Recipe: MATTAR PANEER

Mattar Paneer gravy

The next few recipes are for the dishes I made for lunch on Diwali. The spices used may seem the similar but give or take one or more makes all the difference to the taste. Indian spices – each of them has its own exotic flavour and give out a different aroma when used differently. For eg.: garlic tastes one way when you grind it and very different when you grate it. The same goes for tomatoes too.

If it is a quick method you are looking for then check out the Quick-fix Recipes section of my blog. The section with ‘Recipes’ is all about proper cooking methods that bring out the flavour and aroma of the dishes created.

Mattar Paneer is a gravy with peas and paneer just as the name suggests. It is not so difficult to make and tastes delicious too.

Ingredients:

Peas – ½ kg (I used frozen ones as fresh peas were not available) 
Paneer (cottage cheese) – ¼ kg (cut into cubes)
Tomatoes – 2 (cut into pieces)
Salt to taste
Turmeric powder – 1 pinch

Masala ingredients

Red Chilli powder – 1 pinch
Oil – 2 tsp (for the gravy)
Cream – ½ cup (you can use less)
Chopped Kotmir (Coriander leaves) – 2 tsp
Some oil for frying the paneer

Masala:

Garlic – 2-3 cloves
Green chillies – 4
Ginger – ½ inch piece

Masala cooking

Onions – 2 (cut into pieces)
Dhania – 1 tbsp
Jeera – 1 tbsp
Saunf (Sombu) – 1 tbsp
Cloves – 3
Black pepper – 3
Cinnamon Bar – 1 tiny piece
Elaichi (Elakkaai) – 1
Khuskhus (khasakhasa) – ½ tsp

Method:

1. Boil the peas in water with ½ tsp salt and a pinch of turmeric powder. Switch off gas and drain the water when peas are soft.

Tomatoes added to masala

2. Grind the masala ingredients along with some water into a smooth paste. Ensure that all ingredients are well ground.
3. Place a saucepan (kadai) on the stove and add the oil to it. When hot, add the ground masala to the oil. Allow it to cook for a while, stirring regularly. Add a bit of turmeric powder and the red chilli powder before adding salt. Let it cook some more. You can cover the saucepan with a lid and keep the flame at a medium level.
4. Grind the tomatoes and add to the saucepan as well.

Fried paneer

5. Stir for a short while and add the peas to the mixture. Cook for a couple of minutes.
6. Beat the cream and add to the peas gravy and cook for 2-3 minutes before switching off the gas.
7. In another saucepan, heat some oil and shallow fry the paneer cubes in two or three batches till golden brown. Drain the oil and place them on a plate.

Add the fried paneer to the peas-gravy along with kotmir before serving hot along with Puris or Rotis.

Quick-fix Meal: DAL KHICHDI

Dal Khichdi

This is totally quick-fix and tastes delicious.

Ingredients:

Rice – 1 cup
Tur Dal – ¾ cup
Water – 3 ½ cups
Onion – 1 (chopped)
Tomato – 1 (chopped)
Garlic – 3-4 cloves (chopped)
Ginger – 1 small piece (grated)
Curry leaves – a few
Green Chillies – 2 (each cut in twos)
Coriander Leaves – 2 tsp (chopped)
Mustard Seeds (Rai) – ½ tsp
Cumin Seeds (Jeera) – ½ tsp
Cloves – 2 (optional)
Cinnamon – 1 teeny-weeny piece (optional)
Turmeric Powder – 1 pinch
Oil – 1 tsp
Ghee – 1 tsp
Salt to taste

Method:

1.       Wash the rice and dal together and keep them in a bowl.

2.       Take a pressure pan and place it on the gas.

3.       Add the oil and once it is hot add the mustard seeds and wait for it to crackle.

4.       Now, add the cumin seeds along with cloves and cinnamon.

5.       Next comes the turn of chillies, curry leaves, ginger, garlic and coriander leaves. Add
them all together to the pan and turn them.

6.       Immediately add the onions and fry till golden in colour.

7.       Add the turmeric powder to the onions and then the tomatoes.

8.       Cook for a couple of minutes before adding salt.

9.       Then pour in the water before adding the dal and rice.

10.   Close the pan and pressure cook the same as you would cook dal – 10 minutes after one whistle and the gas on slow.

The Dal Khichidi is ready to eat when you open the cooker. Add the spoon of ghee to it
before serving it hot with a vegetable raita or just plain curd.

Quick-fix Meal: RICE SEVAI

Lemon sevai & Coconut sevai

I know it has been a long time since I posted a recipe for a quick-fix meal. Here is one extremely simple recipe that takes but 15 minutes to prepare.

The main ingredient for this one the ready-made dry rice sevai that is available from MTR or Concord brands. You will find packets of 200 gm and 500 gm. The smaller packet is enough for two people and this recipe quantity is suited for the 200 gm packet.


I prepare two varieties of sevai from this one. The one common thing is add the packet of dry sevai to a vessel of boiling water and cook it for about 4-5 minutes. The process is similar to cooking noodles or pasta, only DO NOT add oil to this one. Once the sevai is soft, strain it and remove water completely.

Coconut sevai

Coconut Sevai:

Mustard Seeds – ½ tsp
Urad Dal – 1 tsp
Green Chilly – 1 (cut in 2)
Red Chilly – 1 (cut in 2)
Curry leaves – a few
Hing (asafoetida) – 1 pinch
Grated coconut – 4 tbsp
Salt to taste
Oil – 1 tsp

Method:

Take a kadai (saucepan) and heat the oil in it. Add the mustard seeds and once they crackle, add the urad dal. As they turn golden brown, add both the chillies and curry leaves. Turn them once and add the grated coconut. Adding the hing and salt, roast the coconut till it turns golden. Now switch the flame off and add half of the boiled sevai to the coconut mixture and mix well. Delicious coconut sevai is all set to be consumed.

Lemon sevai

Lemon Sevai:

Mustard Seeds – ½ tsp
Urad Dal – 1 tsp
Green Chilly – 1 (cut in 2)
Red Chilly – 1 (cut in 2)
Curry leaves – a few
Hing (asafoetida) – 1 pinch
Turmeric powder – 1 pinch
Juice from ½ a lemon (can add a few drops more if you like it stronger)
Salt to taste
Oil – 1 tsp

Take a kadai (saucepan) and heat the oil in it. Add the mustard seeds and once they crackle, add the urad dal. As they turn golden brown, add both the chillies and curry leaves. Turn them once and switch off the gas. Add the hing powder, turmeric powder and salt. Mix well before adding the lemon juice and the second half of the boiled sevai. Mix well and the yummy lemon sevai is all ready to be eaten.

The two sevais may be consumed just plain if you are not too fussy or you can have them with coconut chutney or mor kozhambu if you like.

NOTE: This is not the same as the semiya (made of wheat) that you get. This is made of rice.

Quick-fix Meal: SWEET CORN SOUP

This soup is pretty simple to make, tastes delicious and is quite filling.

Ingredients:

Sweet Corn – 1 can

Onion – 1 (big, chopped fine)

Beans – 10 (stringed and chopped fine)

Carrot – 1 (peeled and chopped fine)

Corn flour – 1 tbsp

Milk – ½ cup

*Ajinomoto – 1 large pinch

Oil – 1 tsp

Salt to taste

To coarse grind:

Green chillies – 2

Grated ginger – 1 pinch

Garlic – 2 cloves (peeled)

To add while serving:

Chilli sauce – 1 tsp

Soya sauce – 1 tsp

Chilli in vinegar – 1 tsp (optional)

Method:

Open the can of sweet corn and pour the contents into a vessel, add some water and mix thoroughly to remove lumps.

Boil water and add the beans and carrots to it along with a pinch of salt and switch off the gas. Drain the water after five minutes to ensure that the two are crisp and not overcooked.

Heat the oil in a saucepan and add coarse ground mixture of chillies, ginger and garlic. While frying, add chopped onions and continue to stir till onions are golden in colour. Now, add the beans and carrots and turn the mixture a couple of times. Then, it is the turn of the corn mixture. Pour it over the vegetables and add salt and Ajinomoto.

While the mixture is cooking on a slow gas, mix the milk and corn flour in a bowl and add this to the cooking soup, stirring non-stop. Let the soup boil for a few minutes. Add water to ensure consistency of soup. Switch off after five minutes.

The Sweet Corn Soup is ready to be served.

The three sauces are to be added only while serving in individual bowls and as per taste.

*Ajinomoto is an Oriental salt and is used for additional flavouring. There is word around that it does not suit some people. As I understand it, using baking soda on a regular basis is less healthy compared to using this. Anything used in moderation should not create a problem.

Quick-fix Meal: BEETROOT SOUP

Yeah, it may sound incredibly strange, but I am talking about a soup made of beetroots. It’s a double whammy – healthy and yummy.

Ingredients:

Beetroot – 2 (medium-sized)
Potato – 1 (similar size)
Salt to taste
Pepper powder – ¼ tsp
Cheese cube – 1 (grated)
Milk – 50 ml (½ a tea cup)
Cream – 1 tsp (optional)

Method:

Wash, peel and cut the beetroot and potato into pieces and pressure cook with water and salt for two whistles. Wait for it to cool and run it in the food processor till it makes a smooth paste. Add more water if required to bring it to the consistency of a thick soup. Bring the mixture to a slow boil.

Run the milk, grated cheese, pepper powder and cream in the blender and add to the boiling soup while stirring. Cook for five more minutes before switching off gas.

Serve hot after garnishing with cream or grated cheese along with some garlic toast or bread or bread sticks.

Quick-fix Meal: EGG CURRY

Fast and easy to prepare with no complications and delicious to eat!

Ingredients:

Egg – 2
Garam Masala Powder - 1 large pinch
Coriander leaf - ½ tsp (chopped)

Chilli Powder - 1 pinch

Turmeric Powder - 1 pinch
Oil - 1 tbsp
Salt to taste

For Gravy:

Onion - 1 large (cut into pieces)
Tomato - 1 large (cut into pieces)
Garlic - 2 cloves (peeled and cut)
Ginger - ¼ tsp (grated)
Green chillies - 1 (cut into two)

Method:

Hard boil the eggs*. Let them cool and peel of the shell. Slice the egg lengthwise in halves and place them in a bowl one piece beside the other, the cut side facing up. Blend the ingredients for the gravy into a smooth paste. Add water if required. Take a saucepan and heat the oil in it. Add the garam masala powder and then the gravy mixture to it. Add salt, chilli and turmeric powders and cook it for about five minutes. Then pour it over the egg pieces set aside. Garnish with coriander leaves. Relish it hot with bread or rotis.

*Heat water in a pan and add the eggs to it. Let the water boil enough to form cracks on the eggshell.

Quick-fix Meal: PALAK SOUP

This is the second in the line of quick-fix meals for singles. This soup is nourishing, easy to make and moreover, pretty low on calories. You will end up licking your bowl, I promise!

Ingredients 1:

Palak – 1 bunch (chopped) – DON’T remove the stalks as you will lose out on so much of vitamins and minerals.
Carrot – 1 - medium-sized (peeled and cut into pieces)
Moong Dal (பயத்தம் பருப்பு ) – 4 tsp
Salt to taste

Ingredients 2:

For flavour and thickening:

Milk – ½ cup – 50 ml
Cheese – 1 cube (grated)
Cream (मलाई) – 1 tsp (optional)
Powdered Black Pepper – ½ tsp
Corn flour – 1 flat tsp

Method:

Take a pressure cooker or pan and cook Ingredients 1 along with 2 cups of water till you hear one whistle. Let the mixture cool a bit, strain the water and keep it aside. Run the vegetables and dal in a blender to a smooth paste. Mix the water that is kept aside and boil the whole mixture on slow fire. Add some more water if the mixture is too thick.

While it’s cooking, blend Ingredients 2 in the mixture. Add it to the cooking soup while stirring continuously. Boil well for five minutes and your soup is done.

Tastes delicious along with toasted bread! It’s really yummy when you have it with the ready to toast garlic bread available at Birdy’s outlets. Slice the garlic bread roll and toast on a skillet (तवा) till golden brown and enjoy with the Palak Soup.

Quick-fix Meal: TOMATO OMELETTE SANDWICH

This is a new section that you will be seeing more of in the near future. This is mainly for those friends of mine who live alone, have very less time to fix meals for themselves but are quite bored of eating out. I presume that they all own a few utensils – saucepan, skillet and the like, a stove and other basics.

Tomato Omelette Sandwich is a favourite of mine. It is easy to make, filling and healthy.

Ingredients:

Small tomato – 1 grated or chopped fine
Small onion – 1 chopped fine
Green chilly – 1 chopped fine
Coriander leaves – 1 tsp (chopped)
Besan or channe ka atta – 4 tbsp
Salt to taste
Oil – 1 tsp

Method:

Mix the above ingredients thoroughly with a few spoonfuls of water. This dough has to be in the consistency of Dosa dough.

Heat a skillet and add a few drops of oil. Smear the oil on the skillet, add a large spoon of the dough and spread it on the skillet about the size of a bread slice. Keep it on slow fire and cook for a couple of minutes before turning it over. Wait till done. This is it. Your tomato omelette is ready to eat.

Use it as a sandwich filling. Toast two slices of bread if you have a bread toaster or toast them on the skillet itself. Place the tomato omelette between the bread slices, add some ketchup and your sandwich is ready to eat. You may even use fresh bread as it is.

Optional: Add a few slices of cucumber, tomato, onions, boiled potato or lettuce to your sandwich. And/or a cheese slice could be added.

If you have the patience to make the spicy green chutney, then nothing could taste better as a sandwich spread. Will blog this recipe very soon.

In the meanwhile, I hope this works for you!