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What is Shahi Paneer
Shahi mean royal. Paneer is the soft and tender Indian cottage cheese. Shahi Paneer is an exotic curry made with onions, tomatoes, nuts and cream. It’s typically not a spicy curry. It’s packed with mild fragrant flavors with Paneer cubes dunk in it. It’s delicious when paired with Naan, roti/chapatti or Basmati Jeera Rice.
Why you will love this Shahi Paneer Recipe
I cannot emphasize enough how easy it is to make Shahi Paneer in your pressure cookers. You literally just throw in the ingredients and let the pressure cooker do the work for you without any baby sitting. You will fall in love with how delicious this easy curry tastes. The thick creamy sauce is perfect to dunk cheese cubes and relish it with Naan, roti/chapatti or Basmati Jeera Rice. Great for parties & potlucks. It’s a restaurant style curry but it’s so easy to make it at home. It’s gluten-free and can be made vegan too. The sauce is freezer friendly and you can meal prep this recipe ahead of time. I freeze the sauce and when I am crunched on time, just thaw the sauce and throw in some fresh paneer and serve.
Instant Pot Shahi Paneer Ingredients
Here is just a gist of the ingredients involved in the recipe you can find the measurements in the recipe card below.
Paneer or Tofu - You can use homemade paneer or you can find it at any Indian grocery store in the frozen section. If you are looking for a vegan substitute to Paneer you could add Tofu instead. For the sauce - onions, tomatoes, cashews or almonds, ginger, garlic, salt, water, table cream or coconut cream for vegan option. Spices - bay leaves, turmeric powder, kashmiri red chilli powder, garam masala, dried fenugreek leaves, green cardamom. For a delicious aromatic sauce, try not to skip the dried fenugreek leaves and cardamom as they add a lot of flavor and aroma to this curry.
Here is just a gist of the steps involved in the recipe you can find the measurements in the recipe card below.
Step 1 - Prepare the ingredients. If making paneer at home, check out our homemade paneer recipe. Wash, peel and cut the tomatoes and onions into halves. Peel the ginger and garlic. Cut the paneer or tofu into cubes. Keep the spices ready.Soak cashews for 30 minutes in milk or water.
Step 2 - Saute. Using the saute function, heat oil in the inner pot. Once the oil is hot, throw in the bay leaves, green cardamom and stir until you smell an aroma. Then add in the rest of the spices, turmeric power, kashmiri red chilli powder, dried fenugreek leaves & garam masala. give it a stir. Next, wait for 30 seconds and add the onions, tomatoes, cashews or almonds, salt and water. Step 3 - Pressure Cook. Cover the lid, seal the vent and pressure cook for 8 minutes on high. Manually release the pressure. Step 4 - Prepare the sauce. Using a spoon remove the bay leaves and cardamom. Next using a hand or table blender, blend the pressure cooked ingredients into a smooth runny sauce. You can gradually add water to water down the sauce. Ofcourse keep in mind you will also be adding cream to the sauce so you can adjust the water based on how thick you want you sauce to be. As long as the sauce is smooth and is able to coat the cheese cubes it’s good. Step 5 - Add table cream or coconut milk or vegan unsweetened cream, cheese cubes and dried fenugreek leaves and saute for 3-5 minutes. Step 6 - Garnish with cilantro and serve with Naan or Basmati Jeera Rice.
How to make Shahi Paneer on Stove Top
Don’t own an Instant Pot yet? We highly recommend getting one as it’s made our lives a lot more simple. You can read all about why we love our Instant Pots and if it’s worth it here. The quickest way to make this sauce on the stove top is using a stove top pressure cooker. You will follow the same instructions as for Instant Pot Recipe until Step 4. Pressure cook on slow heat for 20 minutes and then follow step 5 and 6 of the Instant Pot instructions.
Can I make Shahi Paneer Vegan
You can use Tofu instead of Paneer and replace the cream with either coconut milk to thicken the sauce or even vegan unsweetened cream.
Can I meal prep Instant Pot Shahi Paneer
This is a perfect recipe for meal prep. You can prepare the sauce until step 4 a day before, a week before or make a large batch and freeze it. All you need to do before consuming is reaheat the follow step 5 and garnish. I do it all the time and it’s such a time saver specially on the day you are entertaining or preparing for a potluck. Infact there are times I have pulled out the sauce even on weeknights just out of mere convenience.
Can I freeze the Shahi Paneer Sauce
Yes this sauce is freezer friendly. Just make sure that if you are freezing this sauce you don’t add cream and paneer cubes to the sauce. Follow steps 1 to 4 mentioned above and then Step 5 and garnishing just when you are ready to serve. Store the sauce in a freezer friendly container and it’s good for upto 3 months.
Serving Ideas
Shahi Paneer pairs really well with naans, roti/chapatti, parathas or even basmati jeera rice. I like to throw in some cucumbers or a salad on the side too.
You can find more Indian Recipes
Hope you try making this Instant Pot Shahi Paneer recipe and relish it too. Don’t forget to come back and leave us a comment. If you know of someone who will love this recipe or Indian curries, share this with recipe with them on your social media.
For homemade paneer recipe, click here. Wash, peel and cut the tomatoes and onions into halves. Peel the ginger and garlic. Cut the paneer or tofu into cubes. Keep the spices ready.Soak cashews for 30 minutes in milk or water.
Instant Pot Shahi Paneer Recipe
Stove Stop Pressure Cooker Shahi Paneer Recipe
Mealthy Immersion Hand Blender: 500 Watt, 10 Speed Controls Plus Turbo, Includes 500mL Chopper and Whisk, and 600mL Smoothie Cup. Stainless Steel & BPA-free; Instant Access to Recipe App with Videos Mealthy MultiPot 9-in-1 Programmable Slow and Pressure Cooker Instant Pot DUO60 6 Qt 7-in-1 Multi-Use Programmable Pressure Cooker, Slow Cooker, Rice Cooker, Steamer, Sauté, Yogurt Maker and Warmer Instant Pot Ultra 6 Qt 10-in-1 Media Crema Table Cream Cans – Add Rich, Creamy Texture to Sweet and Savory Dishes, Shelf Stable Table Cream, 8 Count Morton Salt Iodized Sea Salt, 26 oz, 2 pk Rani Garam Masala Indian 11 Spice Blend 1lb (16oz) 454g ~ Salt Free | All Natural | Vegan | Gluten Free Ingredients | NON-GMO | Indian Origin Rani Fenugreek Leaves Dried, All Natural (Kasoori Methi) 100g (3.5oz) ~ Gluten Free Ingredients | NON-GMO ~ Vegan Rani Kashmiri Chilli Powder Rani Turmeric (Haldi) Root Powder Spice, Rani Green Cardamom Pods Spice (Hari Elachi) 2oz (56gms) ~ Natural | Vegan | Gluten Free Ingredients | NON-GMO Rani Bay Leaf (Leaves) Whole Spice Hand Selected Extra Large 1.75oz (50g) All Natural ~ Gluten Free Ingredients | NON-GMO | Vegan | Indian Origin (Tej Patta) Terrasoul Superfoods Organic Raw Whole Cashews, 32 oz./2lb Healthy Harvest Non-GMO Sunflower Oil - Healthy Cooking Oil for Cooking, Baking, Frying & More - Naturally Processed to Retain Natural Antioxidants {One Gallon}
