Paneer Rezala Recipe – Traditionally a non-vegetarian dish attributing its origin from Mughlai cusine, however this is a paneer version here. The creamy gravy of yogurt and cashews makes this paneer rezala a rich gravy with mild spice levels.
Jump to
What is Rezala
Rezala means “uncountable”, hence I will assume that it is acronym to the unlimited flavour of this curry from Bengal (East Indian region).
Origin
There are unverified versions on internet which suggests that Rezala is a dish coming from Mughlai cusine. One of the known dish in bengal region there are few authentic restaurants serving rezala. Rezala is attributed to meat dish, normally rezala chicken. It has gravy made from yogurt, which mellows down the spice level, and adds to creamy texture. Further creamy texture is enhanced by using curry paste and hint of spice comes from the cardamom used black peppers.
Paneer is such a versatile ingredient that you can replace meat with paneer in most of meat based recipes. Ever since I heard of chicken rezala from a bengali friend of mine, I have been keen to try paneer version of this rezala dish.
Recently, I was on call with my sistes-in-law in India and she asked me what to make for a small event at her home. I immediately thought of paneer rezala, since this is less known paneer recipe. I explained her the recipe that time around on phone. She and her guests loved this rezala curry, and finally I have got around to writing the recipe to share widely.
Ingredients for Paneer Rezala
Core ingredients required for this vegetarian version of rezala are
- Paneer – Paneer acts as replacement for meat here in this recipe. Using paneer means that this is veg version as well as it will take less time to make this curry, as against to meat, as paneer will cook faster.
- Yogurt – Yogurt is used to give the creamy texture to the curry, it also aids in reducing the heat of peppercorns.
- Cashews – Cashew paste, makes the gravy really rich and smooth.
- Other spices – Ginger, garlic, bayleaves, cardamom, peppercorn, salt, and hint of sugar.
Method
- In a medium size pan, add chopped onion, ginger piece, garlic cloves, cashews, cinnamon stick, black peppercorn, black and green cardamom. Add 1 cup of water and let it boil for 5-7 minutes. After that switch off the heat and let it cool down.
- Once cooled, collect the extra water in a bowl and transfer rest of the boiled ingredients into a grinding jar and grind it to a fine paste.
- Heat oil in another pan over medium heat. Slice the paneer into your desired shape and sauté the pieces till they are light golden from both sides. Take them out on a kitchen towel.
- In the same pan add bay leaves and dried red chillies and sauté for half a minute.
- Add the ground onion cashew paste and sauté till it start leaving oil. Now add yogurt and collected extra water now and mix well and subsequently add salt and sugar to it and mix again.
- Add the paneer pieces and mix. Let it simmer for few minutes until it reaches your desired consistency. You can adjust the amount of water. Once done, switch off the heat.
- Transfer this to a serving bowl and garnish with some chopped coriander leaves. Serve hot and enjoy with rice or bread of your choice.
Pro Tips
- Always use fresh paneer where possible. If you do not have access to fresh paneer, and if using store bought paneer, make sure that the paneer is kept in warm water for 20 mins. This will help in making paneer soft.
- Gently sautéing the paneer with give nice brown texture on paneer, use grill pan if you like grilled lines on the paneer.
- You can use clarified butter / desi ghee in this recipe instead of oil. Ghee tastes best!
- Always sauté on low to medium heat otherwise the paneer will be hard and chewy.
- Since this gravy has cashews, you can use your broken cashews in this gravy, you do not need to use whole cashews here. Cashews are ground to paste, hence shape of cashews is immaterial.
This paneer rezala
- Is a unique paneer recipe, which is mild in spice level however tops in flavours.
- Easy to prepare with minimal skills.
- Less known compared to normal paneer dishes, such as kadai paneer, however won’t disappoint you with its taste.
- As it has low spice levels, this is kid friendly paneer curry.
- Is glutenfree recipe.
How to vegan rezala
Whilst paneer rezala is vegetarian dish, some of you may like a vegan version. To make it vegan, replace paneer with tofu or boiled small potatoes. You will also need to replace yogurt with vegan yogurt, this will than get you vegan rezala.
How to store
You can freeze this rezala curry for 90 days easily, though I am personally not much into freezing curries. I prefer fresh food. If you have any leftover paneer rezala, keep it refrigerated in an air tight box, though you must consume it in 2 days. To eat, simply take out of refrigerator and heat in microwave or in a pan.
Serving suggestion
Serve this paneer curry hot with naan or chapatti. If you love rice, serve it with plain rice, and it will taste heavenly.
Other paneer recipes
If you are paneer lover, you may like to explore some of these paneer recipes
Methi Paneer
Kadai Paneer
Paneer pakoda
Shahi Paneer
Recipe Card
Paneer Rezala
Ingredients
- 300 gram Paneer
- 4 tbsp Yogurt
- 1 Onion chopped
- 2 Garlic cloves
- 2 inch Ginger piece
- 4 tbsp Cashews You can use broken pieces
- 2 Bay leaves
- 2 Dried Red chilli
- 1 inch Cinnamon stick
- 1 Black Cardamom
- 1 Green Cardamom
- 4-5 Black peppercorn
- 3 tbsp Oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp Sugar
Instructions
- In a medium size pan, add chopped onion, ginger piece, garlic cloves, cashews, cinnamon stick, black peppercorn, black and green cardamom. Add 1 cup of water and let it boil for 5-7 minutes. After that switch off the heat and let it cool down.
- Once cooled, collect the extra water in a bowl and transfer rest of the boiled ingredients into a grinding jar and grind it to a fine paste.
- Heat oil in another pan over medium heat. Slice the paneer into your desired shape and saute the pieces till they are light golden from both sides. Take them out on a kitchen towel.
- In the same pan add bay leaves and Dried red chillies and saute for half a minute. Add the ground onion cashew paste and saute till it start leaving oil. Add yogurt and collected extra water now and mix well. Add salt and sugar to it and mix again.
- Add the paneer pieces and mix. Let it simmer for few minutes until it reaches your desired consistency. You can adjust the amount of water. Once done, switch off the heat.
- Transfer this to a serving bowl and garnish with some chopped coriander leaves. Serve hot and enjoy with rice or bread of your choice.
Notes
- You can use Clarified butter/desi ghee in this recipe instead of oil.
- You can skip sautéing of paneer if you don’t want it.
- If you feel your paneer pieces are hardened after sautéing, soak them in hot water for few minutes, before adding into the gravy. For best results, saute paneer just before you add them into the gravy.
- Always saute on low to medium heat otherwise the paneer will be hard and chewy.