Methi Matar Malai

I feel everyone of us has a go – to dish which we tend to make when we can’t think of anything else. My next recipe is one of my favorite dish and a recipe I swear by when I want to have something rich and indulgent. We make it mostly on Sundays as the recipe calls for minimum pre – preparation & ingredients and also gives you that feeling of making something special for your family.

So here is my recipe of Methi Matar Malai which calls out for three prime and basic ingredients along with regular seasoning and cooking process. I generally have it with roti or rice but it tastes really well with garlic naan. I am so fond of Methi Matar Malai gravy that I even got this wild idea of cooking it with Pasta. What do you think about it? Would you like me to post a recipe with that combination? – Imagine, Royal Pasta or Mughlai Pasta! Sounds interesting 🙂

I have taken a shortcut approach to make the gravy as I said it’s my go to recipe on Sunday morning and therefore a quick and simple approach. But let me assure you that the dish turns out great! So here is the recipe.

Difficulty Level: Medium

Serves: 3

Ingredients

• 1 cup Fresh fenugreek leaves (Methi)
• 1 cup boiled green peas
• 2 medium sized onion
• 5 – 6 cloves of garlic
• 2 – 3 slit green chillies
• 1 inch cinnamon
• 2 -3 black peppercorns
• 2 cardamom
• 2/3rd cup of cashews and melon seeds (magajtari)
• 1 inch piece of ginger
• 2 – 3 tbsp fresh cream/ malai
• salt to taste
• sugar
• oil / ghee
• Milk (optional)

Procedure

1. Soak cashews and melon seeds for 15-20 mins in hot water/ milk*
2. Heat oil in a pan and add cinnamon, peppercorns and cardamon. The spices needs to be added immediately so that the flavours are well absorbed into the oil.
3. Once the oil heats up, add in diced onions, ginger and garlic. Saute till they turn soft.
4. Blend this into a paste along with the soaked cashews and melon seeds.
5. Reheat the pan and add some oil and ghee. Pour in the cashew – onion paste and saute. The paste tends to stick to the bottom due to cashews so stir in continuously.
6. Once the oil separates from the gravy, add fenugreek leaves(methi) and let it cook for at least 3-4 mins.
7. Add boiled green peas & water as per your desired consistency.
8. Season it with salt, little sugar and the slitted green chillies.
9. Let the gravy simmer for 5-6 mins.
10. Top it up with fresh cream or malai. Let it cook until the flavours are well integrated.
11. Serve hot with roti, naan or rice.

Note:
*Milk gives a very nice texture to the gravy but you can replace it with water

You can even add some garam masala in the last stage as per your preference.

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