Amritsari Ajwaini Paneer Recipe

Amritsari Ajwaini Paneer recipe is a delicious recipe from North India that has a rich gravy flavoured with delicate spices and ajwain. Food around Northern India, especially areas around Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana is rich and heavy. They also have a lavish use of Ajowan or Ajwain in their dishes like kebabs, tikkas, including many of their gravies that add a special flavor to their cuisine.Inspired by their cuisine, I combined ajwain along with cashewnuts, and a few spices to create a delectable gravy for this Amritsari inspired dish with Course : Side Dish Ingridients : 1 cup Paneer (Homemade Cottage Cheese) 1 cup Homemade tomato puree 1 Onion , finely chopped 2 cloves Garlic 1 Green Chilli 1 inch Ginger 5 Cashew nuts 2 Cloves (Laung) 1 teaspoon Ajwain (Carom seeds) 1 teaspoon Garam masala powder 1 teaspoon Turmeric powder (Haldi) 1-1/2 teaspoon Coriander Powder (Dhania) 1/2 teaspoon Red Chilli powder 1/2 teaspoon Sugar Salt 1 tablespoon Oil Coriander (Dhania) Leaves , chopped for garnish Instructions To begin making the Amritsari Ajwaini Paneer recipe, we will first make a paste of onion, garlic, ginger and green chillies to a fine paste. Keep this mixture aside.Next make a fine paste of the cashew nuts, adding very little water. Keep aside.Using a pestle and motor pound ajwain and cloves to a fine powder. Keep aside.Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan on medium heat; add the onion paste and saute for a few minutes; you will notice that the onion mixture begins to absorb all the oil and will look dry. Resist the temptation to add more oil at this point. Continue to saute the onions on medium heat until the raw smell goes away.Stir in the turmeric powder, pounded spices and garam masala stir well for a couple of more minutes.Add in the pureed tomatoes, coriander powder, red chilli powder, salt. Cover the pan and simmer the ajwaini paneer for 4-5 minutes.Stir in the cashewnut paste, sugar and simmer for about a minute. Finally stir in the paneer cubes, garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with Naans or Tawa Parathas.You can also pair Amritsari Ajwaini Paneer with Whole wheat spinach paratha or Mooli Paratha (Thepla).