Milagu Kuzhambhu or Pepper Sambhar

This is one of my favourite sambhar for those lazy cold nights.
I have two different recipes.
One of my granny's and other my mil.
Today I am posting my grand mother's recipe.
Basic ingredients though remain same but my mother in law adds cooked dal, coconut and coriander leaves while grinding and also she uses only pepper(no red chillies) and no tamarind pulp.
Any way I will post her recipe sometime later in detail with pictures.

Ingredients:
Tamarind - 1 medium lemon size, soaked in warm water and juice extracted,
Jaggery - 1 small marble size,
Salt.

To Temper:
Oil - 1 teaspoon,
Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon,
Asafoetida - a pinch,
Curry Leaves - 1 sprig,

To Roast and Grind:
Chana Dal - 2 teaspoon,
Coriander seeds - 11/2 teaspoons,
Urad dal - 3/4 teaspoon,
Red Chillies - 1,
Pepper - 1 teaspoon,
Curry Leaves - 5-8 leaves,
Asafoetida- a pinch,
Turmeric Powder - 1/4 teaspoon.

Method:
Dry roast ingredients, except turmeric, under roast and grind table, until dals are evenly browned.
Cool and grind to fine powder with turmeric and keep aside.
In a kadai add oil and heat it.
Add mustard seeds, once it crackles add asafoetida and curry leaves.
Add tamarind juice, salt and jaggery.
Boil until you get nice blended aroma of jaggery and tamarind (approximately 2-3 minutes).
Add the ground powder and boil until you get sambhar consistency or medium thickness.
Enjoy with steamed rice.

Note:
While adding ground powder, take care not to form lumps.
 If you are not confident mix water with ground powder to make a paste and then pour to the sambhar.
If the sambhar becomes thin, mix a teaspoon of rice flour in water and add to sambhar and give it a boil and serve. 

Saagu for Poori

This is a very yummy tasty saagu recipe, just the restaurant style.
IT is very common saagu given with poori in all the restaurants in Bangalore Mysore.
It can also be used as an accompaniment with chapathi, paratha or rawa idly.
Tastes very yummy and can made very quickly.
Now coming to the recipe,

Ingredients:
Oil - 2 teaspoon,
Onion - 1 large finely chopped,
Tomatoes - 2-3 medium finely chopped,
Mixed Vegetables - 250 grams(French beans, carrot, potato, cauliflower..),
Green Peas - 1 fistful,
Salt.

To Grind:
Cinnamon - 1 inch,
Cloves - 5,
Fried gram - 1 tablespoon,
Fennel seeds - 1 teaspoon,
Poppy Seeds - 1 teaspoon,
Coconut grated - 1/2 cup,
Turmeric - 1/2 teaspoon,
Green Chillies - 8-10,
Coriander leaves - 1 tablespoon,
Ginger - 1 inch,
Garlic - 2-3 cloves.

Method:
Grind the ingredients under the grinding table to smooth paste and keep aside.
In a pressure cooker heat oil.
Add chopped onion and fry until pink.
Add chopped tomatoes and fry until mushy.
Add veggies and fry for a minute.
Add ground paste and salt.
Add 1/2 cup hot water.
Pressure cook for 1 whistle.
Allow to cool and mix well and serve hot with poori, chapathi or even ghee rice.

Note:
Take care not to cook vegetables too much.
Take a small pressure cooker as to reduce the cooking time.
Alternatively you can steam cook the veggies and add after frying the ground masala.
Fry masala, when it smells heavenly add cooked veggies and add water to adjust the consistency.
Add green chillies according to your taste and sharpness of green chillies.

 

Paneer Pakoda

Paneer is very favourite in my family.
My son loves paneer in all form of sabjis and also in pulao and biryanis.
Though he doesn't like deep fried stuff, but when it comes to paneer, he loves paneer pakoda.

Now coming to the recipe:
Ingredients:
Paneer - 250 grams,

For Batter:
Gram flour or Besan - 1 cup,
Rice flour - 1 tablespoon,
Corn flour - 1 teaspoon,
Red chilly powder - 1 teaspoon,
Turmeric powder - a pinch,
Cumin Seeds - 1 teaspoon,
Soda Bi carbonate - a pinch,
Salt.

Oil for deep frying.

Method:
If you are using store bought paneer, thaw them in warm water until it is fried in the batter.
Mix the ingredients under batter table into medium thick consistency batter.
Heat the oil for frying.
Squeeze the water from paneer.
Dip in the batter and deep fry evenly, until golden brown.
Remove them on a tissue paper to drain excess oil.
Sprinkle chat masala and serve.

Note:
Instead of cumin you can add carom seeds or ajwain.
Make sure that you squeezed the water well from paneer, before dipping in the batter, else it will make batter too watery.
 

Aloo Bonda

During my school days I used love the fried snacks when I come back from school.
But now I don't like it as much I used to when I was little, might be because  I have become a bit more conscious of health and also I don't reuse the oil once used.
I have to throw, so I completely avoid frying.
But my little daughter loves fried stuff, so sometimes I make it for her.
I do fried stuff only when I have guests, so that it will be shared with the guests and don't end up eating a lot more of them.
Though this bonda has potato stuffing, yet completely different from vada pav, vada stuffing. Will post it some other time.
Now coming to the recipe,

Ingredients:

For Batter:

Besan or Gram flour - 1 cup,
Rice flour - 1 table spoon,
Salt,
Turmeric powder - a pinch,
Red Chilly Powder - 1 teaspoon,
Cooking Soda or soda Bi carbonate - a pinch,
Water.

For Stuffing:
Potato - 2 medium,
Oil - 1 teaspoon,
Mustard - 1/2 teaspoon,
Asafoetida - a pinch,
Chana Dal - 1/2 teaspoon,
Green Chillies - 2-3 finely chopped,
Curry leaves - 6-8 leaves chopped,
Turmeric powder - 1/4 teaspoon,
Lemon juice - 2 teaspoon,
Chopped Coriander - 1 teaspoon,
Salt.
Oil for frying.

Method:
Boil potatoes with salt.
Once cooked, peel the skin and mash them and keep aside.
In a pan heat oil. Add mustard and asafoetida.
Add chana dal and fry until light brown.
Add green chillies and curry leaves.
Add turmeric powder.
Add cooked and mashed potato.
Mix well and adjust the salt.
Remove from heat and add lemon juice and coriander.
Mix well and keep aside to cool.
Meantime  mix all the ingredients under the batter table to make a thick batter.
Heat oil for frying.
Make balls of potato mixture to medium size balls.
To make sure oil is properly heated, check by dropping very little batter into the oil.
If the batter comes up immediately, then it is ready to fry.
Dip potato balls in the batter, take care to coat the potato balls very well, drop in the oil slowly.
Turn the heat to medium and fry the bondas all round to even brown colour by occasionally turning them.
Drain excess oil on a tissue paper and enjoy with chutney and coffee or tea.

Note:
Take care the batter to be thick, otherwise it might not coat the potato balls evenly.
If you wish, you can add 1 medium onion chopped before adding potato.
Fry until soft and then add potato.



 

Rice Semia Upma

I always like rice base dishes, like rice semolina upma, rice flour rotti or even rice semia or vermicelli.
I used do this rice vermicelli like any other upma with onion and vegetables, until I tasted in a udupi restaurant.
It is on the highway between Bangalore and Mysore. I don't remember the name of the restaurant as it was very long back, when I was in India and used to travel frequently from Bangalore to Mysore.
But When I tasted it for the first time, my taste buds just opened up so instantly, even the third plate was not enough to satisfy me.
After that every trip to Mysore Bangalore was incomplete without this upma.
After moving out of India, I used to crave for it and then decided to make it as the taste was still lingering in my mouth.
After making and tasting, I was happy as it tasted almost the same.
My affinity towards udupi cuisine might be because of the food I used to have in sudha aunty's kitchen.
I was soo used to it and loved it every time. Though in my family, they never use coconut oil in their cooking, I love the taste and aroma of it.
Now coming to the recipe,

Ingredients:
Rice Vermicelli - 250 grams,
Salt,
Sugar - 1 tablespoon,
Lemon juice - 1 table spoon,
Coconut grated - 2 tablespoon,
Oil - 2 teaspoon,
Mustard - 1 teaspoon,
Asafoetida - a pinch,
Urad dal - 1 teaspoon,
Cashew - 15-20 broken,
Green chillies - 5-6 chopped finely,
Curry leaves - 10-15 leaves,
Coriander - 1 tablespoon chopped finely,
Coconut oil - 1 tablespoon.

Method:
Cook rice vermicelli in lot of boiling water with enough salt and a teaspoon of oil.
Once vermicelli is cooked, drain water and pour enough cold water immediately to stop further cooking.
In a broad pan heat oil, add mustard and hing.
Once the mustard splutters, add urad dal and cashew.
Once dal turns pink, add green chillies and curry leaves.
Remove from flame and add cooked vermicelli.
Mix gently, not to make the vermicelli mushy.
Adjust the salt, remember that salt was added while cooking the vermicelli.
Add sugar.
Now bring back to low heat and just warm it. Remove from heat.
Add coconut and chopped coriander and mix well.
Finally add coconut oil for that extra flavour and enjoy this wonderful rice vermicelli.

Note:
Coconut oil adds extra flavour and taste to the upma,  but it is completely up to your taste.
Again adding sugar is also completely up to your taste, but  I liked the sweet taste of the vermicelli.
You can serve this vermicelli upma with chutney of your choice.
 

Poppy seeds Kheer

One more to my mil's corner.

My mil is an expert in pickling which can go for years.

I will try to post those traditional pickling when I get to see the authentic way she does it.

But for now it is her popy seeds kheer or gasa gase payasa

Ingredients:

Poppy seeds - 1 cup,
Raw rice - 1tblspn,
Jaggery - 11/2-2 cups(preferably powdered as this will reduce the cooking time),
Cashew - 5-6,
Badam - 8-10,
Cardamom powder -1/2 tspn,
Coconut - 1cup(fresh or frozen).

Method:

In a pan dry roast popppy seeds and rice until it emits nice roasted aroma and slightly browned and rice turns bleached.

Take care not to burn the poppy seeds.

Grind the above with coconut, cashew and badam to fine smooth paste.

In a broad vessel mix 1/2 cup of water and jaggery and boil until jaggery is completely dissolved.

Strain it for any impurities and return it back to flame.

Boil for couple of more mins until you get the nice sweet smell of jaggery and now lower the flame and slowly add the ground paste.

Keep mixing, until it mixes up smoothly without any lumps.

Allow it boil for 5 - 6 mins approximately, until you get smooth pouring consistency

 Add cardamom powder.

 Serve chilled or hot.

Note:
Poppy seeds to be ground to very smooth paste.
Lower the flame while adding the ground paste to the jaggery syrup otherwise in high flame the mixture may curdle.
You can also fry some cashew amd raisins in ghee and add to kheer.
If you are using the left over the next day, do not forget to refrigerate as it may turn sour.
The next day you can add a little milk and heat it up and serve.

 

Sambhar for Idly

This recipe is been asked by my many friends. Now I am posting it today.
This is a typical Bangalore darshini style udupi sambhar.
This recipe is from my friend's mom 'sudha aunty'.
Though I have great cooks in my family, to begin with my granny,(my dad's mom)no one can ever beat her food, and my dad, his sisters, his brother and my uncle(dad's brother-in-law).
My mom's mom was a fantastic cook.
In this generation my cousin sisters, all are very fantastic cooks.
But for me, I was very influenced by sudha aunty's cooking when I was just started to learn cooking.
I was amazed by her talent and interest, the way she used to cook, everything had a definite way of doing things.
Like measurement of ingredients, their roasting time, adding water, when, how much and so on....
The way she used to make sure that nothing goes to bin, or to make use of old clothes into foot mats and tea towels.
If I have to write about her, then I can write a whole of  3 to 4 posts.
Thanks sudha aunty for everything.
This is her recipe, she is from udupi.
I have made a bit of changes to suit our palate.

Ingredients:
Toor dal - 1 cup,
Tomatoes - 3-4(medium sized),
Onion - 1 large,
Turmeric - 1/2 teaspoon,
Tamarind - Small marble sized(soaked in warm water and juice extracted),
Salt,
Jaggery - 1 tablespoon.

For roasting and grinding:
Coconut Oil - 1 tablespoon,
Coriander seeds - 3 teaspoon,
Urad dal - 1 teaspoon,
Chana dal - 1 teaspoon,
Cumin - 1/2 teaspoon,
Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 teaspoon,
Raw Rice - 1 teaspoon,
Curry leaves - 1 sprig,
Red chillies - 8-10,
Kashmiri Red Whole Chillies - 5-6,
Coconut - 1 cup.

For tempering:
Oil - 1 teaspoon,
Mustard - 1 tablespoon,
Red Chillies - 3-4,
Curry leaves - 1 sprig.

For Garnishing:
Coriander chopped - 1/2 medium bunch.

Method:
In a pressure cooker,  cook toor dal, onion, tomatoes and turmeric with enough water upto 3 whistles.
Once cooled, blend everything from the back of the ladle and keep aside.
Fry the ingredients under the roasting and grinding table, in coconut oil, except coconut.
When dals turn  brown, add coconut and fry for minute and remove from flame.
Cool it and grind it to smooth paste with water.
In a broad sauce pan bring tamarind water, salt and jaggery to boil.
Boil until the you get a nice aroma of tamarind and jaggery(approximately 4-5 minutes).
Add ground paste and bring to boil.
Add cooked dal and veggies. Let it boil for less than a minute and remove from flame.
Temper with the ingredients under the tempering table and garnish with chopped coriander and enjoy!!!







OR
You can alternatively,
Cook dal with turmeric with enough water.
In a broad sauce pan temper with the ingredients under ingredients table.
Add chopped onion and fry until soft.
Add chopped tomatoes and cook until soft and mushy.
Add tamarind juice, salt and jaggery.
Bring  it boil and boil for 4-5 minutes.
Add ground paste.
Boil it.
Add cooked dal and switch off the flame after just one boil.
Garnish with chopped coriander and enjoy!!!!!!!

Note:
Kashmiri Red chillies give nice colour, flavour and thickness to the dish.
Coconut oil gives exact udupi sambhar taste, but if you wish you can add normal vegetable oil.
Along with onion and tomatoes you can add any vegetable of your choice like, potato, brinjal, chow chow,  drumstick and so on.
This sambhar will be slightly sweetish.
After adding cooked dal never boil too much as the dish will lose its flavour and taste.

 

Vattral Kuzhambu and Vattral Kuzhambhu Powder

'Vattral' simply means sundried vegetables. In India you get these(specially south of India) sundried veggies in condiment stores.
You get different veggies sundried like, turkey berries, okra, brinjal, black night shade and so on.
You can use either one of them or combination of any of these.
They simply taste yummy in this 'kuzhambu'.
Today I am using turkey berries in my vattral kuzhambu.
Turkey Berry is considered to be very healthy for bone development and controlling of diabetes, consumed on regular basis. It is also rich in iron, calcium and vitamin A.
This is a very tasty sambhar , done in a normal sambhar way, but without dal. It is a bit tangy and also spicy and sweet. Makes a perfect combination when had with hot rice mixed with little gingelly oil.
Also goes well as side dish with curd rice.
Now coming to the recipe,

Ingredients:
Turkey Berry or any sundried vegetable - 2Tablespoons,
Tamarind - half of medium size lemon ,(soaked in water and extracted the juice),
Sambhar powder or Vattral kuzhambu Powder - 2 teaspoon,
Jaggery powdered - 1 teaspoon.

To Temper:
Gingelly oil or any other oil - 1 tablespoon,(I prefer gingelly oil, it taste better)
Mustard - 1 teaspoon,
Asafoetida - 1 pinch,
Fenugreek seeds - 1/2 teaspoon,
Curry leaves - 1 sprig.

Method:
In a medium broad pan, add oil and heat it.
Then add the ingredients under the temper table except fenugreek seeds.
Add turkey berries and fenugreek seeds and fry until turkey berries are roasted to brown, at the same time take care not to burn fenugreek seeds.
If you are not confident, you can separately dry roast fenugreek seeds and add it after adding tamarind juice.
Once the berries are browned, add tamarind juice(take care not to make it too watery).
Add salt and sambhar powder.
Boil them until it thickens to medium consistency, say about 3-5mins.
Finally add jaggery powder and give it a boil and switch it off.
The sambhar should be of medium consistency, either not too thick or thin.
Enjoy with hot rice with gingelly oil.

Note:
If you find that sambhar is too thin even after boiling for more than 5-6 mins, you can mix 1 teaspoon of rice flour in water to make a paste and add it to the sambhar and give it a boil and switch off.
You can aslo add 1 medium size onion chopped and 3-4 garlic chopped.
After adding tempering ingredients, that is, after adding turkey berries, add garlic, lightly brown it and then add onion and fry until it is soft and then add tamarind juice and continue with the next steps.


                             Vattral Kuzhambu Powder

If you want vattral kuzhambu powder here it is,
I have give the measurement for small quantities here, say about you can use for 2-3 times approximately.

Ingredients:
Coriander - 1 teaspoon,
Toor dal - 2 teaspoons,
Chana dal - 2 teaspoons,
Sesame seeds - 11/2 teaspoons,
Fried Gram - 2 teaspoons,
Red chillies - 3-4.

Method:
Dry roast above ingredients seperately and powder it together and store in air tight container.


 

Mushroom Rice

Mushroom is not a very favourite vegetable in my family, but I do cook it as a subji  or rice once in a while, as it is the best source of Vitamin D(very essential for bone and teeth) for us vegetarians.
Yet I would say this is one of the rice enjoyed by people who love mushrooms and very easy to make and can be done in a very quick time.
I used to do this mushroom rice in a very different way, mean to say that it had various steps of adding different powdered masalas and ground paste, until one day when I had to cook this rice quickly as guest had arrived without any notice and had ran out of veggies in the shelf. My guests liked the quick mushroom rice very much and the family also enjoyed it too. When I have time I cook the tedious way as well, Will post it sometime.
Now coming to the recipe,
Ingredients:
Basmati Rice - 1cup,
Button Mushrooms - 200 gms,
Oil - 1Tblspn,
Ghee - 1 tspn,
Bay leaves - 2,
Onion - 1 medium sliced,
Curd  - 1 Tblspn,
Salt,
Turmeric - 1/2 tspn,
Garam Masala Powder - 1/2 tspn.

For Grinding:
Fennel seeds - 1 tspn,
Cinnamon - 1inch,
Cloves - 2,
Cardamom - 1,
Coriander leaves - 1 Tblspn,
Mint leaves - 1tspn,
Tomato - 1 large,
Green Chillies - 3,
Red Chillies - 2,
Ginger - 1 inch,
Garlic - 2-3 cloves.

Method:
Grind the ingredients under the grinding table. I did not add any water and I could grind it to fine paste. But if you need water while grinding add a tablespoon or so. Make sure you don't make the paste watery.
In a pan heat oil, add bay leaves and then add sliced onions and fry to light brown.
Add ground paste and fry until raw smell evaporates and nice aroma spreads the kitchen.
Add mushrooms and fry until all the water in the mushroom evaporates.
Add curd and fry, until curd blends well with masala and mushrooms.
Add turmeric and garam masala powders.
Add boiling water(1 cup rice = 2 cups of water).
Normally the above measurement of water and rice is enough to cook fluffy rice.
You can add more or less water according to the quality of your rice.
Add salt.
Add rice and cook until rice is completely cooked and fluffy.
Top it with a spoon of ghee. It is completely optional.
Serve it with any raita.
I served mine with cumin raita.

 

Cumin Raita or Cumin Pachadi

I always love the flavour of cumin in food, may it be tempering or powder added to enhance the flavour of any dish or grinding it with other spices in a dish.
This particular yogurt based chutney is wonderful for those times, when your taste buds doesn't want you to eat spicy or masala food, but rather a mild tangy comforting food.
This is what my granny used to do the day after fasting, for morning breakfast, just to go as a side for almost anything...
My Granny(my dad's mom) was a fantastic cook and a great human being. I miss her and her food very much. You would have heard people saying I miss my mom's food, but for me I miss my granny's food, may it be a simple rasam or sambhar or the complicated adhirasam, trust me I have not found a single person who would cook anything even remotely closest to her food(honestly no one).
She was such a fantastic cook. Her kitchen used to be filled with aromas and so very clean, though she would cook on wood fire. I miss her and her food and her wonderful personality. Miss you paati.
Now coming to the recipe,

Ingredients:
Cumin - 1 fistful,
Urad dal - 1 tspn,
Red Chillies - 1,
Pepper - 1/2 tspn,
Curry leaves - 3-4 leaves,
Coconut grated - 1/2 cup,
Ghee - 1 tspn,
Sour Yogurt - 1/2 cup,
Salt.

Method:
In a pan heat ghee, except coconut, salt and yogurt , add rest of the ingredients to the pan and fry until dal is pink.
Finally add coconut and fry for few seconds and remove from heat.
Ground with salt to slightly course thick paste.
Before serving add yogurt and serve.
I also use this as a dip for veggies like cucumbers, carrots and so on, even to dip papads or any fried stuff.
Typically this is added with steamed rice and a bit of ghee, tastes heaven.

Note: You can add a bit of tamarind if the yogurt is not sour enough.
           Yogurt to be mildly sour not too sour.

Vaanghi Bhaat

As the name suggest 'Vaangi' in marati means Brinjal, Bhaat means simply the rice with spice mixture.
Though the name originates from marati but very popular in Bangalore and Mysore cities of Karnataka. Strictly doesn't have to be only brinjal in this rice and spice mixture. It always tastes wonderful with brinjal and green bell peppers. Sometimes it is very obvious to add brinjal and bell peppers to make vaangi bhaat..
You can also add other vegetables with brinjal and capsicum, like beans carrot to make it a mixed vegetable vaangi bhaat or even the fenugreek greens or cluster beans.
This can be a perfect complete meal with yogurt rice for picnics or packed lunches.
Do not get scared from the no. of spices we add, but effort is worth when you taste it.
Now coming to the recipe,

Ingredients:
Rice - 1 cup,
Brinjal - 1/4 kg,
Green Bell Peppers - 2 medium,
Oil - 1 tblspn,
Tamarind - 1medium lemon sized(soak in warm water and squeeze the pulp) ,
Salt.

Spices to fry and Grind.
Oil - 2 tspn,
Chana dal - 1 tblspn,
Urad dal - 1 tspn,
Coriander seeds - 1tblspn,
Cumin - 1/2 tspn,
Fenugreek seeds - 1/8 of a tspn,
Cinnamon - 1 inch stick,
Cloves - 3
Red Chillies - 5-6,
Curry leaves - 1 sprig,
Asafoetida - a pinch,
Dry coconut or copra - 1/4 cup grated,
Turmeric - 1/4 tspn.

For Seasoning:
Oil - 1 tspn,
Mustard - 1 tspn,
Cashew - 1 tspn broken,
Curry leaves - 1 sprig,
Asafoetida - a pinch,

Method:
Cook rice and cool. Prepare the rice at least 2 hours before and spread and cool it.
Fry the ingredients under frying except copra and turmeric.
Fry the ingredients until the dals are well roasted to light brown.
Cool the above and powder it and then again add the copra and turmeric and powder to fine semolina consistency.
In a broad pan heat oil add green bell peppers and brinjal and cook them in medium flame.
Take care not to over cook the vegetables.
You can add a pinch of salt to vegetables while cooking, so it doesn't tastes bland.
Now add tamarind pulp and powdered spice and bring to a boil.
Keep stirring until it forms a big lump, keep stirring until it reaches  the consistency almost of  dry sabji.
Remove from heat.
Add salt to cooked rice and this mixture and mix it well.
You can also add lemon juice if you find the bhaat less tangy.
Season with ingredients under seasoning and add to the bhaat and mix well.
Allow the rice mixture to sit for an hour before serving, so all the spices and flavours seep into the rice.
Serve with chips or papad.
 

Shahi Paneer

Paneer is a favourite cheese in my family. It is even super hit side dish for parties.
As name suggests it is a royal dish. The soft paneer gets drooled in cashew paste and other spices and cream. The soft buttery texture of the gravy , no doubt a super hit in parties and household.
Now coming to recipe,

Ingredients:
Paneer  - 250 gms thawed.

Dry Spices:
Red Chilly Powder - 1tspn,
Turmeric - 1/4 tspn,
Dhania Powder - 1 tspn,
Pepper Powder - 1/4 tspn,
Garam Masala Powder - 1/4 tspn,
Salt.

For Grinding:
Onion - 1 large chopped,
Tomato - 3 medium chopped,
Ginger and Garlic - 1 tblspn chopped,
Green chillies - 2-3 chopped,
Oil - 1 tblspn,.

Cashew - 1 tblspn(soaked in hot water for 1 hour and ground to paste),

Salt,
Chopped Coriander - 1 tblspn,
Cream - 1/2 cup.

Method:
In a pan heat oil, add onions and fry until light brown.
Add ginger, garlic and green chillies and fry until garlic is light brown.
Add chopped tomatoes and cook until mushy.
Cool the above and grind it to paste. (no need to add water).
Optionally you can strain the ground paste for extra smooth gravy.
Paneer can  be thawed by adding warm water and allow the paneer to sit in warm water until you use it in the gravy.
Transfer the ground mixture into a pan.
Add half cup water and bring it to boil.
Add all dry spices and cook in medium low flame for 3-4 minutes or until spices are cooked and the raw smell of the spices evaporates.
Add cashew paste and stir well.
Drain water from the paneer and add to the boiling gravy.
Lower the flame and add bring to boil.
Add cream and garnish with coriander and serve.

Note: You can fry the paneer to lightly brown them, so it holds the shape when you add it to the gravy.  But if you are confident to handle soft paneer you don't have to fry. Personally I avoid frying paneer as I like it without frying.