Paneer Hariyali (Green Paneer)

Green from the peas, mint, cilantro, and chilies, this makes a really flavourful and pleasantly easy dish to round out a meal. It could be the protein component of a vegetarian dinner. I ended up serving it as an accompaniment alongside gosht poshto and elambuchambu shaadum. It definitely held its own against the lamb and I'd be hard-pressed to say which was my favourite. Definitely a recipe worth hanging on to!

This recipe worked out particularly well since I had a bunch of expired whole milk that needed to be used up. (It wasn't bad, it was just past its "best before" and I wanted to use it up quickly before it actually spoiled.) I figured that a direct-acidified cheese like paneer was a shoe-in for the job of using up a large quantity of old milk. And picking a recipe that specifically called for crumbled paneer meant that I didn't have to worry about pressing it; I just drained the curds and left them in a container in the fridge until I was ready to make the curry. Very convenient!

Paneer Hariyali

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. ghee
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 tsp. cumin seeds, cracked
• 2 c. frozen green peas
• 225g paneer, crumbled
• 1/2 c. chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/4 c. chopped fresh mint
• 3/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. Punjabi garam masala
• 2-6 fresh green Thai chilies, minced
• 1 c. water

Directions

1. Heat ghee over medium-high heat.
2. Add onion and cracked cumin and cook until onion is transluscent (2-3 minutes).
3. Add the peas (it's fine if they're still frozen), cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender (~5 minutes).
4. Add paneer, cilantro, mint, salt, garam masala, chilies, and water and bring to a boil.
5. Serve with rice or flatbread of choice. (Iyer suggests rotis.)