A few weeks ago when my sister and her kids were here, we got a lot of full fat milk at home for the children and as a result there was a lot of fresh malai (cream) from that milk. When it’s just me and Sikander we only get the 0.2% milk so there is no chance of any malai. But this time when I had this big bowl of fresh home cream, I thought I have to make something which uses malai as the primary ingredient. And then last month I had also preserved 3 kgs of peas so we had home-frozen peas and homemade malai and so the only dish that came to my mind was methi-malai-matar!
So the only missing ingredient was a bunch of methi leaves, which my vegetable grocer promptly brought home when I called him! I looked up a few recipes on the net to get a general idea of the recipe and then made it as I felt right. I was so creamy & tasty and melt-in-your-mouth! 🙂
One more thing before I start the recipe.
I know the picture of methi malai matar is not very appetizing. Methi malai matar will always look like it does in the picture and it tastes heavenly; so soft so creamy but then you can’t bring that out in the picture. These are the times when I wish I had some food photography tips – like sometimes when the dish is not so good looking, people sometimes click them with a lot of food props so the focus is divided and we get a nice picture. So until next time, this picture will do good:).
Methi Malai Matar
Preparation: 10 mins| Cooking: 15 mins| Serves 4
1 bunch fenugreek (methi) leaves, roughly chopped
1 cup green peas, boiled
1 large onion, chopped
4-5 cashew nuts, powdered
½ inch ginger, chopped
3-4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 tsp red chilli powder
½ tsp dry mango powder
½ tsp cumin seeds
A pinch of asafoetida
1 tsp green cardamom
1 tsp cinnamon powder (dalchini)
1 tsp sugar
Salt to taste
2 tbsp Olive oil
- Wash methi leaves under running water (multiple times as leafy vegetables often have mud stuck)
- Roughly chop the methi leaves and blanch in boiling water. Drain and wash again with cold water. Keep aside.
- Beat the cream in a bowl and keep aside.
- Heat oil in a non-stick pan. Add asafoetida and cumin seeds.
- When the seeds crackle, add cashew, cardamom and cinnamon powder. Now add green chillies, ginger, garlic and chopped onions.
- Sauté for a couple of minutes, till the onions turn translucent. Then remove from heat and blend to a paste using a hand blender. (You can also start with onion paste instead of chopped onion, but I prefer this method as it needs less oil this way)
- Return the onion paste on heat. Add red chilli powder, salt and dry mango powder. Mix well and sauté for a minute.
- Add the boiled peas and methi leaves. Mix well and cook on a slow flame for 5 minutes.
- Add cream and sugar. Mix well and cook on low flame for another 5 minutes.
- Serve hot with paranthas.
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