Receta Cottage Cheese in Exotic Curry – Paneer Jalfrezi, Bringing Back the Nostalgia
Certain food brings back the memories associated with it, the person who cooked it, the people we ate with, and the occasion it was cooked for. When Alicia Cowan of My Dish contacted me to write about food which makes me nostalgic, it took me a while to zero down to just one recipe! Oh yes..this Cottage cheese in exotic gravy mom prepared for almost all the parties we used to host at home is a nostalgic recipe. Though not for the flavors and the recipe itself but for the fun & frolic we had during those parties with friends. And mom was quite famous for this Paneer Jalfrzi with her hot Kulchas.Even now whenever (read rarely) I cook this recipe I make sure to call at least one childhood friend to talk about those wonderful childhood days of yesteryear.
Good chance for me as well to try out this recipe and relive the nostalgia once again through My Dish, who is hosting a competition which is all about the food that makes you nostalgic.for a chance to win £ 100 M&S vouchers. So go ahead and share your recipes here, who knows you might win this surprise Christmas gift.
And now coming back to the recipe, Paneer Jalfrezi is an exotic Indian curry with wonderful flavors of various aromatic spices and rich nutty gravy, paired with Kulchas – Indian flat breads it is a royal treat. There are two ways a Jalfrezi recipe could be prepared one is stir fry and the other is gravy style. I cooked the same gravy version my mom used to cook for our parties with coconut and cashew paste and paired it with Kulcha, a delightful Indian flat breads.
Read the recipe at your own risk since it has more calories than Lite Bite can digest!
A few ingredients to go in inthe recipe..
Ingredients;
(serve 2)
Ground to paste
- 1 large onion
- 2 large tomato/1 cup tomato puree
- 2 tbsp. grated coconut
- 8-10 cashew nuts
- 1 small green chilli
- 1 inch ginger
- Spices;
- 2 cardamon pods
- 2 cloves
- 1 tsp. red chili powder
- 1/4 tsp. turmeric powder
- 1 tsp. coriander powder
- Garnish;
- Shredded fresh coriander leaves
- 4-5 strands of saffron (optional)
- 2 tbsp. cream (optional)
Pair it with Indian flat breads.
Method; Peel and chop onion. Slice tomato and onion and grind it along with rest of the ingredients (ground to paste). Slice the cottage cheese into small pieces.
Heat oil in a kadai/wok and crackle cumin seeds add cardamom pods & clove followed by the ground paste. Add all the spices mentioned. Saute’ well till for about 7-8 minutes till the raw smell of the ground paste disappear and the oil starts floating over the masala.
You can fry the cottage cheese cubes into the oil before making the gravy or just use them as it is.
Look at the rich gravy..Mmm..
Boil 1 cup of water or more if you require more gravy. Pour the boiled water into the cooked gravy and simmer well for another 5 minutes.
A delight in every bite!
Serve the exotic Cottage cheese in nutty gravy – Paneer Jalfrezi with Indian flat breads, try these Kulchas I paired with this recipe here.
Notes;
I used tomato paste in the recipe, since I had an open packet of the same in my refrigerator.
You can avoid coconut and cashew altogether and still get a rich gravy for the recipe.
Slightly deep fry the Cottage cheese cubes for much better texture ad taste.
Add fresh green peas instead of sweet corn for much better color contrast in the dish.
Use Tofu in place of cottage cheese for much healthier option.
Yes, I got my credits when hubby ashed me, “Did you get it from somewhere“, as I rarely cook such rich and heavy dishes on normal days. Recreate the magic of a restaurant at your home, make your weekends special and surprise your guests with this delightful recipe.