I have also been planning to make paneer at home (update: I made paneer at home!) one of these days. But my lazy self found that Mustafa Stores in Singapore stores paneer (among everything else under the sun!) so I am happily buying and stocking up on frozen Amul Paneer cubes. Anyway, I have the recipe below, the way I modified it but I have stuck to it pretty much entirely. MATAR PANEER RECIPE Serves 2-3 Inspired by Recipe from Jugalbandi Ingredients for Matar Paneer: Paneer – 2 cups, fried a light brown. Green peas – 1 cup Chopped onions – 1 cup Chopped ginger – 1 tsp Chopped garlic – 2 tsp Tomatoes, pureed – 2 cups Capsicum/green bell pepper – 1/4 cup, diced (optional – changes flavour of the dish) Red chilli powder – 2 tsp Cumin powder – 1 tsp All-purpose curry masala – 1 tsp Turmeric powder – a pinch Milk cream – 2 tbsp Chopped cashew nuts – 2 tbsp Sugar – 1 tsp Butter / ghee (clarified butter) – 1 tbsp Oil – 1 tbsp How to make Matar Paneer:
- Dunk the onions in boiling water and cook for a minute. Make a paste of this with ginger, garlic and cashews without adding water.
- Heat the oil and butter in a deep pan. Add the onion puree and a pinch of salt. Fry it on a medium flame until the paste turns light brown and starts drying out a bit (7 minutes or so).
- Add the chilli powder, turmeric and tomato puree. Cook for five minutes on medium.
- Add the peas. (If using frozen peas, microwave on HIGH for a minute, just to thaw and add them at the very end). This is what I did.
- Add the cumin and curry masala powders. Add salt to taste and cook until the mixture becomes a little thicker than the consistency you desire in the final dish.
- Add the cream and sugar. Stir, taste for salt and seasonings, then add the paneer cubes (save a few for garnish).
- Heat it through, turn off the flame.
- Keep it covered for 15 minutes for the flavours to blend together. I served the matar paneer with chapatis.