CALORIE CAUTIOUS PANEER MUTTUR

CALORIE CAUTIOUS PANEER MUTTUR





This is one dish that is an extremely popular Indian curry - very popular among Punjabis,people from the land where paneer has been predominantly used since many years. If one has paneer and frozen peas, this can be made out of the stuff you'd normally have in your kitchen racks.

For a person who is busy through out the day and that too with an infant, it's odd that I rarely make the typical restaurant style dishes going mostly with the more earthy simple dishes, where veggies are not drowned in rich gravies and gravies don't take over the meal! However on a jiffy I decided to try out this matar paneer curry, also since I had nothing else in my refrigerator that evening, except for the staple onions-tomatoes-ginger and garlic paste.
This is a much calorie cut version of the normal ones served in restaurants.

Like in one of Vadivel's Comedy,theres a famous dialogue "varum aana varadhu".Like that
"Idhu adhu da..aana adhu illa!"Yes this is a restaurant like tasting side dish but the method and ingredients used is not as rich as that so all those weight watchers can give it a try!!


Matar Paneer ( Indian curry with green peas and cheese )

Vegetarian side to be eaten with rotis, parathas or rice

Time taken - Around 30 minutes

Serves - 3 to 4 people

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Ingredients

• 1 tsp oil
  


• 1 tbsp broken cashewnuts
  


• 2 medium onions, finely chopped
  


• 3 medium tomatoes finely chopped
  


• 1/2 tsp fresh grated ginger
  


• 1 tsp finely chopped garlic cloves
  


• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
  


• 1 tsp red chilli powder
  


• 1-2 tsp coriander-cumin powder or 1 tsp each
  


• 1/2 tsp garam masala powder
  


• 1 tsp salt
  


• 1 cup frozen or fresh boiled peas
  


• 200 g paneer cut into 12 cubes
  


• 1 tsp kasoori methi - dried fenugreek leaves, crumbled into a rough powder
  
  

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed wok. Start by sauteeing the broken cashews till lightly golden.

2. Next, add the chopped ginger-garlic and onions and cook on a low flame with a pinch of salt till they soften and turn light brown.

3. At this stage, add the tomatoes with the turmeric powder. Stir well and cook for 5-7 minutes, till mushy.

4. Remove the contents of the wok and blend to a fine puree in a blender, once cooled throughly. You may use upto 1/2 cup water to aid the blending process.

5. In the same wok, transfer the fine puree. Season with spice powders (red chilli powder, cumin coriander powder, garam masala) and salt. Simmer for 3-4 minutes till the gravy is infused with the spices.

6. Add the frozen / boiled green peas to this gravy and simmer for 5 minutes, after which the paneer cubes go in. Simmer for another 2 minutes, check for salt, sprinkle crushed kasoori methi and give it a stir.

7. Matar paneer is ready to be removed in a serving bowl.

Serve hot with rotis, parathas, naan,Poori or plain steamed rice seasoned with cumin seeds.

I personally prefer to have this with Chapathi.But today I wanted to see how the Poori-Paneer combination works.It turned out to a blast!!

A raita on the side would be nice too.

Health(y) Advice

• It's perfectly okay to use store bought paneer.
  


• In restaurants, this dish is made with plenty of ghee /butter, a large chunk of nut paste (almond or cashew) plus a dollop of fresh cream added towards the end to make it even richer.
  


• This version uses just one teaspoon of vegetable oil and the small quantity of cashewnuts are enough to provide the rich creamy restaurant taste without the added calories from fat.
  

So try out this version of Muttur Paneer and please dont forget to provide your honest feedbacks.These feedbacks help me to serve you better with more good choices of dishes.

I am also going to try a different dish very soon with the same ingredients except for one.

Until I meet you people next time with a new dish..Keep guessing on this one!