My Food Story: A family dinner and a bag of childhood memories

This recipe forms part of my childhood memories. Every weekend, on Saturday, we used to have this dish in dinner. My father used to bring it from a restaurant nearby in our hometown.

When both parents are working, it is quite difficult to balance both one’s professional and personal life. Still, I feel good food always creates a magical mood in everyone’s lives. So, on weekends, we enjoyed this delectable dish with hot tawa rotis served by my mom with a chit chat discussion on our dining table with all family members.

Grilled paneer butter masala

Ingredients

Cottage cheese (Paneer) – 250/300gm

Butter – 7 slices of Amul mini butter

1 tbsp of sugar

Tomato – 3 (Medium-sized)

Onion – 2

Garlic cloves – 4-5

Cashew – 8-9

Green chilli – 1

Dry whole chilly – 3

Green cardamom (Elaichi) – 1

Turmeric (Haldi) – 1/2 tbsp

Kashmiri Chilli powder – 1 tbsp

Coriander powder – 1 tbsp

Black pepper powder – A pinch

Ginger – 5-6 (Julienned)

Everest garam masala – 1 1/2 tbsp

Fresh cream – 4 tsp

Roasted kasturi methi – 1 pinch

Salt – As required for the gravy

Fresh coriander – 4-5 stems (to garnish)

Method

Heat a grill pan with two small butter slices. Fry paneer cubes till golden and set aside. For the gravy, heat four butter slices in a pan, add cumin, onion, tomato, ginger, garlic, cardamom, red and green chillies, and cashews. Sauté till onions turn translucent and aromatic. Cool and blend smooth. Strain the puree.

Heat oil in a kadhai, add sugar and let it caramelise. Stir in the strained puree, cook for 4-5 mins, then add turmeric, chilli, coriander powder, and salt.

Cook another 3-4 mins, then mix in fresh cream and garam masala. Add the grilled paneer. Coat well and finish with black pepper. Garnish with cream, roasted kasuri methi, and coriander. Serve hot with phulka, roti, or paratha.

My Food Story is a collection of stories and recipes that celebrate India’s traditional plant-based ingredients sourced from local biodiversity. You can see these recipes on our interactive dashboard (https://www.cseindia.org/page/myfoodstory).

Join us as we showcase the recipes shared with us by the participants of a recently concluded recipe contest.

Lovely Rath is an Assistant Professor from Odisha