Indian Cooking Tips: How To Make Restaurant-Style Paneer Do Pyaaza At Home

Paneer (or cottage cheese) is one of the Indian cooking staples that can impress us in any form. Be it an appetiser, mains or dessert, paneer can be moulded in any way and find takers in any room. There is no dearth of paneer dishes in this country, especially the luscious paneer curries, which we love lapping up with our naan and rotis. From shahi paneer, paneer lababdar to kadhai paneer, it is tough to keep a count, but we are not complaining. One such popular gravy dish made out of paneer is paneer do-pyaaza.

(Also Read: 11 Best Paneer Recipes | Easy Paneer Recipes | Popular Cottage Cheese Recipes)

According to legends ‘do pyaza’ is a Mughlai way to prepare curries with two whole onions. Some also argue that it is a technique where onions are added in two steps. Another popular theory of the ‘do pyaza’ dishes is that it is a way to increase the volume of the dish without really increasing the quantity of meat. There are myths galore, but what we do know is that the ‘do pyaza’ dishes mainly constituted of meat; however, later it got many delectable vegetarian renditions too and paneer do-pyaza is arguably the most popular one of them all.

(Also Read: The Mystery of the Do Pyaaza Dishes)

So, without further ado, let’s get started with the recipe of paneer do pyaza!

Ingredients:

• 250 grams of paneer
• 2 onions (diced)
• 2 tomatoes or a cup of tomato puree
• 2 green chillies (slit)
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 2-3 cloves
• 1 inch cinnamon stick
• 1 tsp red chilli powder
• ½ tsp turmeric powder
• 1 bay leaf
• 3-4 pods of green cardamom
• 2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
• 1/ cup of fresh cream
• 2 tbsp of vegetable oil
• Salt for taste

Method:

1. Cut paneer in equal sized cubes of one inch.

2. Take a pan and heat the oil; add cloves, cinnamon, cardamoms, bay leaf, cumin seeds and saute.

3. Now, add onions and green chillies and saute. Once onions turn little translucent and obtain a nice golden brown colour, add ginger garlic paste and saute for two more minutes.

4. Add tomato puree, if you do not have fresh tomato puree you can use blanched tomatoes as well. Saute for 3-4 minutes and let it sizzle.

5. Add red chilli powder, turmeric powder and garam masala. Mix them well for 2 minutes. 

6. Add fresh cream and salt and mix it well for 5 minutes. Now, add paneer and mix well until the paneer is well coated in the masala.  Let it cook for 2 minutes and then turn off the heat.

7. Take it out in a serving bowl and garnish with coriander, onion rings on the side.

Serve hot with naan, kulcha, roti or rice! Try it at home and let us know how you liked it. If you want to cut back on fat, you can use low-fat yogurt in place of cream.