Methi Matar Malai

Hello friends,

Happy Makar Sankranti, Lohri and Pongal to all my readers. Hope you all are enjoying winter chills and hot delicious home cooked food. Do so as the winter won't last for a long time.
Today I am making yet another winter special dish -  non spicy yet interesting dish with addictive flavours. Any guesses?

With greens available in abundance in this season,  I decided to stir up Methi Matar Malai. Methi Matar Malai is a north indian dish which is not so spicy unlike most north indian dishes.

The whitish green color, comes from cashew, milk and Methi leaves. The creamy texture and the subtle flavours makes it an enjoyable dish. I substituted cashews to make it more healthy and lessen the calories.
My Methi Matar Malai recipe is fairly simple to make and tasted some what like what you get in the restaurants. The sweet taste of milk, cream and peas and bitter spicy taste of Methi is a winning combination.

Ingredients

1 cups Green Peas
1 bunch of  chopped Fenugreek leaves (methi bhaji)
2 Green Cardamom (elaichi)
1-inch piece of Cinnamon ( Dalchini)
1 medium Onion, chopped
1 tsp ginger - garlic paste
1 Green Chilli
2  tbsp Fresh Cream
1/2 cup Milk

1/2 tsp Garam Masala
1/2 cup Water
Salt to taste
1 tbsp cooking  Oil

Method 

1.Clean the methi leaves from their stem, wash it  thoroughly in running water. Squeeze and chop them roughly. Now set it aside. 

2. Boil the peas and then transfer then in cold water to retain green colour.  

3. Heat 1 tbsp cooking oil in a deep bottom pan.

4.  Once the oil is hot, add cumin seeds and wait till the seeds crackle.

5. Then add onions, green chilli, cardamom,  cinnamon, ginger/ garlic paste. Stir and let the rawness of onion go and saute for two minutes more. 

6. Let the pan cool down a bit. Then transfer the entire mixture into a mixer. Add a little water if need be and grind into a smooth paste. 

7. In the same pan, saute the mixture for few minutes. Now add the milk and give it a good mix. 

8. Once it comes to a little boil, add the chopped methi leaves and mix.

9. Add boiled peas after two minutes and keep stirring. 

10. Add garam masala, salt and cream and mix well.  Cover and let it simmer on medium-low flame for 4-5 minutes.

11. Once the methi leaves cook and gravy is slightly thickened, switch off the gas and let it cool. The dish will thicken further. 

12. Serve it with hot parathas/ rotis, salad and a dollop of homemade butter.

I made a batch of methi rotis along with Methi Matar Malai.  

Double dose of Methi, double the of flavoursome food.

Check out my previous Methi Matar Masala recipe 

Happy Cooking!!