Matar Paneer

Matar Paneer is a delicious recipe that hails from northern parts of India. It is a flavorful curry which is prepared using paneer (cottage cheese cubes) and matar (green peas) cooked in gravy made of onions and tomatoes. It is rich, satisfying and extremely flavorful!

You can add cream to make this recipe extra rich , specially if you have guest but I prefer to keep it simple. This recipe is very simple and something that can be prepared using ingredients easily available at home. Also, I think that if I add cream in all the paneer recipes, then they end up tasting same. In this recipe, let us enjoy the richness added by paneer and sweetness added by peas.

You can serve this Matar Paneer with rice, naan, tandoor roti or plain roti!

For this recipe you will need-

Paneer- 200 grams

Onion- 1 medium sized

Tomatoes- 2 medium sized

Garlic- 6-7 cloves

Ginger- 1 inch piece

Green Chili- 1 (optional)

Oil- 2 tablespoon

Ghee- 1 tablespoon

Peas (frozen)- 1 and 1/2 cup, thawed

Red Chili Powder- 1 to 1 and 1/2 teaspoon

Coriander powder- 2 teaspoon

Turmeric powder- 1/2 teaspoon

Cardamom powder- 1/4 teaspoon

Garam Masala powder- 1/2 teaspoon

Salt and Sugar as per taste.

Cilantro- chopped, for garnish

Take 1 medium sized onion, 2 medium tomatoes, 6-7 garlic cloves, 1 inch piece ginger, 1 green chili.

Chop them roughly.

Cut 200 grams of Paneer into cubes and take them in a bowl.

Add some warm water to it and cover and let it soak. This will keep the paneer soft.

Heat a kadhai or a pan on medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon oil.

Add chopped garlic, ginger and onions.

Saute till Onions are cooked.

Once the onions are cooked, add chopped tomatoes. Saute for few minutes.

Add 1/2 teaspoon salt which will help tomatoes cook faster.

You can cover and cook tomatoes. Stir in between. Add a little water if required and cook till oil separates from the gravy.

Add 1 green chili. Continue cooking till the oil separates from the gravy and then turn off the flame.

Let the masala cool down completely.

Then add the masala to a blender jar and grind to smooth paste.

Heat a pan or kadhai on medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon oil and 1 tablespoon ghee to it and let it heat.

Once it is little hot, add a teaspoon of cumin seeds and let them crackle.

Once the cumin seeds start crackling, turn off the flame and then add 1 to 1 and 1/2 teaspoon Kashmiri Red Chili powder.

Immediately add the onion and tomato paste we prepared and turn on the flame to medium. Mix well and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add little water if needed.

Now add 2 teaspoon coriander powder and 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder and mix well.

Cover and cook for 2 minutes.

Add some water to adjust the consistency and also for keeping the masalas from burning. Here I am adding some water to the blender jar to remove all the masala stuck to sides to avoid wastage.

Add some more water if required to adjust the consistency.

Add one and half cups of thawed frozen peas or you can use the fresh peas but I would suggest cooking peas separately before adding them to the gravy.

Add some water to adjust the consistency of the gravy.

Add Paneer cubes and mix well.

Add salt as per taste. Remember we had added some salt while cooking tomatoes.

Add some sugar as per your liking. You can skip this too.

Add about 2 pinches of cardamom powder which will be about 1/4 teaspoon. This is optional but does give this gravy very nice flavor so I will suggest not skipping this step.