20 Minutes Xpress Paneer Butter Masala

Sounds impossible? Not. When you are a Mom to two VERY picky eaters and wife to a pickier eating husband, you need to be pretty ingenious. If these picky eaters are hungry and your Plan A is not working, then you need to be pretty enterprising and quick as well!

Saturday we spent entire morning digging, weeding, moss cleaning, sweeping and mulching our deck, readying it for the summer. The pool is set to open in two weeks, so I needed the majority cleaning up done. However, I miscalculated the time, so by the time we all trooped in tired, dirty and hungry, it was way past Noon. I had planned on an elaborate meal, but looking at the time, and the faces of my hungry brood, I decided some sort of quick fix was in order.

Not wanting to go the mac and cheese variety, and Saturday being vegetarian day and all that, paneer seemed to be a great option, especially when I have this little recipe up my sleeve that gives a-m-a-z-i-n-g flavors without taking up your entire day. I started at exactly 12.52pm and by 1.30 pm; we had all started with lunch. It pretty much made me feel like Rachel Ray on steroids.

Prep Time: 8 minutes

Cook Time: 12 minutes

Difficulty level: Easy

What you need:

• A pressure cooker
• 200 g paneer cut into thin rectangles of 1”
• 1 red/green bell pepper cut into 1” squares
• 2 tsp. tomato thick puree thinned with ½ cup water
• 1 tomato halved
• ½ tsp. yogurt
• 1” ginger
• 2 green chillies (Mash 1 green chili with ginger in mortar and pestle).
• ½ tsp. all-purpose flour
• ½ tsp shahi jeera/cumin seeds
• 1 tsp kasoori methi (dried fenugreek leaves)
• ¼ th cup cream
• 1/4^th cup fresh cilantro chopped
• 3 tbsp. ghee
• A pinch of saffron (optional)

Whole Spices:

• 1 black cardamom
• 2 green cardamoms
• 2” cinnamon sticks
• 1 bay leaf

Make a paste with 2 tsp. of water:

• 1 tsp. tandoori masala powder (I use Shan Chicken Tikka Masala, but any other will do fine.  Indian spices are always vegan, even if they say ‘chicken’ or ‘fish’)
• 1 tsp. red chilli powder
• ½ tsp turmeric powder

Directions:

1.  Heat ghee in the pressure cooker
2.   When the ghee is hot enough, fry paneer very lightly – for 30 seconds or so- drain, and keep aside. Do not brown them.
3.   Roll the bell peppers in ghee similarly, drain and keep aside.
4.  In the rest of the ghee, add shahi jeera
5.   As they crackle, add the ginger-chili mash
6.   Add the masala paste, and stir, counting to 10.
7.   Put in the tomato puree.
8.  Stir for a few seconds, then add the yogurt.
9.   Now add the all-purpose flour.
10.  Stir for a few seconds, then add all the whole spices.
11.  Add the kasoori methi, paneer, halved tomato, bell peppers and 1 cup of water.
12.  Put the pressure cooker lid on, and bring it to two whistles.
13.   Release the pressure right away.
14.    Open the cooker, add cream and the remaining green chili and cook for two minutes.
15.  Add saffron and cilantro.

Serve hot with roti or naan.

Note: Tandoori Masala normally have a lot of salt in them. Check the saltness of the dish before adding any extra on top.

Also, I have a tendency to forget stuff. So if I open the fridge to fetch tomatoes, chilies and ginger, I will sure-shot forget one, and then make another trip to retrieve it. So if you can get a tad more organized, you can perhaps shave a couple more minutes in cooking time. 😀

I always store pre-cooked roti or naan. That way, it’s just heat and serve. It saves a lot of time, energy and effort. But that’s a lesson for another day.

Happy Sunday!