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Mattar Paneer

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Mattar Paneer

Postby karadekoolaid » Sun Jun 10, 2012 2:29 pm

Believe it or not,I'd never made this dish in almost 40 years of cooking Indian food!
A friend gave me two large pots of fresh buffalo milk ricotta, so I pressed one pot to make my own paneer. I gently fried about 100 gms in oil, until barely browned, then removed the cubes to let them drain.
First I prepared the spice mix. 2 tsps coriander, 1 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp turmeric,1 tsp chile powder. A piece of cinnamon bark, a few cloves and about 1/2 tsp black peppercorns into the grinder. Then I blitzed together a couple of tomatoes, a (1") piece of ginger and a couple of large garlic cloves.
! medium onion,sliced, went into the pan with a little oil ( no ghee available today!). Once the onion had softened a little,I added all the spices together. On other occasions, I might have left the cumin, cinnamon, cloves and peppercorns whole. Today, I decided not to.
the spices were mixed for about 30 seconds until the smell test worked: ie, when I can smell all the spices,I move to the next stage, which was to add the tomato/ginger/garlic paste. I cooked this for five minutes or so,until the mixture in the pan was dry-ish and the colour had darkened. Then I added about75 mls cream and 75 mls water, brought to a boil then lowered the temperature to medium and added the peas. I cooked the peas for about 5 minutes,added the paneer cubes, five minutes more and served with a hunk of bread ( all the parathas had been gobbled up!)
deliciously creamy,satisfying and tasty; and there's still enough for tomorrow!

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Re: Mattar Paneer

Postby Sakkarin » Mon Jun 11, 2012 2:16 pm

I would have said I've never made this, but I checked my old piccies, and here's one I made earlier (well 4 years earlier...), although it has potato thrown in too. Not sure if I made this batch of paneer from scratch from milk, think I did.

I can't remember where the recipe came from, I think it was the programme Food Safari. I am pretty certain I also did the spinach version, Palak Paneer.

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Re: Mattar Paneer

Postby karadekoolaid » Mon Jun 11, 2012 10:59 pm

So what you really made was an Aloo Mattar Paneer? As long as it tasted good :thumbsup
the recipe I used as a reference suggested using full cream milk instead of cream. Not having any of the former in my fridge, but plenty of the second, I opted for the easy way out!

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Re: Mattar Paneer

Postby hungryhousewife » Tue Jun 12, 2012 11:01 am

Oooh! I love the sound of that KK! I need to do more experimenting with Indian food.
HH

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Re: Mattar Paneer

Postby Global_Worming » Tue Jun 12, 2012 4:15 pm

KKK and Sakkers cheesy peas are one of my big favs :clap

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Re: Mattar Paneer

Postby Sakkarin » Sun Jun 17, 2012 4:20 pm

BARGAIN ALERT:

Tesco are selling paneer half price, £1 for 225g.
http://www.tesco.com/groceries/Product/ ... =268960351

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Re: Mattar Paneer

Postby Guzzler » Thu Jun 21, 2012 9:02 pm

I felt the need for sag paneer last week so made the 2 mile trek to Tescos. Once there I discovered nothing but an empty space where the paneer should have been, along with a notice saying it was half price. Grrr. I blame you entirely, Sakkarin for alerting everyone to the fact. ;)

I really must try to make my own sometime. Must be easier than that trek anyway.

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Re: Mattar Paneer

Postby karadekoolaid » Fri Jun 22, 2012 2:58 am

It's a bit of a pain,I suppose, but....
Whole milk ( none of that "low-fat" junk!!)
1 lemon/or lime/or a spoonful of vinegar.
Heat milk in pan till very hot. Just before it boils, add juice of 1 lemon/or lime/or a spoonful of vinegar.
Stir. It'll separate. Remove from heat. Strain. Save the liquid to cook rice!
Place the curds in a cheesecloth ( or an old table napkin). Squeeze dry, then place a heavy weight on top ( Next door's cat might work :P :P :P :P ). Allow to drain overnight.
You should have a thick-ish cheesy paste by morning. ( providing the cat hasn't eaten it!)
Cut into chunks, fry until golden, make saag Paneer, or Mattar Paneer, or Brinjal Paneer, or Malai Kofta ( if you're patient!)
Good luck.

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Re: Mattar Paneer

Postby Guzzler » Fri Jun 22, 2012 11:55 am

Ooh, thanks for that, doesn't sound too onerous, although the cat might object a bit. Might give it a bash later on (the paneer, not the cat.)

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Re: Mattar Paneer

Postby Sakkarin » Fri Jun 22, 2012 4:05 pm

Sorry :?

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Re: Mattar Paneer

Postby Guzzler » Sat Jun 23, 2012 12:44 pm

Just to report that my first attempt at making paneer worked out surprisingly well and I have just had a very satisfactory brunch of saag paneer. So thanks to Sakkarin and Karadekoolaid for motivating me to try it.

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Re: Mattar Paneer

Postby Sakkarin » Mon Jun 25, 2012 7:00 pm

:thumbsup

Still not used that paneer myself though, guess I'll have to try KK's recipe tomorrow.

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Re: Mattar Paneer

Postby Sakkarin » Fri Jun 29, 2012 10:11 pm

Got around to making it in the end, and it was very tasty.

Differences from your recipe, KK:

Used whole 225g package of paneer (100g seemed a little stingy)
Used two 20g blocks of frozen ginger/garlic puree mix (dead easy!)
Half a can of plum tomatoes (not inc liquid - was 3 tomatoes)
Weighed onion and peas, 175g each
Used leftover creme fraiche 50ml plus 100 ml water, it didn't end up yoghurty tasting

Served with leftover rice. P.S. - didn't burn the bottom of the rice yesterday, so no crispy bits!

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Re: Mattar Paneer

Postby MagicMarmite » Fri Jun 29, 2012 11:17 pm

I made it tonight too. The only thing I left out was the cloves, I'd been using clove oil for toothache last week and the beginning of this week and couldn't face the taste!
It looks really pale in the photo, it wasn't really, but it's a crap tablet camera.
I also made a dhal, mushroom pakoras and rice.
We both loved it.
2012-06-29_1341003569.jpg
2012-06-29_1341003569.jpg (98.87 KiB) Viewed 14479 times

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Re: Mattar Paneer

Postby karadekoolaid » Fri Jun 29, 2012 11:51 pm

sakkarin: yours looks divine. I bet it tasted so. :clap
MM: if you loved it, then it was good. :thumbsup
All changes and modifications have been duly noted, so the next time I make the dish, i'll take them into account. Thanks to you both - that's what exchanging recipes is all about.

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Re: Mattar Paneer

Postby Mamta1 » Sun Oct 21, 2012 9:57 am

Oh, I love Matar paneer, one of my all time favourite vegetable dish! I also love Palak Paneer. Both are easy to make, especially if you are using ready made paneer, though paneer is not difficult to make. Before it became available in all supermarkets and when I was still working, I used to order a whole crate of milk bottles on the week-end and make paneer in bulk. My milkman thought I was having a milk bath LOL!! I then cut it up, deep-fried it and froze it in bags. I just took out what I needed, when I needed.

Every time I go to India, I see people making something new (to me) with paneer. It is very popular amongst vegetarian Indians.
This time, 2 weeks ago, I had the best paneer parathas made by my brothers maid. Not a new dish for me, bit it was really good, I have just replaced my own recipe for it with my sister inlaws; http://www.mamtaskitchen.com/recipe_dis ... p?id=13168
Paneer pakoras and paneer tikka are also very nice and easy to make.

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Re: Mattar Paneer

Postby karadekoolaid » Fri Oct 26, 2012 9:16 pm

OH - YES - MAMTA!!
I have to try that this weekend. I've been experimenting with a local cheese product called "requeson" ( re-cheese; sounds like a sort of ricotta) but the mixture looks yummy.

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Re: Mattar Paneer

Postby Mamta1 » Sun Nov 11, 2012 7:45 pm

Did you try it KK?

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