This is a south indian paneer curry dish that I really like. Smelling my leftovers at lunch, some people at work asked for the recipe, so here it is...
When I make it, I like to add some vegetables to it as well, maybe some okra, peas, and/or green peppers. Serve it over rice. It takes a while to make, but you get a good amount of it. You can use a variety of chiles for this recipe, depending on how spicy you want it. I have used serranos for a really hot version. I usually use a mix of chiles, some new mexican (mild and hot), and maybe a guajillo, or pasilla, or similar chiles, depending on what I have in the house. Even chile de arbol will do. I wouldn't use chipoltles on this one though.
This dish is really good when it has a kick, so its worth having a few hot chiles in it.
1/2 lemon size ball of tamarind
2x798 ml cans crushed tomatoes
2 inch piece of ginger, chopped
10-12 cloves crushed garlic (I like to use the little jars of crushed garlic for this)
6-8 dried chiles, stemmed and broken in half
1 tblsp sesame oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
20 curry leaves
3 1-2 inch cinnamon sticks
1 tsp turmeric
2 tsp coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 can coconut milk
2 packages paneer, diced into cubes
boil some water in a kettle and put the tamarind in a bowl, adding 1 cup of water from the kettle and soak for 30 minutes or longer. squeeze out the pulp and put the mixture through a strainer and set aside.
meanwhile, put 1/2 cup water, tomatoes, ginger, garlic and chiles into a large saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. cover and simmer on low for 20-25 minutes. set aside to cool.
Once the tomato mixture is cool enough to handle, put it through a strainer and set aside in a bowl. transfer the solids into a food processor or blender and blend until smooth. push the blended mixture through the strainer into the same bowl.
add sesame oil to a large saucepan over medium heat. when the oil is warm add the mustard seeds and cumin seeds - saute until the mustard seeds begin to sputter. add the curry leaves, cinnamon, turmeric, coriander and ground cumin and saute for 1 minute. add the tomato mixture and salt and bring to a boil.
stir in the tamarind pulp and the salt.
if you are going to add any vegetables to this dish, add them now and simmer them in the sauce until they are cooked to your liking. If I am using green peppers with this I usually dont throw them in for very long since I like them to still have a bit of crunch. Sometimes I will add the coconut milk (next step) before the vegetables.
add the coconut milk
optionally, add a couple tablespoons of ground roasted chickpeas for thickening. I usually don't bother with this - sometimes I add a little bit of
guar gum instead, but usually its good the way it is.
add the paneer and simmer for 2-3 minutes.
serve with rice!
