Aloo – matar- paneer

Today I present something other than salads 🙂
Aloo – matar – paneer is an authentic Punjabi dish. But my recipe here is not so authentic. It is twisted a little to suit my family’s taste buds. It taste great with chapatti or roti.

Ingredients
2 medium sized potatoes
1 cup peas
100gm paneer, cut into cubes
1 tsp jeera / cumin seeds
1 onion, cubed
1 tomato, cubed
2-inch long ginger
1/2 tsp poppy seeds
6 cashews
1/4 tsp chilli powder, can be varied as per taste
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp garam masala powder
1 tbsp coriander leaves, finely chopped
A pinch of hing
2-3 tsp oil

And then….
Pressure cook the potatoes with the skin till soft. Once cooked, remove the skin and cut the potatoes into cubes.
At the same time, cook the peas. You can microwave it or blanch them in hot water for 5 min. Do add a little salt while cooking potatoes and peas.
Grind ginger, tomato and onion into a smooth paste. Don’t add water while grinding it.
Soak cashews and poppy seeds in water for 10-15 min. Then grind it along water to make it a paste.

Next, show time. Heat the pan. Add oil. Once the oil heats, add jeera. Once the jeera turns lightly brown, add hing. Fry for few seconds.
Add the tomato paste and fry till oil separates. Then add the cashew paste. Mix it well.

To this add turmeric powder and red chilli powder. Add little water, if the content turns out to be too thick. Once all the content are heated, add potatoes, peas and paneer. Stir well.

Close the pan and cook for 2-3 mins.
Garnish with coriander leaves. Enjoy it with hot chappatis / rotis 🙂