Methi matar malai

Method

1. 1 Soak cashews for 20 minutes, then blend them with a little water to make cashew cream.
2. 2 Roast dried fenugreek leaves in a dry pan for 40 seconds, then crush them and roast again to reduce the characteristic bitterness of fenugreek.
3. 3 Sauté the onions with ginger and green chilies in butter for 10 minutes, making sure the onions don't brown.
4. 4 This sauce must be off-white, so the onions shouldn't be browned; if they are, the sauce will turn brown and lose its authentic Malay character.
5. 5 Grind the onions into a purée and then pour it into a pan along with cashew cream and cardamom.
6. 6 Cook the peas for 8 minutes, then mix in the fresh cream, sugar, and fenugreek leaves at room temperature.

With an appliance

• Microwave 35 min

  Replace the pea cooking step in step 6: loosely cover the bowl of peas with cashew sauce and microwave at 700 W for 4 minutes; keep the heavy cream, sugar, and fenugreek mixed in after the heat is turned off.