Paneer & Pea Curry

There are very few foods I could image living the rest of my life off of. The exclusive list would consist guacamole, sushi, pizza, cheese and paneer.

Being a type of cheese, paneer doesn't need its own category, but I love it so much that I give it one. Especially when it comes to South Asian cuisine. Paneer could compel me to become a vegetarian (but there's always sushi to pull me right back).

This paneer and pea dish is both easy and a lot of work. It's preparation and composition is very simple and easy, but the recipe calls for fresh homemade paneer--you just can't get away with the slab of grocery store paneer.

That being said, making homemade paneer is time consuming but isn't really difficult.

INGREDIENTS

Home Made Paneer, made from 1 gallon milk

Peas, 3/4 cup peas

1 inch ginger, grated

green chili, 3-4 pieces

1 whole tomato, chopped

1 large onion, chopped

4-5 cashews (optional), grounded

1 teaspoon garam masala

1/2 stick butter

salt, to taste

1/4 teaspoon turmeric

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

2 tablespoons heavy cream

DIRECTIONS

1. In a skillet, add a little bit of oil and melt the half stick of butter.

2. When the butter is melted--not browned--add the chopped onion and green chills. Fry until the onion is light brown.

3. Add grated ginger. Fry for 3-4 minutes.

4. Add chopped tomato and fry for 5-6 minutes.

5. Add peas and cook for 5-6 minutes, or until the peas are half cooked.

6. Add the scrambled homemade paneer. Add turmeric, salt and chili powder. Cook well until all the ingredients are mixed.

7. Add the ground cashew (optional). Mix well.

8. Add heavy cream, mix well. Add garam masala. Mix well.