Malai methi matar

I had a packet of frozen methi that wasn’t transforming into anything magical by itself.. and seeing it sit there long enough, meant, well that I had to be making something interesting with it. And the result, one of my favourite Mughalai dishes – Malai Methi Matar. Of course it has one “healthy” substitution for the authentic fatty ingredient. But if you like what you see below, you can read on..

So here’s what you need -

Ingredients	Quantity
1. Methi	A fresh bunch or a frozen pack, thawed (approximately 500g)
2. Green peas	1/2 pack, thawed if frozen or 300g fresh
3. Onion	1 medium, finely chopped
4. Tomato	1 medium, finely chopped
5. Green chilli	2 small, coarsely chopped
6. Malai/Fresh cream	1 cup (I used plain 2% milk)
7. Oil	1 tablespoon
8. Dry spices	1/2 tsp each of coriander powder, jeera powder, garam masala, a pinch of turmeric and salt to taste
9. For tempering	1/2 tsp each of mustard seeds and urad dal

And now?

1. Heat the oil in a skillet. Add the mustard seeds and urad dal, allowing them to sputter.

2. Put in the onions, allow them to cook well at a low flame, whilst tempering the curry with salt and turmeric.

3. Meanwhile, grind together the methi, the tomatoes, the green chilli and salt as per taste.

4. Next add the peas to the onions and give it a good stir. Close the skillet and allow the peas to blend in with the onions for about 2 minutes.

5. Now toss in all your dry spices and stir well.

6. Once the peas get cooked well, add the ground methi mixture. Now close the lid once more and allow it to cook well for at least 5 minutes of medium flame.

7. Once the methi has wilted considerably, bearing evidence to having cooked fully, lower the flame and stir in the milk/fresh cream/malai into the mixture, adding it a little bit at a time.

8. Bring it to a slow boil and turn the gas off.

That’s it.. it goes amazingly well with parathas and rice alike. So, Bon Appétit!

Note: This subji usually has a greenish-white gravy. Adding cream will give you a far smoother and thicker consistency than adding milk (of course it has it’s negative perks as well). Also, it is traditional to grind in some cashews to add to the white gravy. If having the sinfully good taste is your priority, go for these omissions and enjoy this dish the way the Mughals supposedly did. Enjoy!

Aloo Methi

So once you knew there was methi in the fridge, you knew there was aloo methi on the cards. So here it is… And it’s so simple that I am not going to insult anyone here by posting a recipe. If you do want one, just holler.

Until then, bon appetit!

Methi Pulao

I got pretty excited when I spotted methi at the Indian store here in Paris and I picked up more than 1 bunch. So in some of these forthcoming food blogs, you are likely to see methi as the key ingredient. I tried this dish today because as always it’s a quick fix and while it’s cooking, I can do other stuff as well. This is my mom’s recipe but pretty similar to any ‘rice dish’ nonetheless.

Ingredients

1. Veggies: Other than the methi (which has got to be thoroughly washed and finely chopped), toss in whatever you can find in your kitchen. I’ve used carrot, peas, onions, tomatoes and potato as part of my whole at-least-5-veggies-per-portion-of-food theory. You can also use a piece of finely chopped ginger and/or 3-4 cloves of garlic minced.
2. Oil
3. Cooked rice – finely separated. If you get sticky rice often, keep a bit less water and try cooking the rice to get separate grains. The texture of the dish defines it’s taste to a great extent.
3. Seasoning: Mustard seeds, jeera, salt-to-taste
4. For masala (adjust accordingly): Coriander seeds – 1 spoon, jeera – 1 spoon, Cloves –2, Cinnamon – 1” piece, peppercorn –5/6, red chili flakes – 1/8 spoon
5. Garnishing: Washed and chopped coriander leaves.

How

1. For the masala: Dry roast the ingredients mentioned above and grind into powder without adding any water. Set aside.
2. Cook the rice separately.
3. Meanwhile, add oil in a saucepan and toss in the ingredients in the following order- (a) Mustard-jeera seeds (b) Ginger/Garlic (c ) Onions (d) Tomatoes and (e) methi, carrots, potatoes and anything else.
4. Add a glass of water to the mixture, add salt and then close the lid, turn gas to simmer and cook for 10-15 minutes till the water has been absorbed and the veggies all look cooked.
5. Add 2 spoons of the masala and blend it in.
6. Allow to cool for a bit before adding rice to it, bit by bit while mixing it along with the “gravy”. Take care not to break the rice. The easiest way to do this is to add rice to the mixture in small quantities and stirring with slow and deliberate strokes to mix the rice with the vegetables.
There you go.. you’re all done to decorate it with coriander. Serve with raita/chips/both. What the methi does is to add a very subtle yet distinctive flavor to the whole dish making it a ready hit with anyone who eats it. So, what do you have to lose? Bon appetit!