Methi Malai Matar Paneer Recipe – Traditional Indian Paneer Dish

We survived the first back-to-school week and we are onto the second week of school today! As I am typing this, I am trying hard to sit up and it’s about 8.15 am in the morning. One of my happy days as I am working from home today and the husband was kind enough to drop G to school. I was groggy and irritated waking up today and went through the motions of serving breakfast {a bowl of cereal} and packing lunch for G like a zombie. As soon as I was done, I took another little nap on the couch.

I gave G a very basic lunch of cheese quesadillas, yogurt, and a cereal bar. That’s all I could manage today and somehow I was remembering Ma (mom) and the countless years she was up with the lark and had a four-course meal of piping hot fish stew, lentils, curries etc ready for us to have before we were packed off for the day. {Yes, if you’re wondering, I grew up having rice and fish curry for breakfast on most school days.} And how can I forget the healthy homemade lunch boxes too.

My mom never had any domestic help and she did every single thing by herself, be it the general upkeep of the house or stitching the most ornate cushion covers, curtains or knitting our cozy woolens or cooking for and entertaining big groups of people or managing the biggest baby of us all, my dad. She had special Honors in Math, so also taught us Math until High School. She did it all.

Methi Malai Matar Paneer Recipe

This routine went on till probably I got married. I am the younger of her two children. But with baba (dad) having passed a few years before my marriage, once I moved out, she suddenly felt that the pace she had before was no longer needed. There’s no one she needed to wake up with a cup of tea or milk, she had no one going out of the house by 8.30 am in the morning, she had no reason to spring and pounce around the clock.

Things started slowing down. For a few years after we sisters were married and the grandchildren were little, she still kept herself busy around them. My sister used to live close and she would drop off her kids at my mom’s almost every week. They were the light of her eyes and she would wait for them to come. Gradually, they grew bigger and busier. Today my mom is 70 and has practically nothing important to do. For a lady who has always been on top of things all her life, never wasting a minute and teaching us the value of time at every given opportunity, her life is heartbreakingly slow today.

I generally call my mom on my way to work as I drive a good one-hour to work. And that too, about 3-4 times a week. I multitask and that is the hour I dedicate to hearing about the very minutest things going on in her life. And most of the times there’s hardly anything new. It would be at the most a phone call from a distant relative she would talk about, or someone known passing away, or someone who actually have been considerate and kind to her while she went out for groceries or at the bank.

She never fails to mention anyone who has been kind to her and actually took the time to listen to her. And once she is done, she waits to hear about my busy life, a life where I barely have time to eat right or sleep right. I am doing it all too. I work full time, I tend to the household chores, I manage G’s schedule, which is so full that it can give a busy executive a run for their money, I have my hobbies and interests which I actively pursue and then I too manage the biggest baby around, G’s dad and is a party to all his ambitious plans and projects (like a complete demolition and reconstruction of our house from scratch) 🙂

I enjoy being busy, I enjoy being confident and being in control, I enjoy the feeling of contributing to the family income; I enjoy having the ability to be available for each and every need of my family. G needs me at every single step of her life now. And I love that! But then somewhere, a thought or two does creep in about the sunset years. What would I do when G leaves for college, the famed, “empty nest”, how would I cope with that? All my morning frenzy that I so despise, what would I do without that?

But I guess that’s the inevitable cycle of life. As Sam says, live for yourself, find things that bring joy and seek comfort in the fact that you have done your best when you most needed to and no matter what. And that is reassuring, and in a way, Ma too never complains. She depends on me for every little thing now, mostly advice wise, counsel wise. And she knows that I am by her side no matter what. She knows she has done her job well of raising me to be someone who she can count on today. And probably, that is the most beautiful thing about the cycle of life.

And here’s a paneer recipe, which has seen many happy dinners. Ma was here last year and I have cooked this recipe many times and she loves it. This is a Methi Malai Matar Paneer Recipe but instead of Malai, I have used Coconut Cream.

Along with Methi Malai Matar Paneer Recipe, You may also like these recipes:

• Paneer and Mirchi Ka Salan
• Malai Paneer with Onion Kulcha
• Paneer and Peas Stuffed Honeycomb Buns 

Methi Malai Matar Paneer

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• Author: Somdatta
• Prep Time: 10
• Total Time: 30

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Description

A delicious concoction that is a perfect balance between the bitterness of fenugreek (methi) and the sweet and creaminess of coconut milk.

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Ingredients

• Ingredients
• Paneer (Unaged Cottage Cheese) – 250 grams, cut into small pieces
• Peas (Matar) – ¾ cup
• Coconut Cream – ½ cup (If you’re using ¾ cup, use coconut milk)
• Yogurt – ¼ cup
• Onion – ½ cup, minced
• Garlic – 2 cloves, minced
• Ginger – 1 inch, minced
• Vegetable Oil – 2 tbsp
• Methi (Fenugreek) Leaves – 2 cups, chopped finely
• Salt – To Taste
• Sugar – To Taste
• Ghee – 1 tbsp
• Whole Cumin Seeds – 1 tsp
• Bay leaves – 1
• Coriander Powder – 1 tbsp
• Cumin Powder – 1 tbsp
• Kashmiri Red Chili Powder – 1 tsp
• Gararm Masala – 1 tsp
• Kasuri methi – 2 tsp
• Tomato Paste – 1 tbsp

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Instructions

1. Heat the wok and pour in the vegetable oil.
2. Add a tsp of sugar and let it caramelize.
3. Add the whole cumin seeds, bay leaves and let the cumin splutter, Add garlic, stir for a minute and add in the onion and the ginger. Fry the mixture for about 3-4 minutes until the onion looks translucent.
4. Add salt to taste.
5. Throw in the tomato paste and yogurt and fry well. At this stage throw in peas, thawed if using frozen.
6. In ½ cup water, throw in the cumin. Coriander, and red chili powder. Mix well.
7. Add this paste to the contents of the wok. Mix well.
8. Add the methi leaves. Cook for 3-4 minutes.
9. Add the coconut cream and mix it in. Depending on how much gravy you want, add a little water if required. If you add water, cook for an additional couple of minutes.
10. Throw in the paneer and mix it in.
11. Add ghee, garam masala and kasuri methi and mix.
12. Check for salt and sugar and add if required.
13. Serve hot alongside roti, paratha or rice.

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Nutrition

• Serving Size: 6
• Calories: 104
• Sugar: 5
• Sodium: 56
• Fat: 6
• Saturated Fat: 1
• Unsaturated Fat: 5
• Trans Fat: 0
• Carbohydrates: 10
• Protein: 3
• Cholesterol: 5

Keywords: Methi Malai Matar Paneer Recipe