jaggery, grated paneer, paneer cubes with 1 cup of the water it was soaking in. Check for salt and bring to a simmer for another 7 -10 minutes. Crush the kasoori meethi with your palms and add it to the masala.
- In a small tadka pan, add the ghee, cumin seeds, chili powder and let it cook for 30 seconds, pour this in the paneer masala, cover and let it soak all the flavors in.
