Mutter Paneer

We always try North Indian food when we eat out at restaurants. We simply love the paneer dishes.Armed with ready made paneer from an Indian store , we dared to make Mutter Paneer at home.The results were ,surprisingly, good.


What you need to make Mutter Paneer:

• Paneer - cut into cubes ( about 10-12 pieces)
• Peas - 1/2 cup
• Onion - 1 finely chopped
• Tomatoes - 2 finely chopped
• Ginger-garlic paste - 1 tbsp
• Green chilli - 2
• Cashew - 4 pieces ( broken)
• Jeera/Cumin - 1/2 tbsp
• Whole garam masala - a few pieces of cloves, cinnamon,cardamom & bay leaves ( or use ready made garam masala powder)
• Red chilli powder - 1/2 tbsp
• Cumin powder - 1/2 tbsp
• Coriander powder - 1 tbsp
• Turmeric - a pinch
• Kasturi Methi leaves - a pinch
• Salt to taste
• Coriander leaves to garnish

The preparation method :

• Fry Paneer in ghee or butter or if you are calorie-conscious, in olive oil.Allow the paneer to turn slight brown in colour before keeping aside.
• In the same oil , fry broken cashew pieces till they turn slightly brown and then add chopped onions.Add salt at this point as it will help the onion to ooze moisture and cook faster(we learnt this tip from VahreVah..thanks to Sanjay Thumma).
• Once the onions turn golden brown , add the ginger-garlic paste and cook till the raw taste goes away.Add the chopped tomatoes and cook till the tomatoes are well done. Switch off the gas and allow this mixture to cool down.
• Blend this mixture into a fine paste and keep aside.
• Heat some oil in a cooking vessel and add whole garam masala.Add some jeera to this and fry for a minute.Add our blended mixture to this. Add some water to this. 
• Add green chilli, cumin powder , coriander powder , red chilli powder and cook for 15 minutes in medium heat.
• Add crushed kasturi methi leaves.Add the peas/mutter to this and cook for 5 minutes.
• Finally add the fried paneer and cook for a few minutes.
• Optionally , you can add cream to this to get a silky texture.Garnish with coriander leaves
• Tasty mutter paneer is ready to be served hot with chapatti or nan or paratta !