Veth Chaman | Kashmiri Paneer Masala

Veth Chaman – Paneer recipe from Kashmir!!

Kashmir is not only known for its picturesque beauty but also for its cuisine. Kashmiri cuisine can be classified into two types – as Wazwan and Pundit cuisine.

Wazwan cuisine is mainly for Kashmiri Muslims whereas the Pundit cuisine is for Kashmiri Pundits. They use a liberal amount of cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, dry ginger powder in their food. The pungent nature of their food is due to the fact that they are cooked in Mustard oil. Curd is one of the primary ingredients in all their curries and used to marinate kebabs to give depth to the food. While Kashmiri cuisine is known for meat based food, they do have some aromatic flavorful vegetarian dishes.

Today’s post is a spicy dish made up of Paneer (Indian Cottage cheese)! Paneer is cooked in hing water along with roasted spices and curd. When I came to know about the recipe while surfing, I wanted to really try it someday in my kitchen. Initially, I was skeptical about the use of so much cardamom, cloves, and cinnamon in the recipe. But I should say that my opinion is proved wrong once I tasted this heavenly dish! Paneer will just melt in first bite itself! Paneer cooked over medium heat in milk and curd with powdered spices – doesn’t that feel tempting?
The recipe is a bit oily with spices loaded in it! I have used them more as Kashmiri cuisine is known for its spices and flavors. But, you can always adjust according to your taste buds!
And this is No Onion and No Garlic recipe so you can make during vrat/fasting days too!

Ingredients:

1 cup warm water
1/4 tsp asafoetida
7 Tbsp mustard oil
500 gm paneer cubes

For the garam masala:

3-4 cloves
1/2 Tbsp cumin seeds
1/2 Tbsp black peppercorns
1/2 Tbsp coriander seeds
3 green cardamoms
1 cinnamon
1/4 Tbsp dry ginger powder

For the paneer base:

2 Tbsp mustard oil
1/2 Tbsp cumin seeds
1 cinnamon
5-6 cloves
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp red chili powder
1 Tbsp Kashmiri chili powder
2 tsp dry ginger powder
2 Tbsp curd (whisked)
1/2 cup milk
Salt, to taste
3 green cardamom
3 tsp saunf (fennel) powder
1 1/2 tsp garam masala

Method:

Boil water and add asafoetida in it.
In a pan, add 7 tbsp of Mustard oil and fry paneer on both the sides over medium heat.
Transfer fried paneer to the hing water and set aside.
Dry roast all ingredients for the garam masala and powder them in a mixer.
In the same pan (in which we fried paneer), add additional 2 tbsp Mustard oil over medium heat.
Add cloves, cinnamon, cumin seeds, turmeric powder, chili powder, Kashmiri chili powder, salt and dry ginger powder.
Mix them well. Add hing water to deglaze and prevent powders from burning.
Whisk curd. Add curd, milk, green cardamom and fennel powder to the base mixture and mix them well.
Add paneer and garam masala to the mixture! Mix them well.
Cover and let it simmer for 10 -15 minutes.
Serve with roti or chapatti!

Newbie’s Pitfalls:

Paneer should be fried over medium heat on both the sides
Leave fried paneer in the hot water for few minutes. This will prevent paneer from crumbling
Cook the entire dish over medium heat to get best flavors!

Do try in your kitchen next time and let me know your comments! Thanks for stopping by!