This one of my all time favourite Indian dishes - having first experienced it in London 30 years ago.
The recipe comes from an Indian friend, although I have slightly adapted the recipe to include cardamon, a cinnamon stick and coriander. Cardamon has such an amazing flavour, I love to include it whenever I can!
2-3 tablespoons of vegetable oil
1 large white onion
3 teaspoons of fresh ginger
3 teaspoons of garlic
1 teaspoon of turmeric
2 teaspoons of garam masala
1 teaspoon of ground coriander
4 cardamon pods
1 cinnamon stick
1 fat green chilli (or chill to taste)
200g (½ tin) of chopped tomatoes
1 teaspoon of salt
225g (1 pack) paneer
Handful of frozen peas
1 tablespoon of fresh coriander
- Peel and dice the onion.
- Peel and grate the garlic and ginger.
- Bash the cardamon pods in a pestle and mortar.
- Heat the vegetable oil in a pan over a low to medium heat.
- Sauté the onion until it becomes translucent.
- Add the garlic, ginger, dry spices and salt. Fry for 1-2 minutes, being careful not to burn the spices.
- Add the tomatoes and stir to combine with the onion and spice mix. Reduce the heat and cook until the oil starts to separate from the tomatoes - this usually takes about 10 minutes.
- Whilst the base sauce is cooking, place the paneer in a heat-proof dish and cover with boiling water. Soak for 5 minutes.
- Drain the paneer, then cut it into 1-2cm cubes.
- At this point, the sauce will be quite thick, so add water until you get the desired consistency.
- Now add the diced paneer and a handful of frozen peas to the sauce and cook, covered, for a further 15 minutes.
- Just before serving, stir in the chopped coriander leaves.