MATAR PANEER

Matar Paneer is one of the most popular paneer recipes where paneer (Indian cottage cheese) and matar (green peas) are simmered together in a luscious gravy made with tomatoes, onions, and spices. It is a dish from India, made more often in North Indian homes in the dinner menu or even for lunch. It is an ideal gravy based curry recipe to be served with rice, roti, chapati, or any Indian flatbread. It is a very simple and easy recipe that can be made with simple kitchen ingredients. 

Matar paneer has an exotic gravy made with tomatoes and onions based sauce with other Indian spices. For variation, you can add cashews and cream to the gravy which give richness to the curry. It has cubed and fried paneer chunks with peas that are sauteed in a gravy. The combination of soft paneer and sweet green peas makes this dish the best combination.

Gravy is made from onion and tomatoes but you can add cashews to make it creamy. For perfect restaurant texture, you can add cream, curd, cashew paste too, and added besan or chickpea flour. For matar paneer use fresh or homemade paneer for this recipe which would absorb the flavor of the curry. 

No Onion Garlic Matar Paneer

It has a simple recipe but if you don’t want to use onion garlic then also you can make perfect and tasty matar paneer. For gravy use tomatoes, ginger and cashew. While using cashews in gravy soak them in lukewarm water for 20 minutes. To make you curry thick and creamy you can add a tablespoon of cream and 2 tablespoons of lotus seed (makhana) powder. It gives a nice texture and enhances the flavor of the dish. 

Read More : Paneer Butter Masala 

You can use a little yogurt in this matar paneer recipe to give the dish that slightly tangy taste. Because peas are sweet, the tanginess helps balance the flavors. If your tomatoes are too tart, you might consider adding a pinch of sugar to the dish. That is completely optional and it’s up to you to add it or not.

In this recipe, I have used chopped onions and tomato puree. But if you want to make an onion paste you can use it too. As chopped onion give crunch to the dish and make gravy different. Some make the onion and tomato paste together but in this onion smells raw. As onion takes time to cook and tomatoes cooked easily. So not to make a paste together. 

Matar Paneer Recipe 

Ingredients

• Paneer 200 gm
• Green peas 1/2 cup
• Tomato puree 2 cups
• Onion 1
• Ginger 1 inch
• Garlic 2
• Oil 3 tsp
• Butter 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder 1 tsp
• Coriander powder 1 tsp
• Red chili powder 1/2 tsp
• Salt To taste
• Coriander leaves 2 tbsp

Method

1. To make matar paneer, first cut paneer into even size square cubes.
2. In pan heat oil and butter.
3. Add ginger julienne and green chili slit.
4. Add paneer cubes and let them fry till it becomes golden brown.
5. Next heat oil in a heavy-bottomed pan over medium heat.
6. Add the chopped onion to the pan and saute over medium heat until the onion turns light golden.
7. Add turmeric, coriander powder, and red chili, stir fry the spices.
8. Add tomato puree
9. Stir to combine the ingredients.
10. Simmer the mixture for sometimes or till tomato puree is cooked and thickened.
11. Add boiled green peas.
12. Adjust the consistency of the gravy as per your liking by adding little water to it.
13. After adding water give it a boil.
14. Finally, stir in the paneer cubes.
15. Simmer the matar paneer for the few more minutes.
16. Turn off the heat.
17. Garnish with freshly chopped coriander leaves.
18. Serve the Paneer Matar along with phulkas or puri for a delicious dinner.