Paneer in White Gravy is a creamy, rich dish where Paneer cubes are simmered in an onion cashew nut based white gravy. It is a popular dish in most Indian restaurants and goes well with Indian bread. It can easily be made at home using simple ingredients and in under 30 minutes.
I love making Paneer recipes for my special meals, and if you are someone like me, then you must try these recipes too – Matar Paneer, Saag Paneer, Paneer Masala, Kadai Paneer, Paneer Jalfrezi, Palak Paneer, and Paneer Tikka Masala.
Jump to:
About This Recipe
Paneer In White Gravy is different than your usual rich Paneer curries and you will definitely fall in love with its smooth and silky texture from the first bite itself. This Mughlai style Paneer Curry has a rich texture and white color from the use of cashews, yogurt, and fresh cream.
While choosing paneer dishes, we tend to roam around the orange gravy-based paneer delicacies and, we literally, forget about the rich, smooth, silky, creamy, and absolutely delicious white gravy, which is quite different than the orange one.
This curry is best to serve during special occasions, particularly, due to its comforting gravy which is made with cashew nut and onion paste mixed nicely with some beaten yogurt and amazingly flavored with all the relevant aromatic spices.
Being a part of the Royal Mughlai Cuisine, the dish uses all rich ingredients and is topped up with some saffron strands.
The flavor of the curry can vary from being mild to a little spicier, depending upon your taste and preferences.
This Mughlai Paneer Curry is,
- Delicious
- White in Colour
- Rich and Royal
- Slightly Sweet
- Perfect for festive meals
Ingredients
Paneer – You can either use homemade Paneer or the store-bought one. If you have time on hand, I will suggest you make Paneer at home, as it is soft and fresh.
If it is store bought, you can keep the Paneer cubes in warm water for 10 minutes.
For the Cashew Onion Paste – The gravy of this curry uses a white paste which is made with the combination of cashews, onions, ginger, and garlic. This adds a nice creamy and rich texture to the curry.
Yogurt – To make the gravy even more rich, we will add in some whisked yogurt too. Just make sure that the yogurt is not sour, otherwise, it will ruin the taste of the curry.
Whole Spices – This curry gets a slight hint of spice from the whole spices such as cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, and bay leaf.
Khoya – To give it that royal taste, add in some khoya. It makes the gravy nice and thick. If khoya is not available, you can skip it or replace it with some milk powder.
Green Chillies – Green Chillies add-in that spicy taste in the curry. You can adjust the amount of green chilies as per the spice level you need.
Kasuri Methi – Do not miss Kasuri Methi. This adds that restaurant-style taste in the curry. Try making Kasuri methi at home for the best result.
Fresh Cream – Make it more creamy, with fresh cream. Use full-fat cream for the best texture and taste.
Others – Apart from the above ingredients, you will also need ginger, white pepper powder, salt, and sugar.
You can even add saffron to add that rich Mughlai touch in the curry.
How to make White Gravy Paneer?
Heat 3 cups of water in a pan.
Add chopped onion, cashew nuts, ginger, and garlic in boiling water and cook for 4-5 minutes on medium heat.
Drain the water and add the cooked onion and cashews in a blender.
Add some cold water and grind to make a smooth paste.
Heat oil and butter in a pan.
Once the oil is hot, add cloves, cinnamon, cardamom and bay leaf and let them crackle for a few seconds.
Add the onion and cashew paste and cook for 4-5 minutes on medium heat. Cover the pan if the masala is spluttering too much. Keep stirring frequently.
Add crumbled khoya, ginger juliennes, and green chilies and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
Add salt, sugar, yogurt whisked with flour and white pepper powder and cook for 2-3 minutes. Mixing some flour in the yogurt makes sure it doesn’t get split while cooking.
Now add paneer cubes, Kasuri methi, and water and bring the curry to a boil. Cook for 2-3 minutes.
Add fresh cream and mix well. Serve hot.
Frequently Asked Questions
While preparing paneer in white gravy we boil onions along with some cashew nuts, ginger, and garlic.
The process followed here is in contrast to the one we generally follow in Indian cooking, which is caramelizing onions until they turn nice golden brown in color.
This is because caramelizing onions would change the color of the gravy, and, we do not want that. Boiling the onion cooks them without changing the color of the final dish.
The recipe for making Jain White Paneer is exactly the same as that of Mughlai Shahi Paneer, except for the fact that we won’t be using any onion, ginger, and garlic in its preparation.
Thus, the onion and cashew nut paste used in Mughlai Shahi Paneer is replaced by only cashew nut paste while preparing the Jain version. Rest the recipe of both the dishes is exactly the same.
While the original recipe uses Cashews, you can even use Almond instead of Cashews. Soak the Almonds overnight or for a few hours in hot water, peel the almond and then make a paste with boiled onions, ginger, and garlic.
I have used Amul cream to make this curry. You can use any fresh cream that is easily available to you. It’s preferable to use heavy cream but low-fat cream also works fine.
You can also use homemade Cream or Malai collected over milk in place of fresh cream.
Yes, you can use frozen Paneer for this recipe. If you are using frozen paneer to make this dish, thaw the paneer over the kitchen counter until it comes to room temperature.
Cut it onto cubes and then soak in warm water for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, drain the water and use Paneer in the curry.
Pro Tips by Neha
Pass the onion cashew nut paste through a soup strainer if you want very silky gravy.
You can use the same gravy to make malai kofta.
Mixing yogurt with a little flour prevents it from splitting. Also, make sure the yogurt is not sour.
You can add some veggies like peas, beans, carrot, cauliflower, etc along with paneer.
Add a little rose water or kewra water for a nice taste change. But be very careful about the quantity. Just a few drops should be used.
Adding a few saffron strands while cooking the gravy makes it richer.
Serving Suggestions
White Gravy Paneer goes really well with some hot Phulka, Naan, Garlic Naan, Laccha Paratha, Tawa Parathas, Poori, or Tandoori Roti by its side.
Jeera Rice, Veg Pulao, Matar Pulao, or any other lightly spiced Pulao also perfectly complements this white gravy.
Storage Suggestions
I will not suggest you store White Gravy Paneer for more than a day. If you have leftovers, store them in an airtight container for a day. Reheat it in a pan or microwave until nice and warm.
If you feel it has become a little dry, add in a little milk and mix well.
You might also like
Recipe Card
Paneer in white gravy Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup Onion (Chopped)
- ½ cup Cashew Nuts
- 1 teaspoon Garlic (Chopped)
- 1 teaspoon Ginger (Chopped)
- 2 tablespoon Oil
- 2 tablespoon Butter
- 3-4 Cloves
- 1 inch Cinnamon
- 2-3 Green Cardamom
- 2 Bay Leaves
- ¼ cup Khoya (Grated)
- 1 teaspoon Ginger Juliennes
- 2-3 Green Chillies (Slit into half)
- Salt to taste
- 2 teaspoon Sugar
- ½ cup Yogurt
- 1 teaspoon All Purpose Flour
- ½ teaspoon White Pepper Powder
- 1 teaspoon Kasuri Methi
- 250 g Paneer (Cut into cubes)
- ¼ cup Fresh Cream
Instructions
- Heat 3 cups of water in a pan.
- Add chopped onion, cashew nuts, ginger, and garlic in boiling water and cook for 4-5 minutes on medium heat.
- Drain the water and add the cooked onion and cashews in a blender.
- Add some cold water and grind to make a smooth paste.
- Heat oil and butter in a pan.
- Once the oil is hot, add cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, and bay leaf and let them crackle for a few seconds.
- Add the onion and cashew paste and cook for 4-5 minutes on medium heat. Cover the pan if the masala is spluttering too much. Keep stirring frequently.
- Add crumbled khoya, ginger juliennes, and green chilies and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
- Add salt, sugar, yogurt whisked with flour and white pepper powder and cook for 2-3 minutes. Mixing some flour in the yogurt makes sure it doesn’t get split while cooking.
- Now add paneer cubes, Kasuri methi, and water and bring the curry to a boil. Cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Add fresh cream and mix well.
- Serve hot.
Vimitha Anand
Creamy n yummmy… Will try soon
Kaveri
I too have tried this one and liked it a lot. Just added a few green peas too.
Yours looks delicious
Balvinder Ubi
You won’t believe this, I had left over cashew paste in my fridge.Actually I did it with milk. So I guess today’s lunch is Paneer in white gravy.
Priya
Mouthwatering here, wat a terrific and super tempting paneer dish.
khushi
rich gravy!! looks delicious
a spoonful of yumm
id love to eat this with garlic naan :)yummy !
Amina Khaleel
fabulous recipe… looks delicious..
Sobha Shyam
rich and delicious curry, looks yummy..
Deeps @ Naughty Curry
never made white gravy before, this looks so proffesional & restaurant-like 🙂
joe
I added peas. so good. thank you!
Neha Mathur
Thnx for trying 🙂
Shreya Khosla
Hi, can we give the khoya a miss?
Neha Mathur
Yes Shreya, You can.