Paneer Butter Masala | Paneer Makhani

Paneer makhani (also knowns as Paneer butter masala) is a slightly sweet creamy dish of Paneer, in which the gravy is prepared usually with butter, tomatoes, cashews or cream. Masalas such as red chilly powder and garam masala are also used to prepare this gravy.
A survey found that Paneer Butter Masala was one of the top 5 food ordered at night in India.
The word makhan is a Hindi word, which means butter. So makhani means buttery. The origin of this dish was in the 1950s, when the Punjabis created this dish in Moti Mahal restaurant in Delhi. The sauce for this recipe was discovered by mixing lot of fresh butter into a tomato based curry.

There is no strict set of steps to make this gravy recipe. Below mentioned is one of the ways in which makhani gravy is prepared.
Frying cashew nuts and tomatoes and grinding both of them into a fine paste.
Adding spices like cardamom and bayleaf.
Usage of cream or sour curd into the gravy. Though in some preparation methods, only tomatoes are used.
Generous usage of butter.
Usage of garam masala, red chilly powder, kasturi methi and coriader leaves.