Baked Butter Paneer

I used to eat paneer butter masala regularly with an Indian friend, Aditya, at a little place near Russell Square in London until one day something awkward happened that meant we never went back. That day, he made the error of wearing a black shirt and black trousers to dinner and, like a rugby player with the ball, was tackled a couple of times on his way to the bathroom as he was mistaken for a waiter. Aditya, this one’s for you.

Serves: 4
Total Time: 1hr 25min
Prep Time: 10min
Cook Time: 1hr 15min

INGREDIENTS

For the paneer:

• rapeseed oil
• 500g hard paneer, cut into 2½cm cubes
• 6 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 2cm x 2cm ginger, finely grated
• 1 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
• ½ tbsp lemon juice, from ½ lemon
• ¾ tsp salt
• ½ tsp ground turmeric
• 5 tbsp (75g) Greek yoghurt

For the butter sauce:

• 1 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1 tsp ground cardamom
• ¾ tsp salt
• 2 tbsp runny honey
• 2 x 400g tins finely chopped tomatoes
• 150ml double cream
• 1½ tbsp kasoori methi

To serve:

• naan (recipe on pg 308 of Dinner)
• optional: a slab of butter

ESSENTIALS:

• You will need a deep baking tray or oven dish (roughly 20cm x 30cm)
  
  

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C fan/220°C/gas 7 and line a deep baking tray or oven dish (roughly 20cm x 30cm) with non-stick baking paper. Brush the paper with a little oil.

2. Put the paneer cubes into a mixing bowl and add half the garlic, half the ginger and then the chilli powder, lemon juice, salt, turmeric and yoghurt. Mix well, tip on to the baking tray and bake for 25 minutes, or until the paneer is crisp and starting to blacken ever so slightly at the edges.

3. Take the baking tray out of the oven and very carefully remove the baking paper, leaving the paneer in the tray. Add 3 tablespoons of oil and the remaining ginger and garlic, stir to coat the paneer in the garlicky oil, then add the spices for the butter sauce, the salt and the honey. Stir to mix, then tip in the tomatoes, making sure the paneer is completely covered, and pop back in the oven for 30 minutes.

4. Remove the tray, stir through the cream, crumble over the kasoori methi, then stir again and pop back in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove the tray once more, stir in the butter now if you’d like, then serve straight from the tray with hot naan.

NOTE: I should address the awkward truth that I don’t use butter here but cream instead. You could, if you’re a stickler for tradition (and not a heretic like me), add a big slab of butter to the finished curry. Kasoori methi are dried fenugreek leaves, which you can find in South Asian supermarkets or online (p 312). This recipe goes really well with the asparagus and cashew thoran on p 272 of Dinner.