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Matar Paneer
Matar Paneer is an extremely popular North Indian curry dish made of Indian cottage cheese (paneer) and green peas (Matter/mutter) in a creamy, spicy onion-tomato gravy. It can be served with Rice as well as Naan or paratha or roti.
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon cooking oil/ghee
- 1 cup green peas frozen or fresh
- 400 gms paneer block
- 2 bay leaves
- 2-3 green cardamoms
- 1 inch cinnamon stick
- 3-4 cloves
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds zeera
- 2 green chillies finely chopped, optional and to taste
- 1 tablespoon ginger minced/grated
- 1 tablespoon garlic minced
- 1 medium medium yellow onion finely chopped
- 3-4 medium tomatoes pureed approx 1 cup or use 2 tablespoon of tomato paste or 1 cup of store bought tomato puree
- 1 tablespoon tomato ketchup optional but recommend it
- 1 tablespoon dry Fenugreek leaves Kasoori methi
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
- ⅛ teaspoon pepper or to taste
- some finely chopped coriander for garnishing
Dry Indian Spices :
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder haldi
- 1 teaspoon Kashmiri red chili powder or to taste (lal mirch powder)
- ½ tablespoon coriander powder (dhania powder)
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds powder (zeera powder)
- ¼ teaspoon garam masala or to taste
- ¼ teaspoon dry mango powder (amchur)optional
Instructions
Using Stove Top:
- Soak the frozen paneer in some hot water and once soft, cut in cubes and keep aside. You can keep them soaked in warm water until ready to use while you make the gravy. Skip this step if using fresh paneer.
- In a dutch oven or thick bottomed cooking pot, heat oil on medium flame & once hot add the cumin seeds, bay leaves, cardamoms, cloves and cinnamon stick. Once cumin seeds start spluttering add the onions & saute till they turn translucent.
- Add in green chilies (optional), ginger & garlic paste and cook till raw garlic smell disappears.
- Stir in the tomato puree/paste & mix. Cook for 2 mins stirring intermittently.
- Then add all the ingredients listed under “Dry Indian Spices” along with salt, pepper powder and ketchup. Cook till this mixture thickens & starts oozing oil from the side (approximately 2 mins).
- Adjust the consistency by adding a cup or two of water. Mix & simmer till it comes to a boil. Now crush the dry Fenugreek leaves between your palms & add it to this gravy.
- Add the boiled green peas, mix well. After about 2 mins, lower the heat and then add cream and mix.
- Final step is to add the paneer & mix with light hands to prevent the paneer from crumbling. Simmer for few minutes and Matar Paneer recipe is ready to be served.
- Top it with some coriander for garnishing and serve warm with serve warm with some zeera rice or naan/paratha/roti with side of salad.
Using Instant Pot:
- Soak the frozen paneer in some hot water and once soft, cut in cubes and keep aside. You can keep them soaked in warm water until ready to use while you make the gravy. Skip this step if using fresh paneer.
- Start Instant Pot on saute mode (normal). Once its hot, add the oil/ghee and allow it to heat up.
- Add the cumin seeds, bay leaves, cardamoms, cloves and cinnamon stick. Once cumin seeds start spluttering add the onions & saute till they turn translucent.
- Next add green chilies (optional), ginger & garlic paste and cook till raw garlic smell disappears.
- Stir in the the tomato puree/paste followed by all the ingredients listed under “Dry Indian Spices”, salt, pepper powder and ketchup (optional but highly recommend) & mix until well combined.
- Now add the paneer cubes and peas along with 1 cup of water. Mix well, make sure nothing is sticking to the pot.
- Cancel the saute mode. Close the Instant Pot lid with vent to sealing. Cook on manual (pressure cook) mode at high pressure for 3 mins followed by quick release.
- Open the lid, crush the dry fenugreek leaves between your palms and add it. Mix to stir and adjust seasoning and water consistency as needed.
- To take it up a notch, start the instant pot on saute mode and add in the cream, mix and saute for 2-5 mins. If your tomato gravy still tastes sour even after adding cream add a pinch of sugar to cut the sourness down.
- Top it with some coriander for garnishing and serve warm with serve warm with some zeera rice or naan/paratha/roti with side of salad.
Notes
- I would recommend using good quality (store bought) tomato puree/paste. It gives a great color to the gravy. Alternately you can use fresh tomato puree made at home & add 1 tablespoon of store bought tomato puree for enhancing the color.
- For Stove top method: I have boiled the green peas with some salt till cooked, drained & then soaked them in cold water to retain their fresh green color. Its only at the end that I added them to the gravy but you could cook these along too. Add them when you add water & boil till green peas are cooked.
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