Paneer Makhani

• 400g paneer, diced

Tomato Sauce

• 2 medium red onion, roughly chopped
• 2-3 green chillies, roughly chopped
• 1 tsp ginger, grated
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
• 4cm stick of cassia bark
• 4 green cardamom pods
• 3 cloves
• 5 whole black peppercorns
• 7 ripe red tomatoes roughly chopped/400g tin plum tomatoes

Makhani Sauce

• 3 tbsp ghee
• 1 tbsp cumin
• 2 tsp coriander seeds, crushed
• ½ tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp kasoori methi (fenugreek)
• 2-4 tbsp greek style yogurt or cream
• 1 cup hot water
• 1 tbsp honey 
• knob of butter

Garnish

• 10ml cream
• Handful of fresh coriander leaves, chopped

Method

1. Put onion, ginger, garlic, chillies, green cardamom, black pepper, cassia bark, salt into a pan and cover with water (approx. 1L) and bring to the boil.
2. Add a tin of tomatoes to the pan and leave to simmer for 15-20 min on medium heat stirring occasionally.
3. After the sauce has reduced and the mixture has come to a thick saucy consistency remove it from heat. Let the mixture cool down remove the cassia bark and discard.
4. Blend to a fine sauce, for a very smooth sauce you can strain it through a sieve.
5. In a second pan heat the ghee and add the cumin seeds. As soon as they crackle stir in the tomato sauce very carefully.
6. Fry the sauce then stir in turmeric, Kashmiri chilli, crushed coriander, dried fenugreek and stir for 2-3 minutes. 
7. Once the sauce has thickened reduce the heat and stir in the yoghurt or cream, honey and butter.
8. Cook for a minute or two and add the fresh homemade paneer. Stir to coat with the sauce then leave to simmer for 5 minutes on a gentle heat. Add a little hot water to loosen the sauce if required and the honey.
9. Garnish with coriander leaves and top with a dash of cream before serving.

Served with

I like this dish on its own with either roti or rice.......actually just roti