Mushroom Mutter Paneer Masala

Mutter Paneer is one of the favourite side dishes for chappathi at home and my daughter loves that even if its given separately. But introducing mushroom into her paneer dish is difficult but still i was very firm to made her eat Mushroom too as it has very high protein in it. At the end, the dish came out very tasty and she was unable to filter the mushrooms from the dish.

Ingredients
Paneer - 12 oz Bar cut into cubes.
Jeera Seeds - 1 tbsp
Cinnamon Sticks - 1 medium
Kasuri Methi ( Dry Methi Leaves ) - 1 tsp
Ginger Garlic Paste - 2 tbsp.
Mushroom - 15 medium size ( Cut into halves)
Peas - 1 Cup.
Oil - 4 tbsp.
Salt - To Taste.
Sugar - 1 Pinch.
Turmeric Powder - 2 tsp.
Red Chilli Powder - 1 tbsp.
Coriander Powder - 1 tbsp.
Garam Masala Powder - 1 tbsp.

For Grinding
Tomatoes - 2 Medium size
Onion ( Yellow or Red) - 1 Big One
Coriander Leaves - 4 or 5 stems.
Lavang( Cloves ) - 2
Cinnamon Sticks - 2 Medium ones.
Green Chilly - 1 Medium.
Dry Almonds ( Badam ) - 7 or 8.
Cardamom Seeds ( Elachi ) - 1.

Method
1. On the stove, add olive oil and slowly add the ingredients one by one to the kadai for sauting before grinding it.
2. I prefer to slightly fry the ingredients before actually grinding them as it gets cooked quickly and the gravy comes out of the raw smell quickly.
3. Next, add the cubed paneer into the kadai and shallow fry the paneer cubes and keep it separately.
4. On the kadai, then add jeera seeds, cinnamon stick, ginger garlic paste and fry nicely till the raw smell completely goes off.
5. Add the mushroom and peas to the kadai and fry for 1-2 minutes.
5. Then add the grinded mixture into the kadai.
6. Add the turmeric powder, chilli powder, coriander powder, garam masala powder into the gravy now.
7. Add salt and pinch of sugar to the gravy. Mix all the contents thoroughly and let it simmer for 5-6 minutes on a low flame.
8. Open the lid and let the dish cook on a medium flame openly till you get a very nice aroma of Mushroom and the gravy together.
9. Finally add the paneer cubes into the kadai.
10. Cover it with the lid and let it cook for 1-2 minutes. Then, switch it off.

Tips
Generally I substitute coriander leaves with the preserved coriander stems for grinding which gives a nice aroma to any gravy.
Keep the pudina stems, coriander stems even the methi stems in the fridge. While grinding for a gravy, we can add those stems along with other ingredients. Surely the gravy tastes good and with an excellent flavour.

Variations
For making a very rich tasty gravy for parties, get-togethers, you can substitute almonds with cashewnuts as the grinding ingredient.
To have a restaurant finish, add 1 tbsp of low fat fresh cream into the kadai at the end.