Many of the readers requested for this recipe. So finally here it is. Though I love paneer, I use it very rarely in my cooking. Recently I bought it to make ‘butter paneer masala’ for a small get together at home. The next day, I made this mater paneer – green peas with paneer, with naan .
I have noticed that, frying paneer for few minutes before adding it to any gravy, makes it very tasty. So that is what I followed for this recipe too. Another thing I am following these days is, making fresh spice powders. That makes the dish very fragrant.
Ingredients: 2 tomatoes (blanched and pureed) 1/2 cup finely chopped onion (fry in little oil and puree) or 2 tbl spn cashews (blanched and pureed) 1/2 tea spn cumin seeds 1 bay leaf 1 cup green peas(fresh/frozen) 1 cup paneer cubes Butter/Oil/ Ghee 1 tea spn ginger-garlic paste (freshly made) 3-4 strands coriander leaves Salt
Spice powder – 1 tea spn chilli powder 3 cloves 1″ cinnamon 3/4 tea spn coriander seeds 3/4 tea spn cumin seeds
Method: Heat ghee/butter/oil and shallow fry paneer cubes till they turn golden brown. Take them on a clean paper towel. Now add bay leaf, cumin seeds to the remaining oil. When cumin seeds start popping, add ginger-garlic paste and fry for few minutes. Now add peas and fry for few minutes. Add the tomato and onion(or cashew) puree, spice powder, salt and let it cook till the peas are done. Now add paneer and cook for 2-3 mins (do not mix a lot, the paneer gets crumbled). Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.
Serves : 2 Preparation time : 20mins
We were busy for last few days, so could not post anything here. One of our readers requested for this recipe.
This is a recipe from my mother’s sister. She was a very good cook. She passed away about 3 decades ago. I had noted down few of her recipes. This is one of them. Everytime I cook these dishes, I remember her.
Capsicum ( phugge mirsangi ) is cooked in a sweet and spicy coconut paste to make kairas . This can be made only with capsicum or a mixture of potatoes and capsicum. Jaggery is an optional ingredient, so I do not include it when I cook this dish. This is my husband’s one of favorite side dishes.
Ingredients: 1 cup potatoes 2 cups capsicum 1 tea spn chana dal 2-3 green chillies 1 tea spn sesame seeds 1 tea spn mustard seeds A pinch asafoetida 1/2 cup fresh/frozen coconut 4-5 curry leaves 1/2 tea spn jaggery(optional) 1/4 tea spn tamarind paste A pinch turmeric (was not there in original recipe) Oil Salt
Method: Heat oil and add mustard seeds. Add curry leaves. Fry capsicum, potatoes, turmeric in the seasoning for few minutes. Add a little water and cook. Heat oil and add chana dal, green chillies, sesame seeds, 1/2 tea spn mustard seeds, asafoetida. Add coconut and fry for a minute. Grind to a paste (do not add too much water). Add this to the capsicum-potato mixture with salt, jaggery, tamarind. Cook till done.
Serves : 2-3 Preparation time : 30mins
