Paneer mirch masala is Indian cottage cheese cubes in a spicy yet rich gravy with bhavnagri chillies (mild & large) and capsicum.
The chillies and capsicum gives the masala spice as well as an unique flavour.

It’s been a while since I posted paneer recipes in here in my website.
So thought of posting something and paneer mirch masala came to mind.
I had this in Raj restaurant in Singapore. I kept my onion tomato base and with slight variations, made this gravy.
It came out delicious and Aj loved it with pulao. I had with coriander paratha and loved it too.
So give paneer butter masala a break and try this one for a change😊.
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Recipe card
Paneer mirch masala recipe
Equipments (Amazon Affiliate links)
Ingredients
- 2 Onion
- 2 Tomato
- 5 garlic
- 1 cup Paneer
- ½ Capsicum
- 4 Bhavnagri green chilli
- ⅛ teaspoon Turmeric
- 1 teaspoon Red chilli powder
- 1.5 teaspoon Coriander powder
- ¼ teaspoon Roasted cumin seeds powder
- ¾ teaspoon Garam masala powder
- ¼ teaspoon Black pepper powder
- ¼ cup Cream
- ¼ cup Milk
- 1 tablespoon Coriander leaves finely chopped
- 2 teaspoon Oil
- Salt
To temper
- 2 tablespoon Oil
- 2 Cardamom
- 1 teaspoon Cumin seeds
- 2 teaspoon Ginger chopped
Instructions
- In a pan, add 2 teaspoon oil firstly. Then fry onion and garlic flakes until onion turns transparent. Add chopped tomatoes.
- Fry furthermore until tomatoes are soft. Remove to cool down.
- Transfer to a blender once cooled down and grind to smooth paste.
- Heat pan with remaining oil and temper with cardamom, cumin seeds and ginger.
- After that, add green chillies that are cut diagonally and add sliced capsicum. Fry for a minute or two.
- Then, add ground paste and all the powders – garam masala, coriander, turmeric, red chilli and cumin seeds powder.
- Mix well and cook covered for 2 minutes furthermore in medium flame. Again keep frying until oil oozes out.
- Keep flame in low and add milk little by little, with constant stirring. Add required salt and ¼ cup water. Mix well.
- After that, add cream and required water. Mix well.
- Finally add paneer cubes, that are kept immersed in hot water. Give a mix and lastly add pepper powder and coriander leaves to garnish.
Video
Notes
- Bhavnagri chillies are long and big variety chillies and has less spice.
- You can skip garlic and ginger and add ginger garlic paste 1 tsp.
- Even you can skip cumin seeds powder too.
- Add a pinch of kasoori methi leaves for flavor while frying the onion tomato paste.
- From step 7, flame should always be in low or medium. Otherwise milk may curdle. Also slowly add milk and cream little by little as you stir.
- Keep paneer immersed in really hot water to keep it soft and add only towards the end in the gravy.
Step by step photos
- In a pan, add 2 teaspoon oil firstly, fry onion and garlic flakes until onion turns transparent. Then add chopped tomatoes.
2. Fry until tomatoes are soft. Cool down.
3. Transfer to a blender once cooled down and grind to smooth paste.
4. Heat pan with oil and temper with cardamom, cumin seeds and ginger.
Add green chillies cut diagonally and add sliced capsicum. Fry further more for a minute or two.
5. After that add ground paste and all the powders – garam masala, coriander, turmeric, red chilli and cumin seeds powder.
6. Mix well and cook covered for 2 minutes in medium flame. Again keep frying until oil oozes out.
7. Keep flame in low and add milk little by little, with constant stirring. Add required salt and ¼ cup water. Mix well.
8. Furthermore add cream and required water. Mix well.
9. Add paneer cubes, that are kept immersed in hot water. Give a mix and lastly add pepper powder and coriander leaves to garnish.
Serve with hot parathas or mild pulaos. We had with coriander paratha and mix veg pulao.
Aswathy Raj
Is this the main ingredient Bhavnagri green chilli?If we use usual chillies,will it be good?
Traditionally Modern Food
With spuceness from chilli this creamy rich paneer s sure winner dish
Raks anand
Yes, regular green chilli will be too spicy to add and it will not be lending flavours like this bhavnagri chilli. These chillies are mild spice with some flavours too.
Raks anand
I used cooking cream here.
Unknown
What is Bhavnagri chillies? Is it jalapenos? Or is that light-green bhajji chillies?
Where can I get in US supermarkets? Does it have a western/English name?
Khyati Gajjar
Thanx raid ur my true and only inspiration for all the delicious North Indian recipes and desserts
Harshita Kapur
Looks delicious. I have never tasted Bhavnagri green chillis. How spicy are they, since you've added so many of 'em!
Raks anand
It's not spicy, very mild and has the flavour similar to capsicum
janu
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Bharathi Ranganathan
Hi raks.. Are the bhavnagri chillis jalapenos in english ?
Raks anand
Jalapenos are spicier than this I guess, this one is very very mild in spice.
Kanaha
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anusha praveen
Hey Raji I love this at the Raj. And great attempt in recreating it. By the way is that black pot a Dutch oven of sorts? I m searching for one like that to use in the oven. Can you please elaborate on that black pot? Thank you
Raks anand
Anusha, My husband got it from Switzerland. Have seen similar ones in Tott store in Suntec, check it out.
Sandhya Venkatesh
This was a different recipe from the usual paneer butter masala. The recipe turned out well. The taste was very good and rich.
Raks Anand
Thanks a lot for your feedback!