It is no secret that I love Indian food. But the fact that I am not made for spicy food does complicate things. This dish is a perfect answer.

There are two heroes in this dish: paneer and the amazing mix of vegetables. Paneer is a hard Indian cheese we will fry in the pan. The vegetables are a mix of mangeout, green beans and petit pois.

The original recipe for ‘matar paneer’ is from the cookbook Fresh India by one of my favourite chefs, Meera Sodha, and as usual I’ve only made small adaptations. Mainly to make the recipe easier. I’ve broken up the instructions into more manageable steps, and used frozen and canned vegetables. Equally tasty but less work.

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Indian-style vegetable mix with paneer

5 minutes preparation + 25 minutes cooking — serves 3 to 4

• 240 grams brown rice
• 300 gram paneer
• 6 cloves of garlic
• 2 cans good quality peeled tomatoes (drained weight of c. 400 grams)
• 1.25 teaspoon salt
• 0.5 teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/3 teaspoon turmeric (optioneel)
• 200 grams frozen green beans
• 200 grams frozen petit pois
• 200 grams mangetout
• Oil

1. Cut the paneer into small blocks of 1.5cm.
2. Peel and grate the garlic.
3. Drain the cans of peeled tomatoes.
4. Wash the rice.
5. Boil 2 liters of water in a kettle.

6. Cook the rice for c. 19 minutes in a pot with half of the boiled water. Drain and set aside.
7. Bring the green beans and petit pois to a boil with the remaining half of boiled water in a large pot.
8. Once the water of the vegetables comes to a boil, add the mangetout and boil for a further 2 minutes.
9. Drain the vegetables and set aside.
10. While the vegetables are cooking you can heat some oil in a large pan and add the paneer.
11. Fry the paneer for c. 8 minutes on a medium to high heat until golden and crisp. Turn regularly.
12. Remove the paneer from the pan and set aside on a plate lined with kitchen paper to soak up excess moist and oil.
13. Add a bit of extra oil to the pan and fry the garlic for about a minute.
14. Add the drained peeled tomatoes and crush with a spatula into smaller pieces.
15. Fry the tomatoes with the garlic for about 4 minutes until most water has evaporated.
16. Add all spices to the tomatoes and heat through for another minute.
17. Add the paneer to the tomatoes, mix through and cook for another 4 minutes to reheat the paneer.
18. Add the vegetables to the paneer and heat through for another 2 minutes until everything is reheated.

19. Serve the rice with the paneer and vegetables.

Enjoy your meal!

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Did you like this?

Leave a comment below if you made this recipe, and let me know what you think. Tips and feedback to improve the recipe are always welcome too!