Preparation:

• Wash and chop tomatoes.
• Chop onion. I use only half of the big onion along with tomatoes for this gravy. Authentic recipe uses only tomatoes for this Makhani gravy, which I feel sour.
• Chop paneer into medium size cubes.
• I use homemade fresh milk cream. It’s very easy to make at home. Collect the malai(top fat layer) formed from boiled milk and store in the fridge in a tight container. When you need fresh cream to take a tablespoon and blend using the small jar in a mixer. Fresh cream is ready. Or you can beat fast with a fork.

Recipe:

How to make Makhani gravy:

• Heat oil in a pan, add onion, saute nicely.
• Add chopped tomatoes and half a teaspoon salt to cook tomatoes fast.
• Now add cashews, cover with a lid and cook for five minutes until tomatoes become soft and mushy.
• Let this base masala cool down and grind them into a fine paste without adding water.
• Keep this ready.

How to make gravy:

• Heat butter in a kadai, add the whole spices and let them fry in butter to get a nice aroma.
• Add ginger garlic paste, saute nicely to remove the raw flavor. If you don’t have ginger garlic paste ready add a piece of ginger and 4 garlic pods along with onion & tomato while making makhani masala.
• Add few cashew nut bits and fry with ginger garlic paste.
• Now add chopped green chilli.
• When there is a nice Aroma from GG paste and green chillies add the ground tomato puree we prepared.
• Cook the Makhani masala nicely until you get a wonderful orangish red color.
• Add chilli powder. I do not have Kashmiri Red Chillies, so I used Kashmiri Chilli powder to get a nice color. If you have Kashmiri chillies you can use them while making the Makhani masala puree and reduce red chilli powder quantity.
• Add around a cup of water and mix with the masala to get the correct consistency. the gravy should have a semi-thick texture hence add water accordingly. since we add cashew nut paste, the masala tends to get thickened after cooking.
• Now add salt required for the masala. you can add a quarter teaspoon of pepper powder( optional) at this stage.
• Cover with the lid, cook the gravy for five minutes in medium flame.
• After 5 minutes open the lid, now the gravy is cooked well, and add crushed Kasuri methi. Kasturi methi gives a nice aroma to the gravy.
• Add chopped paneer cubes. If you use store bought paneer then put them in warm salted water for a minute, squeeze them gently and use in the gravy.
• Finally, add fresh cream and mix with the masala. after adding paneer and fresh cream don't cook the gravy for more than 3 minutes.
• Paneer Butter Masala is ready to serve with roti, naan or any Indian bread items. It tastes great with pulao items also.
• You can add a blob of butter just before serving.