Paneer Matar

Another week night quick dinner. I call this "Paneer Matar" instead of the commonly known "Matar Paneer" because I hardly followed any traditional recipe for that dish. My dish pretty much included the two main items - "Paneer" and "Matar" :) 

The rest of them are really what I could get going fast.

I have been thinking of making a once a week routine of only vegetarian food. Without any "Vrat" in my list, I simply chose Tuesday as my mother in law does the same. 

In a typical bengali house, vegetarian food excludes Onion and Garlic. So this dish made on a Tuesday night had to omit them.

What I did

• Cut the paneer (store bought in this case) in cubes.
• Marinate for 5-10mins with salt and turmeric.
• Boil enough water to immerse the paneer cubes and add salt to it. Keep aside.
• Lightly fry the paneer cubes and soak them in the warm water. 

   If you are using fresh paneer you don't need to fry them. You can simply soak then in the warm water.

• I threw in some frozen peas (washed) in the same water to soak.

Now,

• in the pan/kadhai(wok), add white oil. (vegetable/canola). 
• Based on the material of the pan, you may or may not need to pre-heat it before adding the oil.
• Add Kalo Jeere/ nigella seeds/Onion seeds and one red chili to the oil
• Once, splatters, add one chopped tomato, followed by little bit of salt for the tomato to cook fast.
• When the tomatoes are mushy add green chilli - chopped if everyone in the family can eat spicy food, or throw in couple of whole as I did.

• Now, make a little space and add half a table spoon sugar. Let it caramelize and then mix with the tomato paste.
• Add some cilantro or coriander leave (dhone pata) and bhaja moshla* at this point.

• Let them all get friendly together in medium to low heat while you keep an eye on them so that no burns occur.
• Next when you don't smell the raw tomato any more, add some crushed kasuli methi. This is optional but I love the taste of it.
• Now time for the stars to enter. Drain the water and add the paneer and peas (matar) to the masala.

• Mix them all together followed by adding a cup of warm water.

• Boil it for 5-7 mins. Paneer should not be overcook, otherwise it will become hard. Not good! 

And that is it! Taste your dish, adjust salt and spice. Ready to serve with either roti or on top of hot rice.

Oh, I added a blob of butter at the end for the little one. You can skip but you can add it too :)