Has anyone tried ice cream in their cooking ever? Well I did and the results were phenomenal! I had one ingredient missing which was full cream for my Shahi Paneer dish. I was already half way through the cooking when I realized that. But as soon as I saw the Malai Masti Kulfi from @desilicious in my freezer drawer I could not resist adding it. As you say, necessity is the mother of invention, it worked like magic and gave a new dimension to it, making it so delicious!

A delicious twist to a Shahi paneer recipe in a few easy steps

I soaked the paneer in saffron water to give it a golden colour and saffron flavour before adding it to the Shahi curry. I made the Shahi curry by lightly frying the onions with the masalas (turmeric, red chilli and coriander powders before grinding them that gave a roasted flavour to it. Then added 2 scoops of Desilicious’s Malai Masti kulfi to the paneer curry which did the magic and enhanced the taste and flavours to a higher level making it so delicious.

Another trick to keep the green peas stay green was to boil them in salted water and add them to the paneer curry just before serving.

Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:
350 g fresh paneer
4 tbs canola/olive oil
2 large onions sliced
2 green chillies
2 black cardamoms
4 green cardamoms
4 cloves
1/2 ” stick cinnamon
1-2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
a pinch of saffron
1/2 cup hot water
2 scoops of Malai Masti Kulfi from “Desilicious”
chopped cilantro for garnish

Instructions:
1. Cut the paneer block into cubes, sprinkle some salt then lightly fry them in oil in a non stick pan and set them aside.

2. Take a pinch of saffron, crush it using the mortar and pestle, add 1/2 cup of hot water to it and set aside for 5 minutes, so that it leaves more colour and cools down as well.

3. Soak the paneer cubes in this cooled saffron water for 15 minutes.

4. To prepare the Shahi curry, fry the sliced onions in oil in the pot till they are golden brown. Add the ginger garlic paste and the spices (turmeric, red chilli and coriander powders) and roast them lightly in the masala.

5. Turn down the heat to simmer, add a little cold water and blend the onion tomato masala with a hand blender to a smooth consistency.

6. Now toss in all the whole spices ( bay leaves, cloves, cinnamon stick, black and green cardamoms) into the pot with the blended masala. Add green chillies, chopped cilantro.

7. Add a scoop of the Desilicious Malai Masti Kulfi and mix it well in the curry, then drop in the soaked paneer with the saffron water. Mix gently and let them simmer in the curry a bit.

8. Meanwhile boil the green peas in salted water just till they are done and keep them ready. Do not cover them as the steam makes them loose their bright green colour.

9. At this final stage of cooking, add another scoop of the malai masti kulfi to the paneer curry, mix well and simmer for 2 minutes.

10. Just before serving add the cooked green peas to the curry, mix well and serve it hot with ghee rice, naan or parantas. Enjoy!

Tips and Tricks:
1. Fry the paneer cubes in a non stick pan and handle them gently when turning them over while frying because they break easily.

2. Do not cover green peas while cooking them as the steam makes them loose their bright green colour.

3. You can replace the Desilicious kulfi with full or whipping cream and almond paste.

4. Smoking this Shahi Curry also gives an added smoky flavour which is very appealing to the taste buds.

Recipe