Matar paneer is a very popular North Indian dish prepared with paneer and peas. It is usually served with naan, roti, chapati and paratha but goes very well with rice and pulao also.This is one of my most favorite dish.Though I have posted matar paneer earlier, this is an improved version. I prepared this as a side dish for vegetable rice and the combination tasted great. Today let us learn how to make matar (peas) paneer (Indian cheese) following this simple recipe with step wise pictures.
Matar Paneer-How to prepare Matar Paneer
Prep Time : 15 mins
Cook Time : 30 mins
Serves: 3-4
Recipe Category: Side Dish
Recipe Cuisine: North Indian-Punjabi
Author:Padhu Sankar
Serves: 3-4
Recipe Category: Side Dish
Recipe Cuisine: North Indian-Punjabi
Author:Padhu Sankar
Ingredients needed
Paneer/Indian cottage cheese -150 grams
Fresh or frozen Peas – 1/2 cup
Onion – 1 cup very finely chopped
Ginger garlic paste -1 tsp
Tomatoes – 3 medium size (ripe ones)
Cashew nuts – 6-7
Dry Powder
Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
Coriander powder – 2 tsp
Chilli powder – 1 tsp
Garam masala powder or Kitchen king masala -1 tsp flat
Salt to taste
For the seasoning
Oil/Butter -1 1/2- 2 tbsp
Cumin seeds/Jeera – 3/4 tsp
Bay leaf – 1
For Garnishing
Finely chopped coriander leaves – 1 tbsp
Fresh cream (optional) – 1-2 tbsp
Preparation
Put tomatoes in boiling water for 3-4 minutes. Drain the water and allow it to cool. Remove the skin and puree it.
Soak cashew nuts in hot water for 15 minutes and then grind it to a paste adding less water.
Boil peas with a little salt till soft. Cut paneer into cubes. If your paneer is store bought, you can soak them in hot water with a little salt for just 5 minutes if required. Check out homemade paneer recipe.
Now the tomato puree, boiled peas, paneer and the cashew nut paste are kept ready.
Chop onions very finely.
Method
Heat oil in a pan /kadai, add jeera seeds, bay leaf, when jeera sizzles, add finely chopped onions and saute until light brown. Add a little salt to speed up the process. Stir continuously for even browning.
Add ginger garlic paste and saute for a few more minutes.
Then add tomato puree and all the dry powder including salt.
Cook on medium flame until tomatoes become mushy and oozes out oil. Stir in between.
Now add the cashew nut paste (I forgot to take that picture, but you don’t forget to add it ) and saute for a few more minutes until the raw flavor of the paste goes.
Then add the cooked peas and paneer.
Let the paneer and peas get mixed well with the masala.
Then add 1 cup of water and cook for some more time until everything gets blended well. You can adjust the consistency of the gravy according to your preferences. Check for salt.
Garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves and a tbsp of fresh cream.
Enjoy this most popular Indian (Punjabi) dish with any Indian bread or rice or pulao.
Variation – You can substitute paneer with tofu.
Check out a variety of side dishes for chapati
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looks delicious and love the color of curry..
my all time fav again ! when i started my blog intially i prepared this ! would like to have with Rice 🙂
perfectly done looks delicious
wow! creamy gravy with paneer…..Good side dish for chapathi.
This is my one favorite recipe. so good and well presented
Oohhh so delicious n inviting
Who can resist to this beautiful bowl.
delicious with rotis..
Hi, Can you post some recipes with tofu also. Thx.
Looks yummy! Love your blog..keep up the good work!
This looks great! Under "Ingredients" you say "Cashews 6-7." Do you mean just 6 or 7 nuts, or is there a weight or volume measurement missing? Can't wait to try this!
Dragonflygirl – Just 6-7 cashew nuts. Do try it, you will love it for sure.
Thanks ur dishes r very simple and very easy to cook at home it self in restaurant style.
My elder son is extremely fussy about food and dsnt like to experiment…bt whenever i prepare dishes the 'padhu' style..its a big hit…mutter paneer was fab tde…thank u so much…keep up the good work…
Hi padhu … am a newly married gal who is trying to win her hubby's heart by cooking yum dishes every single day… when i was done with my receipes i started following yours and they have always been a big hit…i wanted to cook matar paneer in a diffrent manner so i tried your receipe n it turned out in a great dish,its just that i dint have cashew so i used peanut 🙂 to thick my gravy.lets see how my hubby rate this dish…will certainly let u know 🙂 take care n keep rocking with your yum dishes 🙂
I made this dish for the first time this afternoon. We have sooo many peas in the garden right now and I wanted to do something different with them. Didn't have cumin seed so I used cumin powder instead. Your pictures show the dish as being very orange,…what I made was a little more dark green,….guess if I added more turmeric it might get that colour.
But the flavors are incredible and improve the longer the dish simmers!! I'll never buy canned Mattar Panir again now that I know how easy it is to make. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
my hubby loved it…he has invited his friends at dinner tonight and guess what matar paneer is what he has demanded for ….. its a rainy day here in chandigad so follow your website for diffrent syle pakoras … 🙂
I'm so happy I came across you blog! I love to cook also and one of my favorite dishes is Matar Paneer. I've never tried making it so this will be a first, but your recipe looks very simple. Thank you for sharing!
Hi thanks for the recipe. Everybody loved it i added my touch to it though by adding mushrooms and Kasturi methi instead of coriander powder. It tastes completely like the ones you get in the restaurants. Looking forward to making more of your recipes
Hi thank u very much for the recipe. Kids loved it!!! looking forward for many more recipes…
Hi thanks for the recipe. Kids loved it and ate heartily…. Looking forward for many more new recipes
Hi Padhu! Thank you for the lovely recipe. Followed your instructions to the T and its come out brilliantly. Thank you so much !
Tried today…it was awsome..whole family enjoyed…..gr8 padhu …keep it up…
Detailed receipe. . I found it Very helpful. Thank you for this post padhu!
Hi Padhu, I made this last night, and it was delicious! I had to use tomato puree instead of fresh tomatoes. Also didn't have any cream, so I stirred in some milk at the final stage and let it simmer for five mins. Both seemed to work pretty well.
I am gonna try this today..yummy
I tried it your way its delicious.
Simple and yummy !
Luks really yummy…am gng to try tday…thnks n keep rckng..
i tried this recipe today and came out very well.. thank you for for the wonderful recipe 🙂
Thank u so much.I followed every step to the measure and I'm amazed at the result.Beautiful recioe for a delicious curry.The only change I personally would make would be to reduce the chilly powder by a bit.
I am a huge huge fan of padhu 's kitchen n i follow all ur recipes!! As a tambrahm lady i refer to your blog almost daily..made matar paneer again today…i add jus 2 small tsps of sugar to these dishes in the end to give it a restaurant style taste:)
I love the way u cook… I am a fan of ur cooking…mi try many new dishes with the help of u
Padhu..I just love your cooking. Too good
going to try it..
Yesterday tried ths recipe.. Came out very well.. Also tried ur mushroom, kulambu, millets and breakfast recipes… All came out very well.. Always refer ur blog bfr ckng… Love ths site… Thanks for sharing…
Hi Padhu….i tried out this recipe and it came out so good….many thanks to u….everyone liked it….ur ingredients are home friendly…no need to run for items…that s actually superb…. 🙂
I tried it today and it was extremely delicious. Thank you very much for the recipe.
Hi Meet Padhu,
Indeed a very tasty dish, my son loves paneer and I was wondering in what different ways I could make paneer dishes. I made a dish with the masala suggested in this mattar paneer recipe. I did not add the mattar as my son does not like mattar. Did a bit of variation, cooked in a kadai, added malai and milk to make a thick gravy, and grated some paneer in the end. Lip smacking taste, my son loved it, thank you!
Hi Padhu, could you please suggest alternative to cashew? My daughter is allergic to nuts and I would not be able to use them. Any other alternative that you recommend please?
Almonds