Sanya's Recipe Explorer: Malai Mutter Paneer.

Namaste

Namaste and a warm welcome to all.

As you can see my blog is about food and recipes. I love eating and trying out new recipes all the time.

Very often we mum's think of healthy and interesting food options that we can make for our kids especially when they are back from school knowing that their lunch boxes never come back home empty. Hence I always feel its important to give them a healthy and wholesome snack once they are home. When my kid comes home from school I always try and give him some source of carbohydrate combined with proteins along with this, a fruit and milk, or puddings made from milk. Kids normally can't eat too much at one time, so the portions can be small but giving them a little from each of these food group ensures a balanced meal.

I have some interesting ideas that I'd like to share with you all. You might find some of my recipes very basic but I am hoping that my blog is helpful not only for Indians but for people all around the world! Indian food is quite popular and enjoyed by most, so hopefully you can attempt recipes from here and make it yourself now, in your kitchen. Please do go through my recipes and give it a shot at trying them. Let me know how things turned out and if you enjoyed your experience of cooking.... Feel free to get in touch, share your experience, leave a comment or ask any questions you may have. Thank you for stopping by and taking a look! I do hope its helpful.

Happy cooking!

Tuesday 24 April 2012

Malai Mutter Paneer.

Ingredients:
1 big onion
1 big garlic clove
1 big piece of ginger.

3-4 tbspn of ready tomato puree
1 packet of ready paneer/cottage cheese (I have used the Amul brand easily available in Indian Stores).

3/4 cup of green peas (wash well).

6-8 Cashew nuts (Optional)
2-3 tbspn cream
1-2 green chillies
1/2-1 tspn of sugar (optional)
Salt as per taste,
1 tbspn butter
1 tbspn oil.

Other Spices:
1/4 tspn Turmeric powder
1/2-1 tspn red chilli powder
A dash of cinnamon
dash of freshly ground black pepper.

Method:
Boil peas (on a medium flame) in water till they become soft. Drain the water and keep the peas aside.

Heat a wok on medium flame. Now I have added a mix of butter and oil.

Allow the butter to melt and add chopped onions, garlic and ginger.

Add green chillies.

Stir and cook on a medium flame.

Once the onions have turned slightly brown, add the tomato puree. I like to use tomato puree as it gives a really nice bright color to the gravy/sauce.

Stir again.

You may want to add a little water (3-4 tbspn) if the tomato puree has made the sauce very thick.

Cook the sauce on a medium flame for 2-3 minutes, add salt and stir. Switch off the flame and allow the sauce to cool.

Once the sauce becomes cold, grind it into a paste.

You can grind 6-8 cashew nuts to give a smoother, creamier and rich texture to the sauce.

Once you've got a smooth puree, pour it back into the wok.

Add boiled peas now and cook on a medium flame.

You can either stir fry the cottage cheese in a non stick pan or otherwise just add the pieces directly into the sauce. I have fried the cottage cheese a bit.

Put the cottage cheese cubes into the sauce. You could now add some water to the sauce/gravy to get the consistency you like, although making sure you don't make it watery or runny as the Malai mutter paneer basically has a creamy texture and consistency. Boil on medium to low flame for 2-3 minutes.