NG's Recipes 04 - Muttar Paneer

Punjab province in India is well known for its rich and tasty cuisine. They do things with cottage cheese/Paneer that no one thought was possible. Mutter Paneer (Peas and Cottage Cheese) is an all-time favorite with people in the northern part of India. Its perfect for consumption with Bread/Roti/Rice. If you wish to have it with rice it should have more gravy. If the consumption is with bread or Roti then it should have thick creamy texture.

So, lets get to our dish. To start with, you need Cottage Cheese. If you don’t have it you can replace it with Tofu.

**Ingredients for Gravy
**
½ cup chopped onions,
¾ cup chopped tomatoes
½ inch ginger
(2-3) garlic
(1-2) green chilies
(10-12) chopped cashews
2 tbsp coriander leaves
(4-5) black pepper
½ inch cinnamon
1 tsp coriander seeds
(2-3) cloves

** Masala Ingredients
**
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/4-1/2 red chilli powder
1/2 tsp garam masala

**Tempering
**

Cumin Seeds
Oil/Ghee/Butter
Cream – This is optional.

**Main ingredients
**

1 Cup Peas
Cottage Cheese/Tofu – 250 gms- 300gms

**The recipe
**

• Take all the items in the Gravy (first one) section and grind them to a fine paste in the mixer with half a cup of water. Keep the ground paste aside.
  

• Heat 2 tsp of oil/ghee in a pressure cooker. We used an open pan since we have pre-cooked peas and tomato and garlic puree at home. If you have those you can cook in an open pan,else pressure cooker is the way to go.

• Add cumin seeds and fry for 20 secs.
• Add the ground paste gravy.
• Sautee the Gravy for 10 mins.
• Add all the items in dry masala section. If you have cream now is the time to add it.
• Stir very well.
• Now add the peas into the gravy.
• Now add water as per texture required.
• Add salt to taste.
• Pressure cook for 2-3 whistles.
• Open when it de-pressurizes on its own.

• Check the gravy. If you want more water you can add. If you want less you can simmer to evaporate some off.
• Add the Paneer (Cottage Cheese)/ Tofu into the gravy.
• Cook on low flame for 2-3 mins. Avoid too much heat or over cooking. It will spoil the texture of the paneer (cottage cheese).
• Pour into a nice Bowl. Garnish with Coriander Leaves.

You can serve this Mutter Paneer with Roti/Bread or even have it with rice.

Hope you enjoyed this recipe as much as I did. If you wish to know more about Indian Cuisine do feel free to let us know in the comments and I will be happy to share the same with you.

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Yenjoy! 😉