Hope you liked the recipe, and love the idea of infusing it with celery as well! I’m excited to look into making this paneer recipe, and will definitely check out that cookbook. Thanks for the suggestion!

I’m sure you must be very familiar with muttar paneer (green peas and Indian cheese), Usually, it takes a while to make, but you could still make it with fewer spices that are easily accessible in North America. such as curry powder, bottled hot sauce, and a pinch of cinnamon; cardamom too if available. I would skip the heavy cream, too, because the recipe already includes yoghurt. And in a pinch, some people even substitute potato cubes for paneer, according to the cookbook Vij’s at Home (Dhalwala & Vij, 2010).

Elizabeth, thank you for sharing your recipes! I struggle with cooking because it’s hard to come up with different varieties. In the past year I have learned a lot about different spices. Indian cooking is time consuming but your recipes can be a good base for it. I see that you use cumin, coriander, chilies which are basics for Indian cooking along with turmeric, ginger, garlic, onions. With paneer I know you can treat it like tofu, to make it flavorful you might have to marinate it with yogurt and spices, or sauté with spices like vegetables. I tried barbeque styles paneer on skewers with spicy, pineapple, onions, bell peppers at a wedding. They were serving it on tiny skewers. It can be put in with a creamy gravy of tomatoes, onions, spices and eaten with rice or naan. I know paneer can be made at home with hot milk and adding something sour to separate the water and the curds that it forms. The only thing is how to incorporate this with the daily busy work week way?! I hope this helped :)

Hi Zinal! Wow… this has to be one of the best comments I’ve ever received. I’m so humbled to know that my recipes have helped you so much- thank you so much for your kind words! I love the suggestion to use paneer- I’m a huge fan of it, but I’ve never actually cooked with it. I LOVE Indian food (in fact, my husband and I were just saying that we think it’s our all time favorite category of food!), but I haven’t done much home cooking of Indian recipes. I struggle with trying to figure out ways to create an authentic taste without too much labor and ingredients, and to make it easy for your average American cook. I’m definitely going to do some experimenting with paneer and hope to post something soon! In the meantime, do you have any suggestions for specific recipes that use paneer I could look up for some inspiration? :-)