Mutter panner

My father job took us to various parts of India! One such place was Punjab that too at a time when angels feared to tread there..But our stay there was pretty good. The best part about Amritsar (thats where we lived) was the food and the Darbar Sahiba (commonly known as The Golden Temple) I was still in my high school but that did not dampen me to learn punjabi dishes from our matronly land lady. In fact the first dish i ever learned to make was Palak panner...And i have always fallen in love with punjabi food. For me it is the comfort food along with the normal south karnataka food that i later picked up...

Here is a version of mutter panner thats so widely consumed in the north and that too with relish! i love it too.. In fact i had mutter panner twice this day..like always i m gonna eat till i finish it!

Ingredients

Peas 1 cup

Panner 150 grams

Onion 1 medium

Tomato paste 1 table spoon

Garlic 4 small cloves

Ginger 1/2 "

Cloves 4

Jeera 1 teaspoon

Cinnamon a small piece

Chilly pwder 1/2 tablespoon

Corriander powder 1/2 tablespoon

Turmeric 1/2 teaspoon

Garam masala 1/2 tablespoon

Oil 3 tablespoon

Butter 3 tablespoon

Corriander (Cilantro) chopped

Salt to taste

Grind onion, garlic, ginger, clove and cinnamon into a smooth paste. Heat oil in a pan and drop the jeera. Mix in the ground onion etc into it and fry till fragrant. Stir in the chilly powder, corriander powder and turmeric and cook till the rawness of the spices is gone.Throw in the Tomato Paste.

Heat oil in another pan when hot drop the Panner cubes(i prefer smaller cubes 2cm*2cm*2cm)

sear the Panner on all sides and cool.

Now add the peas into the masala and a little water if the masala paste is too thick. Cook for 5 minutes. Mix the panner and cook covered for 5-10 minutes more. Stir occassionally but be very gentle as to not to break the panner. Finally drop the butter and fresh corriander and serve hot with Chapatis and pooris.