Paneer Makhani (paneer in creamy tomato sauce)
Paneer cubes seared hard until deeply golden before joining a rich, spiced tomato and cream sauce, closer to the North Indian butter-sauce tradition this dish takes its name from than a quick tomato curry. Searing the paneer first, then adding it only to warm through in the sauce, is what keeps it from turning rubbery and bland.
Prep20 min
Cook30 min
Servings4
Christoph's paneer makhani, the paneer seared hard first and added only to warm through in the sauce so it stays tender rather than rubbery.
Ingredients
Written for a 3 L pot
Units
Temperature
Servings
Paneer
- 350 g paneer, cut into 2 cm cubes rounded
- 20 ml neutral oil, for searing rounded
Sauce
- 150 g onion, chopped rounded
- 2 garlic cloves rounded
- 15 g fresh ginger, peeled, chopped rounded
- 30 g butter rounded
- 10 g garam masala rounded
- 5 g ground cumin rounded
- 500 g chopped tomatoes rounded
- 150 ml cream rounded
- to taste fine salt rounded
- 15 g fresh coriander, for the top (optional) rounded
Dietary labels are a guide, not a guarantee. If you have an allergy, read the ingredients yourself.
Method
- Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Sear the paneer cubes, turning occasionally, for about 5 minutes, until deeply golden on most sides. Set aside.
- Melt the butter in a pot over medium heat. Sweat the onion, garlic and ginger for 5 minutes, until softened.
- Stir in the garam masala and cumin and cook 30 seconds, until fragrant.
- Add the chopped tomatoes. Simmer 15 minutes, until reduced and thickened.
- Blend the sauce completely smooth, either with a stick blender or in a stand blender, then return to the pot.
- Stir in the cream and season with salt. Add the seared paneer and warm through gently for 3 to 4 minutes, without boiling hard, which can toughen the paneer.
- Scatter with coriander before serving.
Method in the Thermomix
Written for a TM5 or TM6, 2.2 litre bowl. This covers the sauce; the paneer still sears conventionally in a pan.
- Sear the paneer in a pan as in the hand method.
- Onion, garlic and ginger into the dry bowl. Chop 3 sec / speed 5. Add the butter. Sauté 5 min / 100°C / speed 1.
- Add the garam masala and cumin. Sauté 30 sec / 100°C / speed 1.
- Add the tomatoes. Cook 15 min / 100°C / speed 1.
- Blend the sauce smooth, 1 min / speed 8, ramping up gradually.
- Add the cream and seared paneer. Cook 3 min / 90°C / reverse / speed 1, gently. Season with salt.
Notes
- Sear the paneer properly before it goes anywhere near the sauce. Added raw and simmered the whole time, paneer stays pale and can turn rubbery; a hard sear first gives it colour, flavour and a firmer, more pleasant texture.
- Blend the sauce for a genuinely smooth, restaurant-style finish. A rustic, unblended version is fine too, but the classic makhani texture is silky rather than chunky.
- Do not boil the sauce hard once the cream and paneer are in. A gentle warm-through keeps the paneer tender; a hard boil can toughen it and risks the cream splitting.
- It keeps for 3 days in the fridge and reheats gently well, though the paneer’s texture is best on the day it is made.
Ingredient substitutions
- Paneer can be firm tofu, seared the same way, for a vegan-adjacent version, though it will need a dairy-free cream substitute to stay fully vegan.
- Cream can be cashew cream, blended smooth, for a dairy-free sauce.
- Garam masala varies by blend; add more or less to taste depending on the brand’s intensity.
From Christoph Mayer