Recently I ate Kadai Paneer during lunch, which my friend had prepared. Which was very tasty. Yummm I asked for the recipe and she told me while I was eating… well I guess I digested recipe too, because I wanted to prepare it after coming home but I could not remember how to prepare it. While returning home I had even picked up Paneer and bell pepper which was clearly visible while eating and I remembered. Me and my memory, I should have written it down. Good that I have plenty of cook books at home which I keep purchasing, hoping one day I will have time prepare them all. Pulled down all the books and finally I found this Kadhi paneer recipe in Mallika Badrinath’s ‘100 Delicious Vegetarian Curries”. She can never fail me. Well the curry turned out darn good… nothing was left in Kadai by the time dinner was over. ;)

Also check out Kadai Chicken recipe and other Paneer recipes

Ingredients:

• Paneer - 1 lb 
• Onions – 2 big
• Bell pepper (capsicum) -2
• Butter and oil – for frying
• Dhania/coriander powder - 1 tbl. Sp.
• Garam Masala Powder – 1/2 tsp.
• Salt – as required.
• Sugar – 1 1/2 tsp.
• Fried cashew nuts – 10 (optional)
• Red cooking color (optional)

Grind to smooth paste:

• Garlic – 7 flakes
• Ginger – 1/2 inch piece
• Green chilies – 4
• Red chilies – 5
• Tomatoes – 5 ( cut into cubes)

Direction:
1. Slice onions and bell pepper lengthwise
2. Cut paneer into 2 inch lengthwise pieces. Slightly roast it in a pan with little oil until golden color. Remove and keep aside.
3. In the same ‘Kadai’ / pan heat some more butter, add sliced onions and fry till it becomes transparent.
4. Add bell pepper and stir in high flame till onions become crisp & brown.
5. Sprinkle dhania powder and garam masala powder.
6. Remove this from kadai and keep aside.

7. Heat oil in the same kadai and fry ground paste stirring constantly till moister is absorbed.

Update(Jun/2021): Once the oil becomes hot and a tsp of sugar and let it caramelize before adding the ground paste. This gives that bright color. I found out about this trick from  Simran Kaur's blog. I used brown sugar and it almost turned out as if had added red food color. Thank you Simran.

8. Add salt, sugar, and stir oil floats on top.
9. Mix paneer pieces to this gently.
10. Add very little water and cook for few minutes in reduced flame.
(Optional: add 2 drops of red – food color, to get restaurant curry look )11. Add fried onions, bell pepper and mix gently. Allow to cook for couple of minutes more.
12. Garnish with fried cashew nuts and serve hot with pulkas or chappathis. This is a dry curry.
13. Optional: also add Kasoori methi (dry fenugreek leaves) just before removing from fire.


Variation: Substitute shallow fried potatoes ( cut like finger chips) instead of paneer.