RECIPE // vegan shahi paneer (aka my new favorite dish)

Hello everybody! Recently I fell into the Indian food side of Tiktok, and I cannot say that I’m mad about it. Au contraire. Especially one dish caught my attention and I just knew that I had to try and make a vegan version. This specific dish I saw wasn’t vegan, but generally, lots of dishes in Indian cuisine are plant-based or vegetarian, which makes these recipes super inspiring to dive into. The first time I made this dish, both Jens and I thought that we might end up missing something in the dish, like substitute meat or something, but oh boy were we wrong. This dish is perfect as it is, give it a go.

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You’ll need:

• 1 large onion
• 2 tomatoes
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 teaspoon of crushed ginger
• A handful of chopped cilantro
• A handful of chopped spring onion
• ¼ can of tomato sauce
• Half a cup of water
• 1 teaspoon of crushed chili
• 2 teaspoons of turmeric
• 1 teaspoon of cumin
• Half a cup of cashew nuts
• 2 tablespoons of vegan butter
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 whole chili
• 2-3 tablespoons of vegan cream
• Half a cup of vegan salty cheese
• 1 teaspoon of cardamom pods

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How to:

1. Chop the onions and add them, along with some cooking oil, to a wok or skillet on medium heat – add your garlic, cumin, salt, and ginger right away as well.
2. Once the onions start to soften and brown, chop the tomatoes and add them to the skillet.
3. After simmering for a few minutes, add the ¼ can of tomato sauce, cilantro, and water, stir in the liquid, and add your turmeric, and chili right away (I use a ground chili and garlic in oil rather than a powdered chili)
4. Now add your cashew nuts and let them simmer for 10 minutes.
5. Once the nuts have reached a softer texture, transfer the whole thing into a blender or food processor and blend until completely smooth
6. Meanwhile, don’t wash your skillet, melt 2 tablespoons of vegan butter, and add your whole chili, your cardamom pods, and cinnamon stick, let the butter brown, before adding a few tablespoons of vegan cream, then mix.
7. Pour your blended sauce back into the skillet and mix the two together
8. Simmer for 3 minutes, or until the sauce is hot, grate in your vegan cheese, then serve with bread and rice  

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