Matar Paneer

Hello boys and girls,

Welcome to cooking with Varun! If I say 'paneer.. paneer.. paneer.. paneer', quickly under my breath, is it 'mutter' paneer? Now now, stop shaking your head in disbelief. I know that was bad.. what's worse is, it wasn't even close to being my worst joke!

I'm sure most vegetarians, have at some point in time, been told that food on the vegetarian end of the menu at an Indian restaurant pretty much just swaps over the chicken (or other meat) for paneer, which is true to a degree given that tikka masalas and butter masalas and chilli whatever all have the same taste foundation. Today's dish is an exception to the rule (unless someone out there is serving matar chicken) and despite anything non-vegetarians say about vegetarian food being less cool, is as good as any dish to order.

Now I'm not really a matar person.. I'm a fussy eater that only eats some veggies if they are cooked a certain way. For instance, I don't eat gobi (cauliflower). Despise it. But grate that sucker down, throw in some masalas, stuff it in atta, roll it out and make me a paratha and I'll have 6 before you realize there isn't any left to feed anyone else. Matar is the same. Peas on the side? No sir. Peas in my rice? Nein! But matar in my paneer or with my aloo? Oh yeah!

So if you're the same, and are looking for a way to use the matar in your freezer, stick with me and together we will find way to incorporate all those ill fated veggies into dishes we actually eat! For now, matar paneer.

For my Matar Paneer, you will need the following:

Paneer	300 gms
Peas	2-3 cups
Onion	1 large
Tomatoes	2 (and a shot of puree)
Jeera	2 tsp
Green chillies	2
Ginger garlic paste	1-2 tsp
Red chilli powder	2 tsp
Coriander powder	2-3 tsp
Jeera powder	1 tsp
Garam masala Coriander leaves	1/2 tsp handful
Salt	to taste
Oil

Prep:

1. Open the packet of paneer.
2. Cut the paneer into cubes.
3. Soak the cubes in hot water to soften.
4. Grind the onion.
5. Puree the tomatoes.
6. Chop the chillies.
7. Chop the coriander leaves.

Method:

1. Turn on the gas.
2. Bung a kadhai on.
3. Splash in some oil.
4. Count to 20.
5. Toss in the jeera.
6. Roll in the chillies.
7. Pop in the onions. (I don't need to remind you to avoid the spatter, do I?)
8. Drop in the ginger garlic paste.
9. Mix well.
10. Cook until the onions are nice and brown.
11. Sprinkle in the chilli, coriander, jeera and garam masala powders.
12. Mix.
13. Pour in the pureed tomatoes.
14. Mix.
15. Cook until the the oil separates from the tomatoes.
16. Drain the paneer and drop the pieces into the kadhai.
17. Mix.
18. Drop in the peas.
19. Watch as some of them bounce off the side and roll away.
20. Retrieve the rollers.
21. Pop them in with their pod mates.
22. Mix.
23. Add in a cup of water.
24. Add salt to taste.
25. Mix.
26. Crank the heat up to bring to a boil and then drop to a simmer.
27. Simmer for about 10 minutes.
28. Turn the gas off.
29. Sprinkle on some garam masala and chopped coriander leaves, pop the lid on and let it sit for a few minutes.
30. Serve with hot rotis.
31. Stuff face.
32. Bask in the glory of your successfully executed dish.

Tip: If it tastes too tomato-ey after you add the puree, a pinch of sugar will balance it out.

And remember, overeating is a myth. A full tummy is a happy tummy!