Punjabi Matar Paneer Recipe
This authentic Punjabi Matar Paneer Recipe combines tender paneer cubes with sweet peas in a simple home-style tomato-based curry sauce. It is a beloved comfort dish from North India that you can now easily make in your own kitchen.
Servings: 6
Calories: 279kcal
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 pound Paneer cubed
- 1 cup Green peas frozen or fresh
- ½ Onion about ½ cup chopped
- 2 Tomatoes 1 cup chopped tomatoes
- ½ inch Ginger piece peeled
- 3 cloves Garlic peeled
- 1 Green chili optional
- 1 tablespoon Avocado Oil or any cooking oil of your choice
- ½ teaspoon Cumin seeds
- ¼ teaspoon Turmeric powder
- 1.4 teaspoon Cayenne powder
- 2 teaspoon Coriander powder
- ¼ teaspoon Garam masala powder
- Salt – to taste
- 1.5 cups Water
- 2-5 sprigs Cilantro leaves, finely chopped
Instructions
- Take all your aromatics except cilantro (onion, ginger, garlic, tomatoes, and serrano) in a blender jar and blend until pureed or smooth. This is the base of “masala” for our mutter paneer.
- Heat a heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven on medium-high heat and add oil. Once the oil shimmers, add the cumin seeds. Wait until the cumin seeds start dancing around in the hot oil, then add your prepared ground masala.
- Add all the dry spice powders except garam masala, stir and mix everything together.
- Turn the heat to medium low and cook/bhoono the masala till all the moisture evaporates and you can see tiny droplets of oil start to appear at the edges of the masala. This should take no more than 10 minutes. Keep stirring in between.
- After the masala is bhoonoed (cooked as per above description), add the peas and cubed paneer and give it a good mix or until the masala coats the paneer and peas.
- Add about one to one and a half cups of water (add to adjust consistency to your liking, we like our curry a little thick), salt to taste and mix. Turn the heat up to high and cover with a lid. Bring to a boil, lower the heat to medium low and cook for 10 minutes.
- Turn the heat off, uncover, add garam masala and chopped cilantro, adjust salt (if needed). Serve hot with roti, homemade garlic naan or rice. Enjoy!!
Notes
Step-by-Step Photos: My blog post includes helpful step-by-step photos to help guide you through making this recipe.
To Store - Store any leftover matar paneer in an airtight container in the refrigerator. It stays good for 2-3 days. Reheat any leftovers in the microwave or a small saucepan.
Tip 1 - If using frozen paneer: Thaw the paneer block by submerging it in hot water for 30 minutes and then proceed to cube. If you have frozen paneer cubes, you can also soak them in hot water for a softer texture of cooked paneer, though this is not necessary.
Tip 2 - Cooking the masala: If your masala sticks to the pan while cooking, sprinkle a few drops of water, scrape the browned bits, and continue cooking until you can see tiny droplets of oil at the edges of your masala. This is important to develop deeper flavors in this simple recipe.
Tip 3 - Garam masala - gives this Punjabi matar paneer it's characteristic flavor. If you do not have my homemade garam masala, I recommend using this brand of garam masala.
What to serve it with - Flat breads. Yo can serve it with homemade or store-bought whole wheat rotis (also known as chapathi/fulka) or garlic or plain naan. Plain or palak (spinach) paranthas work great too. Rice. If you are a rice person like me, you will enjoy eating matar paneer with either plain basmati rice or jeera or cumin rice.
Nutrition
Calories: 279kcal | Carbohydrates: 9g | Protein: 13g | Fat: 22g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 50mg | Sodium: 52mg | Potassium: 205mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 773IU | Vitamin C: 18mg | Calcium: 387mg | Iron: 1mg
