The past week had been as eventful as it was colourful. The festival of Holi is the time for traditional delicacies, a variety of sweets and lassi. There must have been several invitations to keep too. So this Sunday, we are keeping the menu simple and delicious. Our main ingredient is cottage cheese or paneer and Toshali Mandal will tell you how to turn it into two delectable dishes.
Matar Paneer
Ingredients (Serves 4)
Vegetable oil for shallow frying
500gm of paneer
For the curry
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
250gm of white onion finely chopped
2” ginger roughly chopped
2 cloves of garlic roughly chopped
1 heaped teaspoon of cumin seeds
1 heaped teaspoon of coriander seeds
1 teaspoon of turmeric
1 teaspoon of mild chilli powder
400gm of tinned tomatoes blended to a puree
Pinch of sugar
Salt to taste
200ml of water
200gm of green peas
½ teaspoon of garam masala powder
Handful of coriander for garnishing
Direction
Grind the cumin and coriander seeds to a powder in a spice grinder or pestle and mortar. Set aside. Blend ginger and garlic with a splash of water to a smooth paste and set aside. Dab any excess moisture from the paneer on kitchen paper and cut into bite-size cubes. Heat vegetable oil in a pan over a medium heat for shallow frying. Add the paneer cubes in batches and fry. Make sure they get an even colour and go a light brown (this should take around 2-3 minutes). Drain over kitchen paper. Let it soak while you make the gravy.
Heat oil in a heavy bottom sauce pan over medium heat. Add onions and fry for 12-14 minutes. Stir well as they begin to change colour. Turn the heat low and add the ginger and garlic paste. Fry well for two minutes stirring continuously. Add cumin, coriander powder along with turmeric and chilli powder. Fry for a minute and add a splash of water making sure it does not stick to the bottom of the pan and continue cooking the raw flavour of the spices for a further minute.
Tip in the blended tomatoes and simmer the curry over a low heat for 8-10 minutes with the lid on. Stir a couple of times through the cooking process. Add 200ml of water along with sugar and salt. Continue to simmer for 5 minutes with the lid on. Add the green peas along with the garam masala. Now add the paneer cubes to the curry. Stir well making sure to coat all the pieces with the sauce. Simmer for two minutes and turn the heat off. Garnish with coriander and serve with roti, paratha or pulao and raita.
Paneer Rezala
Ingredients (Serves 2)
300 gm of paneer or cottage cheese, cut into cubes
100 gm of curd, whisked
4 tablespoons of poppy seed paste
2 bayleaves
1 tablespoon of green chilli paste
1 cup of onion paste
4 whole dry red chillies
4 whole slit cardamom, roughly crushed
1 tablespoon of cashew nut paste
1 tablespoon of ghee or clarified butter
White oil as required
Salt to taste
1 teaspoon of sugar
2 cloves and 1 inch stick of cinnamon
Direction
Heat oil in a pan. Once it is heated up, the paneer cubes and fry till few seconds on low flame. Remove the cubes from the pan and put them in a bowl. Keep them aside.
Temper with two pieces each of bay leaf and clove, cinnamon, red chili, cardamom and stir for few seconds on low flame. Saute until the spices are roasted well. Add a cup of onion paste and saute till golden brown. Then add the poppy seed paste, green chilli paste, salt, sugar and cashew nut paste. Saute for few minutes. Then pour curd and mix well. Saute till oil starts to separate from the sides of the pan.
Now add the fried paneer and mix well. Pour a cup of water and mix properly. Close the lid. Simmer for 10 minutes. After that, open the cover and check whether the gravy has thickened and the paneer is soft.
Add a spoon of ghee and mix well. Switch off the flame. Pour the rezala in a serving bowl. Serve hot with roti, pulao or rice.