Cheese with butter & Vegetables {Paneer Makhanwala}

 

“An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind” – Mahatma Gandhi.  I remember learning this quotation when we had to study about Gandhi in school.  Like everything else we learn, it stays somewhere back of your mind and reappears again in the most unexpected of circumstances.

Today I was reading the papers and came across this case in Iran where in 2004 a young boy blinded a girl by throwing acid on her face and disfiguring and blinding her.  After several hearings and trial, the courts decided that the lady could:

(a)    Forgive him

(b)   Retribution

The lady chose retribution – to blind and disfigure the perpetrator with acid.  She decided – an eye for an eye – literally.  The case has received international attention as many human rights organizations oppose this judgement.  What would you have done were you to be in the woman’s place had you only two options to choose from?  You would need an awfully large and kind heart to forgive or a really strong and cold heart to choose retribution. In the coming days we will see how Iran responds to this international and internal pressure and attention this case has drawn.  But I think the world would be better off having one less blind person in the world. 

As mentioned in my previous posts on paneer, it is a type of fresh cheese that is vegetarian based, i.e. lemon is used as the coagulation agent.  Hence this cheese is perfect for those vegetarians and vegans who would like to include cheese in their diet.

Preparation Time: 30 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

2 cups boiled beans, peas and carrots

75 grams paneer cubes

1 tablespoon clarified butter

1 tomato, finely chopped

1 medium sized onion, finely chopped

¼ teaspoon ginger paste

¼ teaspoon garlic paste

2 tablespoon tomato purée

¼ teaspoon red chilli powder

¼ teaspoon garam masala

2 teaspoon sugar

1 ½ teaspoon all purpose flour

2 tablespoon milk

¾ cup fresh cream

1 cup water

Salt to taste

Method:

1. Heat butter in a thick bottomed vessel.  
2. When hot, add the onions and fry till light brown.  
3. Add the tomatoes and fry for 4 minutes on a medium flame.  
4. Add the ginger-garlic paste, tomato purée, garam masala, red chilli powder and fry for a couple of minutes more.  
5. Add the boiled vegetables along with the paneer cubes, water and sugar and stir for another minute.  
6. Mix the milk and flour separately and add to the above gravy along with the fresh cream.  
7. Cook for 5 minutes until the gravy is thick.  
8. Add salt to taste and stir.  Serve hot with rotis, naan or rice.