Peas and Panir (Mattar Paneer)

After considerable thought I decided to change something in the Peas and Panir recipe. Since I don't eat tomatoes, and the recipe calls for 2 cups of chopped tomatoes; I decide to substitute the Carrot-Pepper Sauce (page 255) recipe for the tomatoes.

I love the Carrot-pepper sauce because finally I found a great alternative for tomato sauce! Miriam explains that tomatoes aggravate all doshas because they have a high acid content. My own experience is acid reflux diminishes greatly when I do not have tomatoes in my diet. "The flavor mimics a sweeter version of a tomato sauce…" All said and done, I had a lovely Peas and Panir dish which was more pitta friendly.

Panir

Last night I made Panir (page 538) a type of homemade cheese so that I could make the Peas and Panir recipe (page 114) today.  I tried yogurt instead of lemon juice and the boiled milk did not separate into curds and whey, so I added a little lemon juice which did the trick. Miriam's directions to allow the curds to remain on low heat for 10 minutes was also very helpful. The lines are cause by the plastic wrap I put around the panir while pressing out the moisture.