Mughlai Matar Paneer – A Royal Indian Recipe

The Royal Mughlai Cuisine – A cuisine which traces it’s history centuries back.

Between 1626 and 1712 the Mughal emperors, Turks by origin but with Mongol, Persian and Hindu blood in their veins, ruled the greater parts of the Indian subcontinent. The Mughals came from Central Asia, which was the cultural cauldron of three classical civilizations of the world, India, China and Greece. Cities like Bukhara, Samarqand and Heart were great centres of wealth and sophistication. The Mughals, who had an overwhelming impact on literature, music, painting and architecture, also revolutionized the culinary arts. It is a well- established fact that the Mughal emperors influenced both style and substance of Indian food. They turned simple Indian cooking into an art and patronized the art with passion. Their hospitality remains legendary.
[ Source: ihmkolkata.blogspot.in]

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Mughlai food offers an amazingly delicious variety of food ranging from hot spicy shorba or soup to ginger based roasted meats to spicy vegetarian recipes to kulfi with rose petals sprinkled on it. Even, the names of the Mughlai food are so attractive that a person gets tempted to try out different dishes.One of the most unique feature of Mughlai Cuisine is addition of lot of dry fruits like Cashews, Almonds, Magaz etc along with dairy products like curd, milk and cream. This time our 67th Foodie Monday Bloghop theme is Mughlai Cuisine for which I decided to come up with my signature recipe of Mughlai Matar Paneer.

Prepared with the generous use of spices, dry fruits and milk, this Mughai Matar Paneer tastes best with Fragrant Rice, Garlic Naan or Tandoori Roti.

Let’s have a look at the recipe.

Serves 4

Preparation time: 30 mins

Cooking time: 30 mins

Ingredients

• 250 gms Fresh Paneer
• 100 gms Fresh / Frozen Peas
• 8-10 Cashews
• 2 Tbsp Magaz seeds ( Melon seeds)
• 1 cup Milk + 1/2 cup Milk
• 2 medium sized onions
• 2 Tomatoes
• 2 knots Garlic
• 1 inch Ginger
• 2 tsp Garam Masala
• 2 tsp Kashmiri Mirch Powder
• 1 tsp Haldi / Turmeric Powder
• 2 green cardamons
• 4 cloves
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 tsp Cumin seeds
• Salt as per taste
• 2 cups Water
• 2 tbsp Ghee

Method

• Soak cashews and Melon seeds in the milk for 20 mins. Churn it into a fine paste.Boil tomatoes, onions, garlic and ginger for 10 mins. Drain out the water and grind it into a smooth paste.
• Heat Ghee in a Kadhai.
• Add cloves, bay leaf, green cardamon.
• Add cumin seeds and once done, add Cashew paste. Add spices.
• Fry well for a minute and add Tomato-Onion paste. Fry well till the time oil seperates. Once it is fried, add 2 cups of water.
• Add salt and let it boil on high for 5 mins. (Till this time, you will see a yellowish white thin gravy).
• Now, add paneer and matar. Add salt.
• Cover the lid of the Kadhai.
• Let is simmer for 15 mins on low flame.
• After 15 mins, the gravy will be settled with beautiful colors and delicious aroma.:)

 

Wait, you will see a beautiful red colored ghee seperated and floating on top. Don’t worry… Sometime little calories do not matter… 😀 After all, the royal delicacies will obviously be without any clauses. Right?

 

It’s heavy and it’s greasy but trust me, the flavors will leave you AWESTRUCK and the ease with which it is prepared will surely make you cook it atleast once in a month. 🙂

 

 

Serve it hot with Chapatis and Rice.

P.S – You can serve with Naan as well but do not forget to eat Hajmola after that. 😀

Connect with me on my Facebook food group – From The Diaries Of Great Cooks!

This recipe I am submitting at Angies Fiesta Friday party of this week, wherein my co-hosts are  Antonia @ Zoale and Petra @ Food Eat Love

Bon appetit! 🙂