Spicy Fried Potato Curry with Paneer Cheese and Peas Aloo Muttar Paneer
Aloo muttar paneer is a Bangladeshi dish made up of potatoes, paneer and peas. The spicy vegetarian curry embraces cumin, garlic and green cayenne chillies.
Introduction
When I was watching the three chefs, resplendent in their chef’s whites, cook the beef shatkora on page 266 of my book, I was intrigued to see they were cooking a couple of other dishes at the same time. This made filming a little tricky as we weren’t sure whether the potatoes, peas and paneer were going into the shatkora or not, and we were at a linguistic disadvantage too. But it eventually became clear this was a separate dish, being cooked for some customers in the restaurant, and a very good one too. I was surprised that they stirred some ghee in at the end, but then dairy produce is an important part of the Bangladeshi repertoire. I ordered one when I had dinner in the restaurant that evening and found it delicious.
Ingredients
| 4 tbsp | vegetable oil |
| 250g | peeled small waxy potatoes, such as Charlotte, halved lengthways and cut into 1cm-thick slices |
| 250g | paneer, cut into pieces 1cm x 2cm |
| 12 | curry leaves |
| 1 tsp | cumin seeds |
| 100g | onions, chopped |
| 15g | garlic, crushed |
| 25g | peeled ginger, finely grated |
| ½ tsp | turmeric powder |
| 3 | green cayenne chillies, slit open lengthways |
| 250g | vine-ripened tomatoes, chopped |
| ½ tsp | garam masala |
| 175g | peas, fresh or frozen |
| 15g | ghee |
Method
Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a wide shallow frying pan over a medium heat. Add the potato pieces and fry them for 6-8 minutes, turning them every now and then until they are golden brown all over. Using a slotted spoon, lift out onto a plate. Add another tablespoon of oil and the paneer and fry for 3-4 minutes until these too are golden all over. Set aside with the potatoes.
Add another tablespoon of oil to the pan, add the curry leaves and cumin seeds and allow them to sizzle for a few seconds. Add the onions, garlic and ginger and fry gently for 5 minutes until the onions are soft and just beginning to brown. Add the turmeric, chillies and chopped tomatoes and fry until the tomatoes have broken down to form a sauce.
Add the potatoes, 100ml water and 1 teaspoon salt, cover and simmer for 5 minutes until the potatoes are tender and the liquid has reduced to a thickish sauce. Add the pieces of fried paneer, garam masala and peas, and simmer for 2 minutes or until the peas are just tender. Stir in the ghee and serve.
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