Paneer In White Gravy Recipe

When we think of paneer curries, our mind goes straight to the orange ones. Paneer butter masala. Paneer tikka masala. Kadai paneer. I love them all. But the white gravy is a different kind of special. It is silky, a little sweet, and smells of cardamom and butter. This is the paneer I make when guests are coming, something that looks fancy but won’t keep me in the kitchen all evening. It takes about 30 minutes, start to finish.

I first made this in our kitchen in India with Amul cream and khoya from the local dairy. Now I make it in the US with heavy cream from the regular grocery store and khoya from the refrigerated section of the Indian store. It works just as well. I’ll show you exactly what to buy below.

What Is Paneer In White Gravy?

Paneer in white gravy is a mild, creamy North Indian curry in which soft paneer cubes simmer in a pale sauce made from boiled onions, cashews, khoya, yogurt, and cream.

It uses no tomatoes, turmeric, or red chili powder, so the gravy stays white.

The heat comes gently from green chilies and white pepper. It is part of the rich Mughlai style of cooking and is usually served with naan or a light pulao.

Paneer In White Gravy vs Shahi Paneer vs Nawabi Paneer

All three are rich, nut-based Mughlai-style paneer curries, but I make each one differently. The biggest differences are how the onions are cooked, whether tomato goes in, and what gives the aroma.

• Paneer in white gravy (this recipe): Onion, cashews, ginger, and garlic are boiled (not fried), then blended. Khoya, yogurt, and cream make it rich, and white pepper and green chili bring gentle heat. No tomato and no colored spices, so it stays ivory white. It is the mildest and quickest of the three.
• Shahi paneer: My restaurant-style Punjabi version. Onions are fried golden brown, then blended with tomato puree, almonds, and cashews. Khoya, saffron milk, Kashmiri red chili, turmeric, and garam masala go in, and honey, lemon juice, cardamom, kewra, and cream finish it. It is pale orange and the sweetest of the three.
• Nawabi paneer: The version I learned from a restaurant chef in Bangalore. Lightly browned onions are cooked with fresh coconut, ginger-garlic paste, green chilies, and cashews, blended, and fried in ghee and butter until the fat separates. Finish with yogurt, milk, green peas, pan-fried paneer, cream, garam masala, and a few drops of kewra. It is creamy off-white with a soft coconut note.

Make this white gravy when you want something mild and quick. Pick shahi paneer when your crowd loves a sweet, restaurant-style curry with a tomato blush. Go for nawabi paneer when you want a fragrant party dish with coconut and peas.

How To Make Paneer In White Gravy

Make The Onion-Cashew Paste

1. Boil the water. Heat 3 cups of water in a pan over medium-high heat.

2. Cook the onion and cashews. Add the chopped onion, cashews, ginger, and garlic to the boiling water. Cook for 4–5 minutes. Boiling softens the onion and removes its raw bite without adding color. Frying would brown it, and brown onions mean a beige gravy.

3. Drain. Drain the water and add the cooked onion and cashews to a blender.

4. Blend smooth. Add a little cold water and blend until smooth. The paste should look like thick pancake batter, as shown in the step photo below. For a really silky gravy, push it through a soup strainer now.

Cook The Gravy

5. Heat the fat. Heat oil and butter in the same pan over medium heat.

6. Temper the whole spices. Once the oil is hot, add cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, and bay leaf. Let them crackle for 5-6 seconds.

7. Cook the paste. Add the onion-cashew paste and cook for 4-5 minutes on medium heat. Stir often. Cover the pan if it splutters. This paste spits a lot, so keep a lid handy and turn the heat down a notch if it starts sticking. You want it to smell sweet and cooked, not raw, and it should still be white, not golden.

8. Add khoya, ginger, and chilies. Add crumbled khoya, ginger juliennes, and slit green chilies. Cook for another 2–3 minutes. The khoya melts into the gravy, giving it body and that milky, mithai-shop sweetness.

9. Add the yogurt mix. Add salt, sugar, and the yogurt whisked with flour and white pepper. Cook for 2–3 minutes. The flour coats the milk proteins in the yogurt, so they don’t clump and split when they hit the heat.

What went wrong for me: The first few times I made this, years ago, my gravy split into tiny grains right at this step. The yogurt was a couple of days old and slightly sour, and I poured it straight into a very hot pan. Now I always use fresh yogurt, whisk in the flour, and lower the heat for a minute before adding it. It hasn’t split since.

10. Add the paneer. Add paneer cubes, crushed kasuri methi, and water. Bring the curry to a boil and cook for 2–3 minutes. Add just enough water to reach your desired thickness; the gravy thickens more as it sits. Don’t cook the paneer longer than this, or it will turn chewy.

11. Finish with cream. Add fresh cream and mix well. Adding cream at the end keeps it smooth and fresh-tasting.

12. Serve hot. Serve right away with naan or pulao.

Variations

• Saffron and kewra: Add a few saffron strands soaked in warm milk and 2 drops of kewra essence with the cream for a more royal aroma.
• With vegetables: Add boiled peas, beans, carrots, or cauliflower along with the paneer.
• Nut swap: Use soaked, peeled almonds instead of cashews.
• Malai kofta: Keep the gravy and swap the paneer cubes for fried paneer-potato koftas.

Serving Suggestions

Serve this with soft breads that won’t fight the gravy: naan, laccha paratha, tandoori roti, or puri.

For rice, keep it simple with jeera rice or a light veg pulao.

For a party menu, pair it with a spicier dish like dal makhani and laccha onion salad.

Storage Suggestions

Paneer in white gravy is best eaten fresh, while the gravy is glossy and the paneer is soft.

Leftovers keep in an airtight container in the fridge for a day. The gravy thickens as it cools, so reheat it in a pan on low heat with a splash of milk, stirring gently until warm. Skip the microwave; high heat can split the yogurt and make the paneer rubbery.

Make the onion-cashew paste up to 2 days ahead and keep it in the fridge, or freeze it for up to a month, then finish the curry fresh in 15 minutes.