Paneer Pasanda- With a twist (cottage cheese cooked in a tomato, cream and spice gravy)
I cooked this Paneer Pasanda
with Kumror Bichi ( kaddu Beej/ Pumpkin Seed). I had so much of the pumpkin
seed at home that I needed to put them to cook use. I make fish, chicken and
sometime fish Paturi (fish cooked in wrapped banana leaf) with pumpkin seed. However
I never tried to cook it with paneer specially make paneer Pasanda with it. So
I thought, why not?
Paneer Pasanda is a quintessential
Mughlai dish very popular in North India especially among Punjabis. Pasanda is
a Urdu word which means liking The word is a variation of the Urdu word
“pasande,” or “the favorite one”. According to Sanjay Thumma, “Pasanda was originally made with leg of
lamb, flattened into strips, marinated, and fried in a dish with multiple
seasonings. In the present day, pasanda is also made using chicken and king
prawns; in each case, the process and ingredients remain generally the same.
And for the vegetarians it’s the paneer pasanda that is popularly prepared”
Although originally the dish
is associated with gravy made with cream, almond, and coconut milk and heavily
seasoned with spices, I have decided to give this dish a twist by using roasted
pumpkin seed, which is healthy, have less fat content then almonds but taste
just the same. I also did not use coconut milk as it might contradict with the
nutty taste of pumpkin seed. And the result
was awesome. Specially R is very fond of paneer Pasanda and only likes them
from one restaurant at Pandara Road, Delhi. Nevertheless, he said mine was
equally good. That is a huge from him, trust me! This man knows his Paneer
Pasanda!
225gm
Paneer/cottage cheese
10-pumpkin
seed
1-onion
diced
1-inch
ginger
2-pod
garlic
5/6-Kashmiri
red chilies
1-teaspoon
cumin seed
1-teaspoon
coriander seed
1-teaspoon
poppy seed (posto/khuskhus)
1-inch
cinnamon
2/3-cardamom
2/3-
clove
3-tablespoon
tomato paste/ puree
½-cup
fresh cream
½-teaspon
sugar
2-tablespoon
oil
Salt to
taste
1. Dry
roast the cumin seed, coriander seed, poppy seed, pumpkin seed , kashmiri chili
2. Make
a paste of onion, ginger, garlic and the dry roasted spices
3. Heat
oil and add cinnamon, clove and cardamom
4. Add
the paste and fry well until oil separates
5. Add
tomato puree and fry
6. Add
the diced paneer, salt and sugar and cook
7. Add
fresh cream and cook for another 5/10mins. add milk if it is too dry and you
need to increase the gravy
8. Serve
with naan or roti
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