Methi Paneer is yet another addition to the paneer recipe series. Again, there are different varieties we have enlisted. All of them are popular paneer recipes from Punjabi cuisine. You can watch the recipe videos on Tasted Recipes YouTube channel.
Today we are making fenugreek & cottage cheese curry. I mean methi paneer. 😀
Like I said above, methi paneer has two native ingredients—first, fresh methi, aka fenugreek leaves. Second, paneer, the Indian cottage cheese. The combination of these two items and Indian spices gives you methi paneer.
Your methi paneer carries a variety of flavours in it. It is mildly hot, medium spicy & a little bitter due to fresh fenugreek seeds. In short, the outcome is a balanced combination of seasoning.
Needless to say, when you have a perfect blend of spices, the aroma can’t go unnoticed. In other words, the recipe contains item-specific fragrances—for example, woody, pungent, bitter, etc.
Since we have discussed the taste, I can’t resist speaking about the texture.
This dish has a gorgeous golden yellow colour with a light orange shade. The dark green fenugreek leaves on the paneer is a contrasting compliment. All in all, the recipe has a rich gradient. It looks beautiful as well as is delicious.
While working with a lot of ingredients, you need to be cautious. There are high chances that things can go south. Therefore, here are some helpful tips.
It’s time to answer your queries. Here’s a list of questions with answers.
Always use fresh methi, not the dry one. Dry methi leaves (kasoori methi) are bitter & are used for flavouring. So do not substitute the fresh leaves with dry ones.
No, there’s no need to do so. Still, if you want to do then soak in saltwater overnight. Take care you don’t add too much salt. Dirt & impurities will wash away this way.
Yes, but use the spice mix & masala as mentioned above, or it won’t be methi paneer anymore.
No. There’s no substitute for fresh fenugreek leaves. I don’t recommend dry methi leaves due to their intense flavour. In short, don’t replace fenugreek with other herbs.
There’s no need to add methi dana. The fresh methi leaves are enough to leverage the bitter & spicy taste.
Yes, doing this will reduce a lot of manual labour while cooking. In addition, toasting will evaporate excess water from the leaves, making them dry. If you don’t do this, the methi leaves will release a lot of water that will unnecessarily stretch the cooking time. Hence, toasting is an inevitable process.
Yes, you can. Make sure you add heavy cream or curd instead. These items will maintain the silky-smooth taste & texture.
You will need approx 1 kg paneer to make this recipe for 15 people. Count 200 grams for every four people. Keep 100 grams of extra paneer if case you need it.
Using a 200-250 grams paneer, you will get 3-4 serve adults. If you grate 50 grams of paneer more, your servings will dramatically increase to just 200-250 grams of paneer. Try it.
The cooking time is 30 to 45 minutes provided everything is ready. The washing, cleaning & chopping of fresh methi leaves is not included in the cooking time.