Paneer Mattar & OLTE’s 1st Blogiversary

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Today marks one year since the creation of OneLifeToEat the Blog. It’s hard to put into words what has really happened through this blog for me, the past year. Starting OLTE was to fuel a personal passion for food, and it was high time I came on the other side of the table – the kitchen – to try it out for myself. People say, you should start a food blog when you have great recipes to share. For me, it was the other way around. I am far better a cook than I was a year ago (my husband’s honest opinion), I appreciate the process of food preparation much more (sorry, mom for all those tantrums about food!) and most importantly, I’ve met some truly wonderful food bloggers who I have learned so much from.

OLTE has also helped me grow as a Marketing professional. A side-effect of actively managing this blog is my continuing self-education about Social Media, Blog management and Content development. I’ve even had a shot at my first Guest post earlier this week. I finally believe Matt Cheuvront about the One Thing that will completely change your life that he spoke of in a vlog earlier this year on his inspiring blog. I strongly suggest you read his blog if you plan to start your own, have one, or have been procrastinating on starting a blog for much too long a time.

It’s been one amazing year and look forward to so many more.

Back to food now!

Paneer Mattar, which literally means Cottage Cheese and green peas, is a light, fragrant curry that is popular in North India. As is with all cooking, variations to this dish include different preparation methods. My recipe is part of the the Curry series on OneLifeToEat and is prepared with the same curry base, but with different ratios of ingredients. Since the Cottage cheese doesn’t need to be ‘cooked’ this dish literally takes just 30 mins to prepare! Serves 2.

Paneer Mattar

You will need:

• 1 large onion, roughly chopped
• 2-3 medium sized tomatoes, roughly chopped
• 3tbsp vegetable oil + 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp Ginger-Garlic paste (50:50 ratio)
• 400gms of Indian style Cottage Cheese – cubed into 1 inch pieces (you will get it frozen in the Indian grocery store. Thaw it for a few hours before use)

Block of Paneer

• 3/4 cup thawed and cooked green peas
• 1tsp chili powder
• 1tbsp Dhania-Zeera powder
• 1/2tsp turmeric powder
• 1/2tsp Garam Masala powder
• Salt to taste
• Lemon juice for garnishing

Method:

• Heat 3 tbsp vegetable oil in a broad frying pan and fry the onions till they are light brown
• Then fry the tomatoes till they are soft and mushy
• Grind this mixture to a paste with about 1/2 cup water
• In the same pan, heat 1tbs oil and fry the Bay leaves + cumin seeds in it
• Once the cumin seeds start to crackle, add in the Ginger & garlic paste. Fry for 30 seconds
• Now add the blended curry paste, and all the dry spices and salt
• Mix well and allow to fry for about 2 minutes or till the oil separates from the sides of the pan
• Add in about 1/4 cup water again and add the Paneer and the cooked green peas
• Mix well, garnish with lemon juice and chopped Cilantro
• Enjoy with Parathas or Rotis