Methi Malai Paneer

 

Methi Malai Paneer

They say cooking is an Art!!!!! there is no denial to it. Its like a blank canvas, where in an artist mixes and matches different colours to convert his/her creativity into a masterpiece and similarly a cook/chef or homemaker uses his/her culinary skills to prepare a dish using different food items, but can you imagine how it feels to a novice cook when it comes to decide "What to cook".
I had gone through that phase after marriage and had struggled enough everyday with the thought, what to cook for today, untill I learnt the different cooking techniques from my amma, or from various shows/cookbooks, but still can't claim that I have mastered the scary/confusing thought (I call it so as it really confuses me most of the times) of "What to cook today" and it still creeps in whenever I cook something.

 



Although I am slowly trying to master it, it gets worst when I have guest coming home for lunch or dinner...I would stand near the fridge for minutes staring at the veggies or other items to finalize the menu items.....

 

And this Friday, we had a sweet family coming over for dinner and to my utter surprise I was least confused about the menu.I had all the items decided in my mind, when I invited them over.And one of the items I decided upon and prepared for the dinner was "Methi malai paneer",a yummmy dish that can be a treat to the palates, its a rich creamy paneer/cottage dish cooked along with Methi/fenugreek in Malai or fresh cream.Thats why its called 'Methi Malai Paneer'. 

One can even use kasuri methi(dried one) instead of fresh methi leaves...It gives the same taste as you get when fresh leaves are used.

It goes very well with chappati/roti or parathas.And I am sure all paneer lovers would love it..... 

 

Ingredients                                                 Quantity                                                

Paneer cubes(Cottage cheese)                        : 150 gms
Fenugreek/Methileaves chopped                  : 100 gms
Cream(Malai)                                                     : 5-6 tablespoon

Milk                                                                      : 1/2 cup

Cashew nut                                                         : 1 small cup

Onion chopped                                                  : 2 medium sized

Ginger garlic paste                                            : 2 teaspoon

Turmeric(Haldi)                                                : 1/2 teaspoon

Coriander(Dhaniya) po wder                          : 2 tablespoon

Garam masala                                                    : 1 teaspoon

Poppy seeds(Khuskhus)                                   : 2 teaspoon

Green Chilli                                                        : 2

Cummin seeds                                                   :  1 teaspoon

Cloves                                                                  : 2

Bay Leaf                                                              : 1-2

Cardamom                                                         : 2 crushed

Oil                                                                        : 2-3 teaspoon

Sugar

Salt to taste

Preparation Method :                                                                                             

 

• Wash cashews and soak cashews and poppy seeds in a small cup of water.
• Boil 1/2 cup water, add 1 teaspoon sugar and blanch methi (fenugreek) leaves for 5 mins. Remove from flame.
• Grind onion,cummin seeds and green chilli to paste. Keep aside.
• Heat 1 tsp oil in a wok/pan and fry the paneer cubes slightly brown and keep them aside.
• In the same pan, add one more table-spoon oil and heat it.
• Add bay leaf, crushed cardamom and cloves, saute for 1 minute, add the onion/chilli paste and cook till it turns light brown by stirring continuously, then add Garlic ginger paste,turmeric and corainder powder, cook again for 2-3 minutes.
• Meanwhile grind soaked poopy seeds and cashew to a fine paste using the same water used to soak them.
• Now add this paste to the pan,also add milk and cream, mix all the ingredients very well. And cook for 5 more minutes on low flame.
• Add the blanched methi and fried paneer to the above mix, add garam masala and add salt as per taste, cook for another 7-8 minutes on low flame by stirring in between.
• Turn off the heat once done. If the gravy gets thickened, add few more drops of water/milk.

 Serve hot with chapati/Paratha or any type of pulao.