Paneer Mattar Masala & more Awards

If you would have seen my comments in other blogs you will surely know that I'm a paneer lover. I love it fresh, deep-fried or incorporated in any dish. I'm always in search for the ideal paneer recipes that have that special restaurant taste. My favorite is paneer butter masala and my hubby's favorite is paneer matar masala. So here is the recipe for his favorite dish.

Ingredients:
Paneer- 300 gms
Green peas- 3/4 th cup (dried ones)
Onion- 2 1/2
Ginger garlic paste- 2 tbsp
tomatoes- 4 or 5
green chilli- 5
garam masala- 1 tsp
yogurt- 1 cup
red chilli powder- 1 tsp
corriander powder- 1 tbsp
heavy cream- 50 ml
saffron- a pinch
cashew paste- 1 tbsp
corriander leaves- handful
oil- 3 tbsp

salt- as required
sugar- a pinch
kassori methi - 1 tsp

Procedure:
Soak dried peas in water overnight. Next day boil it with some salt until almost cooked. You can skip this step if you use frozen peas. Next bring water to a boil and put the tomatoes in it. Boil for 5 mins . Take out the tomatoes and wash it in cold water. Peel off the skin and make a puree. You can skip this step also if you have use readymade tomato puree, but I'm sorry I do not have the measure for that. Boil onions in water for 8 mins. Strain and puree.Heat oil in a pan and fry the onion paste for 5 mins. Then add ginger-garlic paste and fry for 5 more mins.

Next add chilli powder, garam masala and corriander powder. Stir well. Now add tomato puree, cashew paste ,salt and sugar. Cook till the oil seperates. Next add yogurt (beaten smooth). cook for 10 -12 mins till oil floats on top. Add little water, boiled peas and saffron.Cut paneer into cubes and shallow fry in a non-stick pan with a spoon of oil. Put the fried paneer in hot salted water for sometime. When it's time to add it to the gravy just strain the water and use it in the curry.Add paneer and boil for another 3 mins.

Finally add cream, crushed kassori methi (soak in water for sometime to make it soft), corriander leaves and fried green chilli. Cook till you get the desired consistency. Increase the water level according to the your preference of texture.Enjoy it with hot buttered naan or fried rice. It tastes just awesome.

Now to the awards.... As you all know that it's raining awards in the blogsphere. I have been one of the fortunate ones to get those great awards.

I've been presented the "Nice Matters" award again. This time it's by Sagari of Indian cooking and Pragyan of cooking at Pragyan's have been so sweet and gracious to pass it on to me . Thankyou so much Sagari and Pragyan. You both made me feel so special and happy.

Then, Pravs of Simply Spicy and Shanti Banu of My kitchen hobbies have been so kind enough to pass me on the "E" for Excellent Blog award. Thankyou so much girls. Your awards have inspired me so much and I'm very proud to wear it on my blog.

Last time itself I should have passed on the "Nice matters" award but I somehow forgot to include it. So , I'm passing it now to some of my friends. For some of you it might be a repetition still I hope you would enjoy it.
So the Nice matter's award is being passed to:
Asha , Richa , Bharathi , Shella, Jeena and SuperChef .


And the "E" for excellent blog award is being passed to
Indo Sun God,
Vcuisine,
Bee ,
Cynthia,
Happy Cook and
Mansi.

I hope you girls enjoy the award too as much as I did.One more thing before I end the post. My hubby's workplace has changed. I mean he is working from home now. It's not a temporay thing as it's a permanant job. The bad thing about this is he always keep a watch on me on how much time I spend on blogging. That's why I'm unable to be in your blogs recently and also unable to update mine either. Bear with me gals. I'll organize myself soon and come back to routine.

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Happy Mother's day to all my fellow bloggers. Hope you all have a great day!

"The moment a child is born, the mother is also born.The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new". -Anonymous

This is so true from my experience.Before Kavin was born I had nothing to care for. I have always been careless, lazy and irresponsible.But Kavin gave me the opportunity to make my life meaningful & complete. After becoming a mom, I have become more appreciative of all the things my mom has done for me. When I was near her,I have disregarded her many times. But now I feel for all of that. Anyway, on this Mother's day I would like to thank her for everything.

Thanks Mom for everything. I know these words aren't enough for all that you have done. What else can I say... I love you,love you,love you.....


Okay, So what's on menu today? It's Paneer Babycorn Curry. It is pretty much like a korma. Actually I tried to make korma only, but when I added kasoori methi leaves the taste was more like a cream based curry. This is the first time I'm making this dish. But I absolutely loved it and so did my hubby. The photos are doing no justice to the aroma and taste of this curry. But once you try it I'm sure you'll understand what I'm talking about. So, here is the recipe...

Ingredients:
Paneer- 1/2 of 250gm
packbaby corn- 1 can
peas- 3/4 cup
onion- 1/2 (chopped fine)
ginger garlic paste- 1 tsp
tomato- 1 (finely chopped)
green chillies- 3
corriander powder- 3/4 tsp
cumin powder- 1/2 tsp
garam masala- 1/4 tsp
kasoori methi- 1 tsp(crushed)

grind:
coconut- 1/2 cup(shredded)
poppy seeds- 1 1/2 tsp(soak in hot water for 20mins)
cashews- 4
Blanched almonds- 4
fennel seeds- 1/2 tsp

Procedure:
Shallow fry paneer cubes in 2 tsp oil and put it in salted hot water. cut babycorn in halves. Heat oil in kadai and fry onions till golden brown. Then add chillies,ginger garlic paste and turmeric powder. After sometime add tomato and all the curry powders. Fry till raw smell goes and then add the ground mixture. Put required salt and mix well. Now pour 1 1/2 cups water and boil until good aroma comes. Now add corn and peas. After 5 mins add paneer and kasoori methi. Cook till desired consistency. If the gravy gets too thick add more water. Enjoy with jeera rice ,rotis or parottas.

Baked Paneer Tikka

This dish is a little bland by itself. But it is good with sweet and sour sauce. The other day, I had some of my Husband's colleagues come for lunch. As they were Americans, I wanted to make a non-spicy dish that would be more or less like cheese cubes. Here is the recipe for baked paneer.

Ingredients:
paneer-250 gms
curd-1 tbsp
chilli powder- 1/2 tsp
garam masala- 1/4 tsp
chaat masala
salt- as required

Procedure:
Mix curd, chilli powder, garam masala, and salt. check the seasonings. Mix this with paneer and coat well. Refrigerate for atleast 4 hours.Line the baking dish with foil paper. Spray some non-stick spray on foil. Arrange the paneer pieces on it. Alternatively, use wooden skewers and thread the paneer pieces on it. Broil for 10 mins in the oven.Note: I broiled it for 15 mins , so paneer became a little dry. Do not broil it for long if you need the paneer to be moist.

Paneer Butter Masala

This is my first post. I'm starting with one of my favorite dishes.... Paneer. This is the gravy I order in restaurants most of the time. I hope you like it too.

Ingredients:
Paneer-250 gms(cut into cubes, shallow fry, soak in hot water for 5 minutes, drain and keep aside)
butter-1tbsp
onion- 2 big (puree)
Ginger& Garlic paste-1 1/2 tsp
Tomato -3 big (blanch & puree)
cashew nut paste-2tbsp
chilli powder-3/4 tsp
cumin powder-1/2 tsp
corriander powder-1/2 tsp
turmeric powder-1/4 tsp
garam masala powder-1/2 tsp
fresh cream-2 tbsp
kassori methi leaves-1/2 tsp (crush in your palm before adding)
salt
Procedure:
Heat 1 tbsp oil and butter. Saute onion puree until golden brown. Add ginger garlic paste. After 2 minutes add all the masala powders and saute for a few minutes. Then put cashew paste, tomato puree and salt. Pour 1 cup water and boil for 5 minutes. check for taste. Reduce heat and add paneer cubes. Let the gravy simmer to required consistency. Switch off the stove and add cream and methinleaves. combine well.This curry goes well with fried rice, pulav and rotis.
Note: I did not add color to my gravy. If you desire a red color gravy , You can either use kashmiri chilli powder or a little red food coloring.