One Local SummerJune 1, 2008 5:40 am
One Local Summer: Matar Paneer
This week’s dish for 
is matar paneer. I used this recipe, but I didn’t follow the directions. I fried the garlic stems, onions then added tomatoes then the spices. Then water and finally the peas. When the peas were cooking, I fried the paneer and then added it to the dish. The cilantro is from my cilantro plant. I also added some mushrooms because they were being neglected and I didn’t want them to go bad.
I used butter to do all the frying so except for the spices and the lemon juice used to make paneer the dish is 100% local. I served it with brown rice that I bought last week which is not local.
Yum, that looks delicious! I need to learn how to make paneer.
Comment by Working Rachel — June 1, 2008 @ 11:52 am
Thanks! Its quite easy: Boil milk and add lemon juice. The milk curdles and the contents are strained using a cheesecloth. The cheese is then fried and added to whatever dish you want it added to.
Comment by Beany — June 1, 2008 @ 12:09 pm
Okay, I’m with Arduous. I’ll hire you if you ever do an organic food delivery business. Man, that looks go-od!
BTW, So glad you’re doing the One Local Summer thing so I can steal your recipe ideas.
Comment by Green Bean — June 1, 2008 @ 12:41 pm
That looks so yummy!
Comment by Heather @ SGF — June 1, 2008 @ 5:26 pm
wow…I’ve made this before and it’s never looked that good! You’ve inspired me to try again!
Does the curdling thing happen right away with the lemon juice? How much lemon juice to milk ratio do you use? I’ve always just taken ricotta cheese, spread in a casserole dish and baked for about 40 min. if I can’t get paneer…works in a pinch, but it’s not quite the same.
Comment by melissa — June 2, 2008 @ 3:23 am
Thank you!
I add the lemon juice as the milk is starting to boil and it curdles immediately. I haven’t measured my ratios. I use a “pour and see” method while stirring the milk. A blog here mentions 2 tbsp of lemon juice for every half gallon of milk. And that sounds about right.
I’ve never used ricotta because it just tastes different.
Comment by Beany — June 2, 2008 @ 5:52 am