Mattar Paneer (aka cheesy peas) has always been one of my favourite vegetarian curries but it always contains dairy and so hasn't been on our family repertoire.
Every NYE we cook a banquet to eat at home, containing multiple friendly dishes to enjoy, with a theme running through. For the past two years we've cooked an Indian banquet from the Dishoom cookbook. Big S has visited Dishoom a few times and they're really good with dairy-free dishes but we've yet to venture there as a family with multiple allergies to cater for. Whist we love Indian food we've never braved an Indian restaurant as a family meal out destination, the reliance on ghee and the use of nuts has always made us shy away. But, if anyone has any recommendations then let us know as i think we'd love to eat proper restaurant Indian food as a family.
NYE Dishoom Banquet
Anyway, I have chosen the Dishoom cookbook as book 2 for my 25 Cookbooks in 2025. I have to say i'm really taken with this book - not only is is beautifully designed, with gorgeous photos and stories but the recipes are fantastic. You actually get restaurant style Indian food at home - so many recipes on my bookshelf of Indian cookbooks make nice curries but they're essentially home cooking, not the kind of dish you get in a restaurant. On the other hand the dishes in the Dishoomcookbook have a richness and fullness you don't normally get at home. It may just be the extra oil, salt or time taken, but it really does ramp up your dishes to special!
I'd really recommend the bonfire potatoes (easily made dairy-free by using plant butter) and the chole bhature (chickpea curry), and if you eat meat the chicken tikka recipe uses vinegar as a marinade rather than the usual dairy-based yoghurt and is apparently delicious.
But for today, my chosen recipe is my adapted dairy-free version of mattar paneer. I've changed the recipe to make it for four and friendly for a dairy-allergy or vegan diet. I use firm tofu (the extra firm from Tofoo is a really great sub for the paneer - it has exactly the right texture and mild flavour that you'd get from paneer, and i've added Oatly oat fraiche for the creaminess - i feel the slightly sour edge to the creme fraiche nicely cuts through the richness of having a creamy dish.
This dish requires a slow cooked tomato and onion masala as the base. The cookbook recommends making a large amount but i've adjusted it to make just enough for this one dish. By cooking the onions and tomatoes slowly you get the most incredible depth of flavour on which to add the fresher flavours - it may seem a faff to have the two stage method, but it really makes this dish special.
Serve with rice, parathas, poppadoms and mango chutney for a fabulous fake-away!
Dairy-free Mattar Paneer aka Mattar Tofu
serves 4
dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, sesame-free, vegetarian and vegan
- 3 tbsp sunflower oil
- 1 large onion (blitzed in a food processor or chopped very finely)
- 1 tbsp garlic paste or chopped garlic
- 1 tbsp ginger paste or minced ginger
- 1/2 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp tomato puree
- 1/2 tin choppe tomatoes
- 1 tbsp tomato puree
- pinch of salt
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp garam masala
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 150 g frozen peas
- 200 g extra firm tofu (cut into cubes)
- 50 g Oatly creme fraiche
- First make the masala.
- Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed pan and add the onions, cook over a medium heat until golden brown, stirring often.
- Stir in the garlic and ginger and cook for a couple of minutes, until thoroughly golden
- add the chilli powder, salt and tomato puree. Stir well.
- Pour in the chopped tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Simmer, stirring often for 15 minutes until he tomatoes have fully broken down. At this stage you can let the masala cool and finish off the dish later, so just continue from here.
- Add the tomato puree, salt, sugar, and spices to the warm masala. Cook for 5-10 minutes
- Add 100ml water and the frozen peas and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Stir in the tofu cubes, then a couple of minutes later add the cream.
- Taste and adjust any seasoning.
- Serve.
Onion and tomato masala
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