Mouri Chana (Paneer cooked with fennel and milk)
Mouri Chana, chana stewed languorously in milk scented with ginger and fennel seeds. Another Bengali classic. From Grandmas recipes.
Ingredients
- 200 g Paneer or cottage cheese cubed, home-made or bought from the market
- 1/4 cup peas
- 2 tsps fennel seeds
- 1 cup milk
- 1 tbsp fennel powder freshly ground
- 2 tsps ginger paste
- 1-2 bay leaves
- 3-4 green chillies slit
- 1 tbsps mustard oil
- 1/4 tsp sugar
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Smear the chana cubes with a pinch of salt.
- Dissolve the fennel seed powder in very little water to make a paste. Keep aside.
- Heat 1/2 tbsp oil in a frying pan and saute the paneer pieces till they take on just a tinge of golden brown. Remove from oil and keep aside.
- In the same oil, add the bay leaves and fennel seeds, allow them to splutter. Now add the ginger paste, the fennel seed paste and the green chillies.
- Sprinkle in a little salt and cook over a medium flame till oil starts to separate from the masala.
- Add the green peas and fried paneer, saute for a couple of minutes, lower the heat and gently pour in the warm milk. Bring to a simmer.
- Add the sugar and cook for a further 5-6 minutes.
- Adjust seasonings. Serve hot with luchi or rice.