Paneer Lababdar

'Lababdar' is a Hindi word meaning strong craving for a food. The recipe I am going to post today is of Paneer Lababdar, which is one of the popular restaurant style paneer preparations in northern India. Indeed, the exquisite taste of a lababdar preparation rich with creamy buttery gravy makes one experience seventh heaven at every morsel. Please leave a comment below if you try it out at home. 

Please don't forget to check out the recipes of other delicacies in this blog:

Chicken Lababdar
Paneer Fried Rice
Paneer Malai Kofta
Paneer Bhapa - Steamed Paneer
Paneer La Jabab
Palak Paneer





Ingredients:

800 gms paneer (cottage cheese)
 4 medium tomatoes (pureed)
2 onions (ground into paste)
2 tbsp cashew nuts (ground into paste)
4-5 green chilies (ground into paste)
2 capsicums (chopped)
 1 tsp garlic powder or paste
 1 tsp Kashmiri chili powder
 1 tsp garam masala powder
 2 tsp coriander powder
 1-2 teaspoons Kasuri Methi
1 tsp hing
 1 tbsp sugar
 Salt to taste
 1 cup milk
 1/2 cup fresh cream
 Coriander leaves for garnishing
White oil for cooking (You may use butter instead)

 Method:

1. Heat oil. Add hing and when hing begins to sizzle, add onions and fry for 5 minutes till onion becomes translucent in color. Add tomatoes and fry the mixture on medium heat for 7-10 minutes.

2) Add garlic paste or powder, kashmiri chili powder, coriander powder, and green chili paste. Saute the mixture for 5 minutes. (Add 2 tbsp of water if the mixture becomes dry.)

3) Add capsicum and cashew nuts paste. Add milk and cook for 3 minutes. Add sugar, salt and 1 cup of water. Bring the mixture to a boil.

4) Toss the paneer into the gravy. Add fresh cream and garam masala powder. Mix in. Cook covered for 5 minutes.

5) Add kasuri methi before turning the heat off.

6) Garnish with coriander leaves. Serve hot with steam rice, fried rice, paratha, chapati or puri.