Kadhai Mattar Paneer (Cottage Cheese & Peas in a Gravy)

As a school & college student, yours truly  had a love-hate relationship with kitchen.Helping mom with chopping vegetables & doing dishes were definitely on the like-to-do list but cooking was never my scene. My mom would always chide me by quoting the evergreen ' way to a man's heart through stomach' line. I would tell her that if my man will love me for what I am , he will cook for me too !!! :D . Well, I am indeed a very lucky woman to have a loving & supportive spouse, a man who is also hands on in kitchen, but it soon dawned that he will defenitely not be standing beside me 24 *7 and I had to COOK and shun away my averse feelings for warming up the hearth. All that happened and a girl who hated kitchen, has turned in to a pro decent chef !


These thoughts were predominant in my mind while I was prowling kavita's space @ Edible Entertainment.  What amazed me  about her blog was not only the vast array of dishes under a variety of cuisines, but also the posts written meticulously, laced with a funky narrative. All this by a young girl who is still a student !!! 
Radhika's Blog-Hop Wenesday is indeed widening my horizon to different blogs & people.The dish that I cooked from kavita's space is Kadai Mattar Paneer. 

My daughter's love for paneer in any form is well known, and this dish was dot on to warm her heart & our hearth.

A few subtle changes to the recipe to suit our palate were made like refrigerating the marinade, adding garlic to the gravy and spice quantity modifications. The dish with luscious cubes of cottage cheese in a lovely cashew gravy garnished with dried fenugreek leaves was a runaway hit with my folks.

Ingredients - Preparation Time : 90 minutes , Cooking Time : 15 minutes (Serves : 3 to 4)


The Main Ingredients

• Cottage Cheese / Paneer - 400 grams
• Onion - 3 - large - thinly sliced
• Green Peas / Mattar - fistful
• Tomato - 3 - small - finely chopped
• Bell Pepper (Green)  - 1/2 - finely chopped
• Cashew Nuts - a fistful
• Garlic - 3 pods- large
• Green Chili - 1 to 2 - to taste - finely chopped
• Coriander Powder - 2 teaspoons (used store bought else dry roast coriander seeds & grind them into a fine powder)
• Red Chili Powder - 3-4 tsp - to taste
• Garam Masala Powder - 2 tsp - to taste - store bought
• Dried Fenugreek Leaves / Kasoori Methi - 1 tbsp
• Salt - as per taste 
• Cooking Oil - 2 tsp

For the Marinade

• Yogurt / Curd - 2 to 3 tablespoon
• Red Chilli Powder - 1 1/2 tsp - to taste
• Salt - a little

Here's How :-

Start with marinating the cottage cheese.Cut them into cubes, and mix with the yogurt/curd, little salt , 1 tsp red chili powder and let it rest in the fridge for about 90 minutes hours.

Boil the peas in microwave or on the stove, strain water & keep aside. Making the base for the gravy is the next step. Heat 1 tsp oil in a pan. Add the green chillis, garlic,half of the sliced onions, tomatoes & cashew nuts and stir till they start changing color. Take off flame, let it cool and transfer the mix to a blender. Add garam masala, coriander powder and blend until you get a smooth paste. Add little water if required.
Again, heat 1 tsp oil, add the remaining cut onions & satué for 30 seconds & add the capsicum. Add the pureed blend to the onion-capsicum in the pan and give it all a nice mix. Let it cook on medium-high flame for at least 5 minutes or till the raw smell evaporates. You can add around 1/4 to 1/2 cup of water to it & let it boil. Meanwhile - take half cup of warm water. Add the dried fenugreek leaves & let it rest for a few minutes. Take the marinade from the fridge and tip it to the gravy cooking it on medium flame. It has to cook for around 2-3 minutes. Add the boiled peas, dried fenugreek to it . Mix well and once it simmers take it off flame.
Serve it hot with rotis/phulkas/parathas (Indian Flat Bread) ; tortillas or rice. 

Enjoy !

Also linking it to Julie's Christmas Delicacy