Luscious cubes of cottage cheese in a lovely cashew gravy garnished with dried fenugreek leaves promises to be a runaway hit.
By Priya Sreeram
My daughter’s love for paneer (cottage cheese) in any form is well known, and this dish was dot on to warm her heart & our hearth. The recipe courtesy kavita @ Edible Entertainment was tweaked to suit our palate.
Serve it hot with rotis/phulkas/parathas (Indian Flat Bread), tortillas or rice.
PrintKadhai Mattar Paneer
- Total Time: 1 hour 45 minutes
- Yield: 4
Description
Luscious cubes of cottage cheese in a lovely cashew gravy garnished with dried fenugreek leaves will promise to be a runaway hit .
Ingredients
- Cottage Cheese / Paneer – 400 grams
- Onion – 3 – large – thinly sliced
- Green Peas / Mattar – fistful
- Tomato – 3 – small – finely chopped
- Bell Pepper (Green) – 1/2 – finely chopped
- Cashew Nuts – a fistful
- Garlic – 3 pods- large
- Green Chili – 1 to 2 – to taste – finely chopped
- Coriander Powder – 2 teaspoons (used store bought else dry roast coriander seeds & grind them into a fine powder)
- Red Chili Powder – 3-4 tsp – to taste
- Garam Masala Powder – 2 tsp – to taste – store bought
- Dried Fenugreek Leaves / Kasoori Methi – 1 tbsp
- Salt – as per taste
- Cooking Oil – 2 tsp
- Water – as required
For the Marinade
- Yogurt / Curd – 2 to 3 tablespoon
- Red Chilli Powder – 1 1/2 tsp – to taste
- Salt – a little
Instructions
- Start with marinating the cottage cheese.Cut them into cubes, and mix with the yogurt/curd, little salt , red chili powder and let it rest in the fridge for about 90 minutes.
- Boil the peas in microwave or on the stove, strain water & keep aside.
- Making the base for the gravy is the next step. Heat 1 tsp oil in a pan. Add the green chillis, garlic,half of the sliced onions, tomatoes & cashew nuts and stir till they start changing color. Take off flame, let it cool and transfer the mix to a blender. Add garam masala, coriander powder and blend until you get a smooth paste. Add little water if required.
- Again, heat 1 tsp oil, add the remaining cut onions & satué for 30 seconds & add the capsicum. Add the pureed blend to the onion-capsicum in the pan and give it all a nice mix. Let it cook on medium-high flame for at least 5 minutes or till the raw smell evaporates. You can add around 1/4 to 1/2 cup of water to it & let it boil.
- Meanwhile – take half cup of warm water. Add the dried fenugreek leaves & let it rest for a few minutes.
- Take the marinade from the fridge and tip it to the gravy cooking it on medium flame. It has to cook for around 2-3 minutes.
- Add the boiled peas, dried fenugreek to it . Mix well and once it simmers take it off flame.
- Serve it hot with rotis/phulkas/parathas (Indian Flat Bread) ; tortillas or rice.
- Prep Time: 90 mins
- Cook Time: 15 mins
