Kashmiri Paneer Masala

I have recently discovered Maunika Gowardhan's Indian food website, and found this kashmiri paneer masala recipe there. I modified it since I didn't have all the spices in my cupboard, and it was lovely. So much so that I was pretty gutted there were no leftovers. We cooked this without salt or chilli and gave it to my daughter who couldn't get enough of it! In Maunika's recipe the paneer is first pan fried before being removed and added later. I didn't bother to do this as my paneer was quite firm and it held up well in the sauce.

Paneer and Butternut Squash Curry

Mmmm curry. Indian food is my favourite of all cuisine. I could literally just live off curry. As I've said before, I don't pretend to know what I'm doing when it comes to curry. Rather, I experiment with flavours and see if they work. I did this from scratch, but as ever if you don't want to, just use curry paste. My friend Yusuf once gave me an invaluable tip when it comes to making curry: don't use tinned tomatoes, this isn't a rich Italian tomato sauce. You want to use fresh tomatoes and cook for a long time to get the sauce thick. It might sound obvious, but it wasn't ever something I'd thought about, and my curries are so much better for it. 

The peas in this dish are optional; I made this dish twice, once with peas, and once without, and I preferred without, but the peas were a nice variation. Of course, if you don't have the time to use butternut squash or can't get hold of it, sweet potato or carrots will do just fine. You can buy paneer cheese in most supermarkets. It is pretty flavourless by itself, so if you can be bothered, marinate it before hand. I didn't and it still turned out fine.

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