For this recipe, we will need few cashew nuts. 10 cashew nuts will be enough
We will require 1 tsp of poppy seeds
Add the cashew nuts and poppy seeds to a bowl. Add hot water to the mixture and keep it aside
Roughly chop 1 onion and add it to a blender
Blend the onions in the blender. We do not have to make a fine paste of the onion. It needs to coarse. If you dont want to blend the onion, you can finely chop it.
Now, take 2 tomatoes, finely chop them and make a puree by adding them to a blender.
Time to fry the cottage cheese. We will need about 400gms of cottage cheese for our Matar Paneer recipe. You can also use non fried paneer but using fried paneer will enhance the taste of the recipe
Take 2-3 tbsp of oil in frying pan and keep the flame to medium.
After the oil becomes moderately hot, add the cottage cheese cubes to it and start frying the them.
We will fry the cottage cheese from all sides till they become light golden brown.
After the cubes have been cooked take them out in a bowl
Add the cottage cheese cubes to cold water immediately. This will ensure that the cottage cheese cubes do not become hard
Time to prepare the Matar Paneer gravy. Take 2 tbsp oil in a pan
Add 1 tsp cumin seeds to it.
Add 2 bay leaves to the mixture. Cook the mixture on medium flame till the cumin seeds become light golden brown.
Add chopped green chillies to the mixture
Now add the onions that we had blended earlier to the mixture.
Cook the mixture for some time on medium flame
Keep cooking the mixture till the onions become brown and the oil is separated
At this stage add the tomato puree to the mixture
Mix everything together.
Cover the mixture with a lid and cook for 10-12 minutes on medium flame
Keep checking the mixture from time to time to make sure it does not burn.
Till the time the mixture is getting cooked, we will prepare a paste of the cahews and poppy seeds that we had soaked in water earlier. You can use the same water that was used for soking the nuts. If you think the water is a little too much you can reduce the water as well
Make a fine paste of the mixture.
Now add some chopped cottage cheese the paste and blend it again. This cottage cheese is uncooked and not the one we had fried earlier.
Again blend the mixture to make a fine paste.
Our gravy is cooked
Add 1 tbsp of ginger garlic paste the mixture
Add salt the mixture.
Add 1.5 tsp coriander power, 0.5 tsp turmeric powder, 1.5 tsp cumin powder. 2 tbsp of chilli powder, 1.5 kitchen king masala to mixture. If you want the dish to be less spicy, you can reduce the amount of red chilli powder or even add kashmiri red chilli powder for better color
Mix everything together and cook till the mixture is well cooked and the oil separates. The mixture will be cooked well within 4-5 minutes
Add 1 cup water to the mixture.
Start cooking the mixture
Add the cashew paste to the mixture.
Mix everything together and cook the mixture for a few minutes
Add 200gms green peas to the mixture and mix everything together
Cover the mixture with a lid and cook it for 10-12 minutes
After 10-12 minutes, remove the lid from the mixture and add 1.5 cups of water to the mixture and cook for some more time if required
Add the fried cottage cheese cubes to the mixture
Add 1 tsp garam masala to the mixture and 1 tsp fenugreek leaves (kasuri methi) to it.
Mix everything together
Cover the mixture with a lid one final time and cook for another 10-12 minutes
Remove the lid after the dish has been cooked well
Add chopped coriander leaves the mixture
Your Matar Paneer Recipe is ready. Enjoy!!!