Heat 1 tablespoon butter in a pan. Add cumin seeds and fry them on low heat till they start to splutter.
1 Teaspoon Cumin Seeds (Jeera)
Add green cardamom (choti elaichi), cinnamon (dalchini) and cloves (laung) to butter. Fry on low flame them for a minute.
2-3 Green Cardamom (Hari Elaichi), 1 Inch Dalchini (Cinnamon Stick), 3-4 Laung (Cloves)
Add chopped ginger and garlic cloves to the pan and cook for a minute.
1 Inch Piece of Ginger, 4-5 Garlic Cloves
Add chopped onions and fry them till they turn translucent. There is no need to brown the onions.
1 Large Onion
Add chopped tomatoes and cook them till they become soft.
2 Large Tomatoes
Add cashews to the mixture. If you want you can roast the cashews separately before adding them.
15-20 Cashew Nuts (Kaju)
Add 1 teaspoon salt along with 1 cup of water.
Cover with a lid and cook for 15-20 minutes till the mixture becomes soft.
Transfer the mixture to a blender or food processor and make a smooth fine paste. You can pass the paste through a sieve to remove the skin of the tomatoes and any other chunks.
Again heat 1 tablespoon butter in a pan and add bay leaf (tej patta) and red chilli powder to it. Fry it for a few seconds. This will give a nice color to the gravy.
1 Bay Leaf (Tej Patta), 1 Teaspoon Red Chilli Powder
Add the onion tomato paste to the pan and mix it with the red chilli powder. Cook for a couple of minutes.
Add garam masala, coriander powder (dhania powder) and turmeric powder (haldi) to the mixture.
2 Teaspoons Coriander Powder (Dhaniya Powder), 1 Teaspoon Garam Masala, 1/2 Teaspoon Turmeric Powder (Haldi)
Also add some sugar to the gravy. Adding sugar is optional but it gives a nice taste to the gravy. You can also replace sugar with honey.
1 Teaspoon Sugar or 1 Teaspoon Honey, optional
Now add cream to the gravy and mix everything well. The cream will give a richness to the gravy. If you want to skip it you can use a little bit of milk instead.
1 Tablespoon Cream
Sprinkle some crushed dry fenugreek leaves (kasuri methi). Finally add the paneer cubes and cook everything for 3-4 minutes. If you want you can fry the paneer cubes very slightly before adding them.
1 Tablespoon Kasoori Methi (Dried Fenugreek Leaves)
Paneer Butter Masala is ready. You can garnish it with chopped coriander, shredded paneer or a drizzle of cream. Serve it hot with any Indian bread like naan, missi roti, lachha paratha or with some rice preparation like jeera rice.