Top 15 Paneer Dishes in India: A Culinary Journey
Paneer, the beloved Indian cottage cheese, wins hearts with its soft texture and rich taste. This dairy delight offers excellent nutrition too. Every 100 grams provides 11-13 grams of protein and 208-480 mg of calcium. For vegetarians, paneer serves as a vital protein source.
Global culinary guide Taste Atlas recently highlighted paneer's versatility. They published a list of 24 best-rated paneer dishes worldwide. From that selection, here are the top 15 must-try paneer dishes from across India.
1. Shahi Paneer, Punjab
This royal dish comes from Mughal cuisine. Cooks prepare it with paneer cheese, onions, cashews, and a spicy tomato-cream sauce. People often serve Shahi Paneer during special occasions and festivals as a vegetarian main course.
2. Malai Kofta, Northern India
Malai Kofta features fried potato and paneer balls in a creamy sauce. This Mughal dish acts as a vegetarian substitute for meatball curry. Malai means cream, and kofta means dumplings. It pairs perfectly with naan bread and rice.
3. Saag Paneer, Punjab
Saag Paneer combines paneer with greens like mustard, fenugreek, spinach, bathua, or collard greens. Cooks mash the greens and mix them with tomatoes and a rich spice blend. Enjoy this dish with rice or naan.
4. Paneer Naan, India
This stuffed flatbread uses flour, yeast, sugar, salt, and yogurt in the dough. The filling includes paneer, coriander, masala spices, and cumin. Unlike plain naan baked in a tandoor, cooks typically bake paneer naan on a tava pan. They brush the hot naan with melted butter or ghee before serving.
5. Vindaloo, Goa
Vindaloo is a popular curry in Goa and Konkan. While it traditionally uses marinated pork, you can also make it with paneer. Portuguese explorers brought the dish to Goa in the 15th century. Local cooks then added Indian spices like tamarind, cinnamon, cardamom, and hot chilies.
6. Paneer Makhani, Punjab
Paneer Makhani is a classic Punjabi curry. The gravy contains ghee, tomatoes, cashews, cream, green chili peppers, and various spices. Key spices include garam masala, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, ginger, garlic, red chili powder, sugar, salt, turmeric, and fenugreek leaves.
7. Jalfrezi, Eastern India
Jalfrezi is a semi-dry curry. Cooks fry marinated paneer, meat, or vegetables with spices like turmeric, coriander, and cumin. This creates a thick gravy. The dish typically includes onions, tomatoes, bell peppers, and green chili peppers.
8. Paneer Tikka, Northern India
Paneer Tikka works well as a snack or appetizer. Chefs marinate paneer and vegetables, then cook them in a tandoor. They serve it with a topping of lemon juice and chaat masala, often with onion rings on the side.
9. Kadai Paneer, India
Kadai Paneer gets its name from the unique wok called kadai used for cooking. Key ingredients include paneer, onion, bell peppers, red chili peppers, and whole spices like cardamom, cinnamon, fennel, cloves, and coriander seeds. Onions, ginger, and tomatoes form the thick gravy.
10. Palak Paneer, Punjab
Palak Paneer originated in Punjab but now enjoys popularity across India. The dish features paneer dunked in a thick sauce made from puréed spinach. Cooks mix the spinach with tomatoes, garam masala, garlic, and numerous spices. It tastes best with roti, naan, or rice.
11. Matar Paneer, Punjab
Matar Paneer is a vegetarian main course dish from Punjab. It combines peas and paneer cheese in a garam masala-spiced tomato sauce. This rich, thick curry is widely enjoyed throughout India. People typically serve it for lunch or dinner with rice and Indian flatbreads like naan, kulcha, roti, or paratha.
12. Chilli Paneer, North India
Chilli Paneer is an Indo-Chinese appetizer. Cooks cut paneer into cubes, fry them, and mix with a sweet, sour, and spicy sauce. The dish comes in three versions: dry, semi-dry, and restaurant-style gravy. They batter the paneer cubes in corn flour, ginger paste, garlic paste, red chili powder, salt, and black pepper before frying. The gravy uses ginger, garlic, chili peppers, spring onions, soy sauce, red chili powder, and sugar.
13. Paneer Kulcha, Punjab
Paneer Kulcha is a traditional leavened flatbread stuffed with paneer cheese. The dough contains flour, dahi, ghee, sugar, salt, water, baking soda, and baking powder. People often prepare it during winter. They cook it in a tandoor oven and serve with chole, raita, yogurt, or chutneys.
14. Sandesh, Bengal
Sandesh is a traditional Bengali sweet. It uses milk, chhena or paneer, sugar, and flavorings like cardamom and saffron. Cooks shape the mixture into small paneer balls. They typically garnish them with pistachios, almonds, or crushed pineapple.
15. Paneer Kathi Roll, Bengal
Paneer Kathi Roll is a popular Indian street food. It consists of flatbreads filled with meat, vegetables, or both. This version features paneer or Indian cottage cheese. Cooks cut the cheese into cubes and marinate it in garam masala, dahi, ginger-garlic powder, red chili powder, and salt.
These fifteen dishes showcase paneer's incredible versatility across Indian cuisines. From rich curries to sweet desserts, paneer adapts beautifully to different cooking styles. Each dish offers a unique taste of India's diverse culinary heritage.
