Paneer Mutter Curry

“Sunday roju pandaga  vasthe, take it easy policy”…how many of you can relate to this one line from the song “Urvasi Urvasi” from the movie Premikudu?

Many, is what I know as a fact. Reason being, even I fall under that category. Not because I am a crazy fan of Non-Veg and eat like I did not eat in a month. No. Because I enjoy eating Non-veg like a regular person does and appreciate the frequency of eating it once a week or twice if the occasion presents itself. Take that away and you will find me singing this song just to annoy my mom!

Similar situation: special occasions falling on a vegetarian day of the week. Again, it is not like we cannot celebrate special occasions with Vegetarian food. But, it is that sad feeling of not being able to celebrate with Non-veg dishes.

That’s when we try to get creative with the Vegetarian dishes to make them special and occasion worthy. This recipe is one such dish and it more than made up for missing the non-veg dishes. It was super delicious and very easy to make with everyday ingredients.

Here is the recipe for Paneer Mutter Curry:

Ingredients:

Paneer: 200gms

Mutter: 1 cup

Onion: 1 big

Tomatoes: 3 medium

Green Chillies: 2

Oil: 2 tbsp

Shahi Jeera: 1 tsp

Cinnamon stick: 1 inch

Cloves: 3

Cardamom: 3

Bay leaf: 1

Ginger Garlic paste: 1 tbsp

Salt: to taste

Turmeric: ¼ tsp

Red chilli powder: 2 ½ tbsp

Coriander powder: 1 tsp

Mint & coriander leaves for garnish

Recipe:

1. Dice Paneer in 1 inch cubes and set them aside. Finely chop onions and tomatoes set them aside. Slit the green chillies and set them aside.
2. In a pan, heat oil and add Shahi jeera, Cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and bay leaf. Cook them in oil till they turn aromatic.
3. Add finely chopped Onions and cook till they turn golden brown. Tip: Add a pinch a salt to the cooking onion to cook them thoroughly and at a faster pace.
4.  Once the onions turn golden brown, add ginger garlic paste and cook for couple of minutes. Add finely chopped tomatoes and slit green chillies. Cook them till the tomatoes turn mushy.
5. Add Paneer and mutter, cook for 10 minutes. Add Salt, turmeric, red chilli powder and coriander powder, cook for 5 minutes.
6. Add finely chopped mint and coriander leaves as garnish to the curry just before turning of heat.

Spicy and tasty Paneer Mutter curry without using ground masala is ready. It can be served with fried rice or roti.