Paneer in creamy or spicy tomato sauce

One of my favourite Indian dishes. Its takes a bit of time to make but if you love vegetarian Indian food you'll like this. I have two versions here of the sauce-one spicy, one creamy.

Wikipedia states “Paneer Hindi: panīr, from Persian پنير panir) is the most common South Asian and Persian cheese. It is an unaged, acid-set, non-melting farmer cheese made by curdling heated milk with lemon juice or other food acid.”

Make paneer using this recipe. I usually add 1 tablespoon white vinegar with the lemon juice to get the milk to curdle better. You can also omit the yogurt if you don't have any. Of course if you can also purchase fresh paneer if its available. Its sometimes availale in the farmers market in the US. DO NOT use frozen paneer. Paneer can be made up to 3 days ahead and stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container.

After you have made and pressed the paneer, cut into in ¾ inch cubes. Fry paneer cubes in a little olive oil in a non stick pan, turning on all sides to brown (about 5 minutes in all), Drain and set aside.

Sauce:

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 small onion, finely chopped/minced
3 cloves garlic finely chopped/minced
1 inch piece ginger, finely chopped/minced
(an easy method is to put onion, garlic and ginger together in the food chopper and finely chop.)
Hot pepper to taste
1 tsp coriander (optional)
1 tsp Turmeric
1/2 tsp Ground cumin (geera)
1 1/2 cups canned tomatoes with their juice, pureed, or 5 fresh vine-ripened tomatoes, pureed
1-2 tsp kosher salt (less if using canned tomatoes-in fact I use no salt at all then)
2 tsp garam masala

1/4 c cream or 2 tablespoons cream cheese (you can also use ¼ cup plain yoghurt but it won’t be as rich tasting)

4 tbs finely chopped fresh coriander or mint

Method

Heat oil and add onions, garlic and ginger, fry for about 5 minutes stirring constantly. Add hot pepper, ground turmeric and cumin, stir, then quickly add the pureed tomatoes. Cook about 10 minutes, stirring often.

For spicy sauce: add 1 cup hot water and bring sauce to boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook the sauce, covered, for 10 minutes. Add paneer cubes and cook 4 minutes. Fold in garam masala & chopped coriander or mint leaves.

For creamy sauce: add 1 cup hot water and bring sauce to boil. Add cream/cream cheese and stir till mixed in. Add paneer cubes and cook 4 minutes. Fold in garam masala & chopped coriander or mint leaves.
Serves 4-6