Matar Paneer
Matar Paneer (Mutter Paneer), a delicious combination of soft paneer and healthy green peas in a mild spicy tomato based gravy, is a treat to taste buds at anytime. This simple matar paneer recipe makes irresistibly tasty curry by making some changes to its preparation; the shallow fried paneer cubes brings in subtle taste and texture while cashew nut paste makes it rich and creamy. Follow our step by step photo recipe to make this simple yet yummy curry at home to serve with paratha in dinner.
| Ingredients: |
| 1 cup fresh or frozen Green Peas (matar) |
| 3/4 cup (1/2-inch cubed) Paneer (cottage cheese) |
| 1 medium Onion, finely chopped |
| 1 Green Chilli, chopped |
| 2-3 cloves of Garlic |
| 1/2 inch piece of Ginger, chopped |
| 2 medium Tomatoes, roughly chopped |
| 5-6 Cashew Nuts, soaked in hot water for 20-30 minutes |
| 1/2 teaspoon Red Chilli Powder |
| 1/4 teaspoon Turmeric Powder |
| 1 teaspoon Coriander Powder |
| 1/4 teaspoon Garam Masala Powder |
| For shallow frying + 2 tablespoons Oil or Ghee (clarified butter) |
| 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons Water |
| Salt to taste |
Notes:
If you are using fresh green peas, boil them in salted water for 7-8 minutes or until tender; drain them. If you are using frozen green peas, thaw them before using.
If you are using fresh green peas, boil them in salted water for 7-8 minutes or until tender; drain them. If you are using frozen green peas, thaw them before using.
How to Make Paneer at Home?
You can use either homemade or store bought paneer in this recipe. Follow this article of Make Paneer using Lemon Juice with step by step photos and directions to make it at home.
You can use either homemade or store bought paneer in this recipe. Follow this article of Make Paneer using Lemon Juice with step by step photos and directions to make it at home.
Directions:
- Grind onion, green chilli, ginger and garlic together in the small chutney jar of a grinder to make medium coarse paste. Grind the tomatoes to make tomato puree. Grind cashew nuts with 2 tablespoons water until smooth paste.
- Heat 2 tablespoons oil in the same pan/kadai over medium flame. Add crushed onion paste (prepared in step-1) and salt (only for onion paste, it helps to cook onion faster). Sauté it until oil starts to separate or it turns translucent. It will take around 5-7 minutes.
- Add tomato puree (prepared in step-1) and cook on medium flame until oil starts to separate, for approx. 5-6 minutes.
- Add red chilli powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder, garam masala powder and salt.
- Stir and cook for a minute. Add cashew nut paste (prepared in step-1).
- Stir and cook for 1-2 minutes.
- Add boiled peas and 1/2 cup water; mix properly and cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Add paneer cubes and cook for 2-3 minutes. We have added plain paneer cubes but you can add shallow fried paneer to enhance the flavor (see tips).
- Turn off flame and transfer prepared curry to a serving bowl. Matar paneer is ready. Serve it with butter kulcha, cucumber tomato onion salad and gajar halwa for a complete meal.
Tips and Variations:
- This recipe of mutter paneer masala uses plain paneer cubes to reduce the calories of the dish. If you are not calorie conscious, you can shallow fry paneer cubes to improve the taste and texture or deep fry them to enhance the flavor of paneer.
- To shallow fry the paneer cubes, heat ghee or oil in a non-stick pan over medium flame and shallow fry them until edges turn light golden brown. (see photo)Transfer them to a plate having kitchen paper napkin spread on it. (Kitchen paper napkin will help to absorb excess oil.)
- Curry prepared with this recipe will have thick gravy. If you like to have diluted gravy, then add 1/4 cup more water along with green peas in step-7.
- You can always increase or decrease the quantity of green peas and paneer to get the desired texture.
Taste: Mild spicy with thick tomato based gravy.
Serving Ideas: It is one of the classic Indian recipes which can be paired with almost any Indian flat-breads like phulka roti, tandoori roti, paneer kulcha, butter naan, etc. for simple meal. However, make it a more scrumptious meal by adding tomato basil salad and gulab jamun in the menu.