Peshawari Paneer Chole Recipe

Peshawari Paneer Chole is a delicious recipe made with chickpeas and paneer that blend very well together while still retaining the authentic Peshawari flavors. Peshawar recipes are full of flavor and are known for the mindful use of spices. A protein packed vegetarian gravy for the entire family.

This is another conversion of a popular non-vegetarian dish called Chicken Peshawari. I have always wanted to explore Peshawari cuisine. However, most of the recipes I have come across have been non-veg and that is why I have never got a chance to taste it at restaurants. Now that I am blogging about food, I have taken it upon me to recreate all those meat recipes which have intrigued me over the years are make it vegetarian. I intend to keep the masala base intact and just substitute the meat to something vegetarian. If you remember the time I made Vegan Mushroom Korma and Vegetarian Kheema Matar? After these two successful attempts, I ventured to try out this sought-after dish.

This was a special meal as it was for very close family friends. They had been going through a rough patch for some time now. We invited them over for a Sunday brunch as we had not been getting enough time to catch up with each other. I enjoy cooking up a meal for my close family and friends. With the company of some Bollywood music blaring on my music system, I can prepare a seven-course meal without dropping a sweat and that is exactly how I cook every single day. Music and food work great together. It is very important to be in a good mood while cooking. My mom would always say that. And we would know the day she is in a foul mood, it would reflect on her food and that is how it is with me too. 

KR can always tell my mood just looking at the food. I couldn’t afford to screw up a meal especially if it’s for my loved ones. My friend loves paneer so I had decided to create my main course with paneer in it. It was going to be my meat substitute in Chicken Peshawari. Therefore, I decided to make Peshawari Paneer Chole recipe. The recipe is fairly simple and can be made in few steps. First we need to make the masala. Cut paneer in cubes and set it aside. Boil chickpeas in turmeric + salt water. Drain the water and keep the chickpeas aside for now. Blitz onion, ginger, garlic and green chillies to a smooth paste. Soak cashews in hot water for 1o minutes and then drain the water. Grind it along with tomato to a smooth and creamy paste.

Heat butter in a pan, once its melted, crackle cumin seeds and nigella seeds. Once they splutter, add the ground onion paste along with a pinch of salt. Fry it for 2 minutes. Then add the ground cashew tomato paste. Continue to fry the masala for another 2 minutes. Now add the turmeric powder, coriander cumin powder and chilly powder to the pan. Stir and fry for a minute. Add milk and cook till the mixture begins to bubble. Now add the paneer cubes and chickpeas. Mix and cook for 2 more minutes till the masala coats the paneer. Lastly crush some kasoori methi and add it to the pan along with garam masala and fresh cream. 

Garnish with cilantro and serve warm along with any Indian bread/steamed rice. This gravy is bright and yellow in color, the flavors are such that they will explode in your mouth and you will love the way paneer and chickpeas compliment each other in this cashew based yellow gravy. Paneer and chickpeas are both rich in protein making it a great food choice for vegetarians. Plus this creamy, mildly spiced gravy helps bring out the flavors of the dish. Peshawari cuisine is known for its mild use of spices and this dish does just that. You can prepare this for a family brunch, weekend meals or even on a date night. We too enjoyed Peshawari Paneer Chole and naan with our close family friends that day! I was just glad that they got to unwind and enjoy some quite time with us which was long due. 

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Indian gravies can be versatile due to the different spices and flavors used in their cooking. Some interesting recipes for you to try are Green Beans Potato Gravy, Methi Matar Malai | Fenugreek Green Peas Gravy, Achari Dahi Bhindi | Pickled Okra in Yogurt Gravy, Vegan Mushroom Korma, Kolhapuri Green Masala Egg Curry, Chickpea & Black Rice Dumplings in Spinach Sauce Gravy, Black Chana Cooked In Vegan White Gravy, Veg Kolhapuri Gravy, Chilly Paneer in Tomato Capsicum Gravy, Paneer Makhani and Punjabi Chana/Chickpea Masala.