Mattar Paneer | Paneer Matar | मटर पनीर - winter special

Mattar Paneer or Matar Paneer or mutter paneer (मटर पनीर)  is a North Indian curry and a popular item on any restaurant menu . It is a gravy prepared using fresh or frozen peas,paneer (Indian cottage cheese) simmered in a tomato onion curry and flavored with traditional Indian spice powders .

Matar Paneer is mildly spicy and pairs well with rotis, naans , jeera rice and even puris .

I have loved Matar Paneer since my childhood and mom would make it very frequently at home especially during winters when fresh peas are available in plenty in the markets .

If you don't get fresh peas ,you can also use frozen peas ,it tastes equally good .

Some people use soaked and cooked dried peas ,but I personally don't like the flavor and texture hence I avoid, but you can use that too if you like the taste of dried peas .

Matar Paneer can easily be customized to a Jain variant or a no Onion No garlic variant without compromising on the taste and flavors.  The Jain version of Matar Paneer is on my blog . You may click here for the recipe.

Just like my Palak Paneer recipe, this recipe of Matar Paneer has been a huge favorite among our friend circle.Our friends love to enjoy the Matar Paneer made by me and literally the serving bowl is polished off clean.

Each time I make Matar Paneer, I think of clicking some decent pictures for the blog,but somehow I used to miss doing that .So ,today (17 Jan 2025) I decided to click photos for my blog as I started making Matar Paneer and Jeera rice for lunch.  The post has been refreshed with stepwise photos of making the recipe and a few othe pictures too as well as the blog post . Also,I have uploaded the complete recipe making video on my YouTube Channel. 

Preparation Time : 10 mins
Cooking Time : 30 mins
Serves : 2 to 3

Complexity - medium 

Ingredients

3 ripe tomatoes 
1 medium sized onion - cut into big cubes

7-10 cashews 
250 gms fresh/frozen green peas.
200 gms paneer
3-4 green chillies

1 tsp ginger garlic paste
1 tsps red chilli powder

1 tsp dhania / corriander powder
1/4 tsp haldi / turmeric powder
1 tsp garam masala
1 stick of cinnamon

2 cloves 
1 tbsp cooking oil

1 tbsp ghee 

1 tsp sugar
salt to taste.

Method

• Blanch the tomatoes, onions,green chillies ,cashews in microwave or stove top . If blanching in microwave ,set the timer to 5 mins until the tomatoes turn soft.
• Allow this to cool and then grind this in the blender into a smooth paste with ginger garlic paste 
• Cut the paneer into small cubes and slightly fry them in oil till they turn  light brown.
• Blanch the green peas with some salt until peas turn soft .
• Add the fried paneer to this warm water .This process keeps the paneer soft and moist.
• Heat the kadai with some oil and fry the whole spices 
• Add the tomato paste ,salt , dhania powder,red chilli powder ,turmeric and garam masala and cook the paste until the oil separates and the gravy is well cooked.
• Cook on medium flame and stir occasionally so that the gravy doesn't burn and stick to the pan.
• Now,add the blanched peas and paneer  to this mixture.
• Simmer and cook for 3 to 4 mins .
• Add salt if needed and adjust the gravy consistency as per your liking.
• Add some kasuri methi in the end .
• Garnish with corriander leaves and serve hot with any flavored rice,chapathi,poori ,naan etc.