PANEER MUTTER MASALA / PANEER PEAS MASALA / PANEER RECIPES
When in season, I made optimum use of fresh green peas and froze a kilo for the summer months. Combined a small cup of peas with paneer and prepared a tomato based curry to go with rotis for our mid day meal. Matar Paneer, a culinary gem of North Indian origin, is a popular, simple to make and delectable creamy curry that is hard to resist.
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BUTTER PANEER MUTTER MASALA |
Ingredients
1. Paneer, cubed(frozen) - 1 cup
2. Peas, frozen - 3/4 cup
3. Tomatoes -2
4. curd - /4 cup
5. Green chillies - 3 nos
6. Ginger garlic paste - 1tspn
7. Red chilli powder - 1tspn
8. Dhaniya powder - 1tspn
9. Turmeric powder - 1tspn
10. Garam masala powder - 1tspn
11. coriander leaves - for garnashing
12. Lemon juice - 1tspn
13. salt - as needed
14. oil/ghee - 2 tspn
To Fry and grind to paste :
15. Onion - 2nos
16. Cinnamon - 1inch
17. Elachi/Cardamom - 1no
18. Cloves - 2nos
19. Jeera/Cumin seeds - 1tspn
20. Pepper - 10nos
Method :
STEP : 1
Heat a pan with oil and add the cinnamon,elachi,cloves,pepper
and lastly jeera, after jeera splutters,add onion and fry till golden brown. Add
the chilli,coriander and turmeric powder .
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STEP 1 |
STEP : 2
Just give it a fry,take care not to burn it.Let it cool and
grind it along with little water to a
smooth paste.
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TO GRIND |
Microwave the peas for 2-3 minutes in high in a micorwave safe
bowl. Stir in
between for even cooking. Set aside. We can also use vessels or cooker to boil.
STEP : 4
Boil water and add the frozen paneer,switch off the flame and
keep covered till use. If you want you can shallow fry the paneer cubes until
golden brown and again keep it immersed in hot water. Keeping immersed in hot
water helps the paneer to staysoft. I usually dont fry the paneer,just add it
to the boiling water and then add it to the gravy,which gives you a softer
paneer. But this time I tried shallow frying.
STEP : 5
Again heat the oil in the pan and add the green chillies and the
ginger garlic paste,fry for a minute,then add the ground paste. Fry for a
minute or two.
STEP : 6
Add the chopped tomatoes and required salt. Fry till oil oozes
out (4-5 minutes) in medium flame.
STEP : 7
Add the cooked peas. Add the well beaten curd and mix well.
STEP : 8
Add the paneer cubes and required water(1/2 cup), and simmer for
5-6
minutes. Add the garam masala powder.
STEP : 9
Lastly garnish with the coriander leaves and add the lemon juice
after you put off
the stove. Mix well. Serve with roti or Naan. This also suits with rice and dosa.
NOTE :
1. Do
not over fry the masala powders which will turn the gravy bitter.
2. adding lemon juice is very important,so donot skip it,otherwise you have to compromise on the taste!
3. You
can add milk fully to make it gravy without adding any water. This way
you
get thicker and more creamier gravy. The colour mainly is because of this.
If you add
water, then the gravy may not be orange and will be more red.
4. Also
the cashews give a thick texture, mild coloured gravy and also prevents
milk/ cream from curding.
5. Add
1/2 tsp of pepper powder if you want more spicy.
6. You
can omit red chilli powder and add 5 green chillies while you fry onion.
This also tastes great.
7. If
you dont have ginger garlic paste, then you can add 4 cloves of garlic and
a
piece of ginger while you fry onion and grind it along.
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