Paneer Mattar

This is a North Indian dish with Paneer in a creamy blend of spices. Here I have given a simple recipe with some substitutes of the normal ingredients. My intention was to lower the calories retaining the taste of the dish and I believe that to a certain extent it has become successful . It is a good side dish with chappathy and the Indian flat bread varieties , also goes well with rice . It can be prepared as thick or with gravy type, both ways it tastes good. Usually it is prepared using cream but here I have used evaporated milk which gives almost the same taste in lesser calories. If you want to enjoy more flavor forgetting the calorie build up you can use cream too.

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS:

• Paneer - 2 cups (I bought the fried paneer from Indian store, you can use home made paneer too)
• Green peas- 1 cup
• Onion- 1 medium sized chopped
• Ginger - an inch piece- chopped finely
• Garlic - 3 pods finely chopped
• Green chillies - 4 finely chopped
• Cilantro (Coriander leaves) - 1/4 cup choppes
• Mint leaves - 2 tablespoons - optional
• Garam masala - 1/4 tablespoon
• Turmeric powder - 1/4 tablespoon
• Red chilky powder - 1/2 tablespoon
• salt as needed
• Evaporated milk - 1 can (I use the Carnation brand. You can substitute it with the normal whole milk also)
• Whole spices- 2 cloves, 2 cardamom pods, 1 inch piece cinnamon stick.

How to Prepare:

Step 1: Heat butter in a small pan, saute the paneer till it turns slight brown . (If using store bought fried paneer just saute for few seconds )

 Dry it in a paper towel till use.

Step 2: Heat butter ( you can substitute with oil too)  in a flat pan, saute the sliced onions till it  turns transparent, add ginger garlic and green chillies and saute till all of it are cooked well leaving a good aroma. Add turmeric powder and switch off flame. Add half of the chopped cilantro and mint. Allow to cool and grind to a smooth paste. This is the masala for the dish.

Step 3: Heat little butter ( you can substitute with oil too) in the same pan ,saute the whole spices and add the masala paste ,Saute till it is cooked well. Add the Red chilly powder  and salt. saute well. Add the green peas and cook well in the masala.

Stir in the fried paneer and mix well with the gravy.

Step 4: When the peas and paneer are well cooked, lower the flame. Add the evaporated milk little by little stirring in betwen. now the thick gravy is formed. Switch off the flame. Add the garam masala and mix well. Garnish with the remaining coriander and mint leaves.

Step 5: Serve hot with chappathy, Naan or rice.