Paneer/cottage cheese in a gravy of Cashewnut & almond

Though I am not a big fan of matar paneer/palak paneer/kadhai paneer etc but I love this paneer preparation ..all white white . Whenever I have guests at home over dinner, I certainly prefer to make this dish when it comes to a vegetarian preparation . Always happy with the outcome . You may call it a shahi paneer or nawabi paneer as the ingredients required are almost same. The very first time I tried to make this dish was when I had a family over dinner and unfortunately or fortunately the husband was vegetarian. I was in a confused state of mind while thinking of paneer , whether to make with matar/peas or paneer butter masala or palak paneer. But then I thought these are something that I actually do not enjoy cooking (donot like to eat as well). Finally the idea for this white gravy came to my mind. And as obvious I did a mess with it. Do not know how come I thought of peanuts instead of almonds. And when I was grinding the roasted peanuts then only I realised that I should have used almonds not peanuts. As I was running short of time, I quickly put some almonds along with the peanuts and made  the paste with some water. Yes it was white !! It tasted good as well with the richness of dry fruits. With time passing by I started preparing this dish by adding /subtracting ingredients and I found this cashew nut & almond paste taste just awesome with paneer. Do check the rich delicious recipe and try it in your kitchen. You will love it its a promise :)

Ingredients:

Paneer: 200 gms cut into equal sized cubes
Onion: 1 large size
Ginger garlic paste: 2 tbsp.
Green Chillies: 1-2
Cashew nut & almond: 1/2 cup
Chopped coconut: a handful (you can replace this with coconut milk as well)
Bay leaf: 2
Dry red chilli: 1
Mace: 1-2
Cardamom, cloves, cinnamon stick: 2-3 of each slightly pitted
Fresh cream: 2-3 tbsp
Refined oil: 3-4 tbsp
Salt to taste
Garam Masala: 1 tsp
Saffron/kesar: few strands soaked in half small bowl of hot milk

Method:

Soak the cashewnuts, almonds and chopped coconut in water for about 5-10 minutes. Then make a paste out of it in a mixer and keep aside.

Make a paste of onion and green chillies and keep aside.

Heat oil in a pan. Add the dry red chilli, bay leaf, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, mace and allow them to crackle. Add the onion paste and saute for about a minute . Now add the ginger garlic paste and saute for a minute or so. Add the cashew, almond & coconut paste , mix with the masala and fry for about 2 minutes in low flame. Add 1 cup of water to it , stir and cover with a lid in medium-high flame. Cook this for about 2-3 minutes, checking in between. Now add the paneer cubes, garam masala, salt and combine everything well and simmer for another 5-7 minutes or till the gravy thickens. If you see the gravy dries up, you can add some more water. Finally add the fresh cream and the saffron along with the milk in which saffron was soaked in, give the gravy a nice stir and put the flame off. Now the paneer in white gravy is ready.

Serve hot with rice or roti.