Chickpea + paneer curry

I use Gopala paneer mostly, as it’s the easiest to find. But you can also make your own if you have a little time and lots of fresh milk. There was a time when we couldn’t handle any dairy other than ghee/butter/yoghurt. If you don’t tolerate paneer, replace it with tofu or simply increase the amount of chickpeas to 2 cups. We always have a salad with our dinner, but if you’d like to add vegetables to this curry, simple cut them little and add with the passata and cook until tender. Adding chickpea flour to the yoghurt before adding it to the curry prevents the yoghurt from splitting. If you don’t have chickpea flour it’s not the end of the world, you might just see flecks of yoghurt in the sauce instead of it being smooth, but the taste is not affected. 
Serves 3-4 with rice

2 tablespoons ghee (or olive oil/butter)

1 onion, finely sliced

5 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 tablespoon finely grated ginger

1 1/4 cups passata (tomato puree)

1/2 teaspoon each ground cumin, ground coriander, ground cinnamon, ground turmeric, garam masala

1/2 cup water, or more as needed

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/2-1 teaspoon unrefined raw sugar, optional

1 block paneer, cubed

1 cup cooked chickpeas

1/2 cup plain yoghurt mixed with 1 teaspoon chickpea flour

Cooked basmati rice + roughly chopped coriander, to serve

Heat ghee in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, add onion and cook 5-8 minutes, stirring often until golden and tender. Add garlic and ginger and cook for a further 1 minute, until fragrant.

Add passata, spices, water, salt and sugar, bring to the boil then reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes, stirring often.

Add paneer, chickpeas and yoghurt mixed with chickpea flour, stir well and cook for a further 5 minutes. Add a touch more water if needed and adjust seasoning if desired.

Serve hot with basmati and chopped coriander.