Matar paneer ki sabji | Mutter Paneer | How to make restaurant-style Matar Paneer with detailed step by step photos
Matar Paneer ki sabji – is a creamy, delicious and mildly spiced – rich curry made with matar(green peas) and paneer(cottage cheese). It is simmered together in a palatable gravy made with beautiful red ripe tomatoes, onions, ginger, garlic, and green chillies. The richness in the gravy comes from the cashews that are blended together with onion and tomatoes.
This easy-to-make matar paneer recipe can be prepared at home any time and on any occasion. In most Indian homes, it is cooked during winters, when fresh peas are available. However, this recipe can be made with frozen peas as well, and at any time of the year.
This matar paneer recipe is one of the most popular paneer recipes made in the Northern region of India. These days, the popular North Indian matar paneer gravy is frequently cooked at homes with basic ingredients that are always available in Indian kitchens.
For making it a restaurant-style, I have added a handful of cashews to make the gravy in a semi-thick consistency. It also adds a creamy texture to the gravy. Alternatively, you can use fresh cream or malai to get that creamy consistency. You can add yoghurt too while cooking the gravy, it adds a tinge of tangy flavour to the gravy. I am not using yoghurt here in this recipe, as tomatoes are already little tart in taste.
You can even use full-fat milk instead of water to make richer and spice balanced gravy.
A tsp of roughly crushed kasuri methi is a must to get that restaurant like flavour.
Variations of Matar Paneer ki sabji
There are myriad ways of making this exotic paneer curry. Depending on your taste and likings, you can choose what version you want to make:
It can be made with a dhaba-style version with more spiciness and less creamy, just avoid cashews, milk and fresh cream. If you are making for kids or elderly people in the house, better to stick with a restaurant version.
Or the restaurant-style version, which I am sharing in this recipe.
Also, you can really make a homey-style recipe which is easy, quick and fuss-free. Use fewer chillies and reduce the quantity of masalas a bit. It can be consumed frequently without hurting your stomach and digestion process.
You can even extend this recipe to Aloo-matar recipe by replacing paneer with boiled potatoes. It goes very well with puri or kachoris.
I usually make matar paneer with raw onions, tomatoes, and other ingredients blended together. And cook the mixture together with spices in oil. It saves a lot of time when you are in a hurry and also it is super quick & easy. On the other hand, when I cook on some occasion or for guests coming home, I prefer sautéing onions and tomatoes and then blending it with cashews. It gives a very unique flavour and makes it super delicious.
How to make Jain Matar Paneer?
To make Jain matar paneer ki sabji, we will have to skip onions, garlic and even ginger(optional).
Heat oil or ghee(clarified butter) in a pan or kadhai, add hing and cumin seeds, saute and let it splutter for few seconds. Then, add tomato either in pureed form or grated, dry spices and saute & cook for a couple of minutes till the masala starts releasing oil.
Lastly, add paneer (boiled or stir-fried), green peas, kasuri methi, and coriander leaves. Cover and cook for 4 to 5 minutes on medium flame. Jain Matar paneer ki sabji, without onion and garlic, is ready to be served.
Few other Paneer recipes on our blog:
Please let me know how this recipe turns out for you in the comments. I love to hear from you.
If you enjoy this hearty recipe, be sure to check out my Blog for more!
Matar paneer ki sabji Recipe card
Matar Paneer recipe
Materials
- 250 gms Paneer or Cottage cheese cut in cubes
- 1.5 cup Green peas fresh or frozen,
- 3 tbsp Oil
- 1 tbsp butter optional
- ¼ tsp Haldi/ Turmeric powder
- 1 tsp Dhaniya/ Coriander powder
- 1 tsp Lal mirch/ Red chilli powder
- 1 tsp Garam masala
- Salt per taste
- 1 cup water or as required
For making paste:
- 1 large Onion sliced or 2 medium onions
- 2 medium Red ripe tomatoes Roughly chopped or sliced
- 2 Green chillies roughly chopped
- 4 - 5 Garlic cloves roughly chopped
- 1-inch Ginger roughly chopped
Whole masale:
- 1 Bay leaf
- 2 Green cardamom pods slightly crushed
- ½ tbsp Kasuri methi
- 2 tbsp Fresh Coriander leaves finely chopped
Instructions
Boiling Paneer:
- Heat half a litre of water in a saucepan and add ½ tsp of salt.
- When water starts simmering, add cubes of paneer into the saucepan and let it boil for 10 mins.
- Turn the flame off, and discard the water. Keep the boiled paneer cubes aside.
For making Onion tomato paste:
- In a wide thick bottom pan, heat 1 tbsp of oil and add slightly crushed cardamom pods, roughly chopped green chillies, ginger and garlic and saute well till the raw smell of garlic goes off.
- Add sliced onions and saute till the onions turn translucent or golden brown in colour.
- When onions are done, add roughly sliced or chopped tomatoes into the pan and saute nicely till it turns soft and mushy.
- When the tomatoes are cooked, add cashew nuts and mix with the onion-tomato mixture.
- Turn the flame off and let the mixture cool down to room temperature.
- Now, transfer the cooked onions and tomatoes into the mixer grinder jar and ground it in a smooth paste.
For making Matar Paneer gravy:
- In the same pan, heat a tbsp of oil and add bay leaf, a tsp full of jeera or cumin seeds in the pan and saute till it splutters.
- Then, lower the flame and add the blended paste of onion and tomato into the pan and mix it nicely.
- Then, add red chilli powder, coriander powder, garam masala, turmeric powder and salt into the pan and stir it with the whole masale for few seconds.
- Cover and cook till the oil is separated from the mixture and the mixture thickens.
- Remove the lid and add half a cup of water or as required and saute well. Adjust the consistency of the gravy by adding more water.
- When it starts boiling, add green peas and boiled paneer cubes into the pan and mix it well with the other ingredients.
- After 3 to 4 minutes, add kasuri methi and mix it gently with the gravy without breaking the paneer cubes. Cover and cook for 3 to 4 minutes.
- Lastly, add finely chopped fresh coriander leaves and mix all the ingredients nicely and cover and cook for another 2 minutes and turn off the flame.
- Serve hot and creamy matar paneer gravy with garlic naan or jeera rice and accompany it with sliced onions and lemon wedges.
Notes
Instructions
Boiling Paneer:
- Heat half a litre of water in a saucepan and add ½ tsp of salt.
- When water starts simmering, add cubes of paneer into the saucepan and let it boil for 10 mins.
- Turn the flame off, and discard the water. Keep the boiled paneer cubes aside.
For making Onion tomato paste:
- In a wide thick bottom pan, heat 1 tbsp of oil and add slightly crushed cardamom pods, roughly chopped green chillies, ginger and garlic and saute well till the raw smell of garlic goes off.
- Add sliced onions and saute till the onions turn translucent or golden brown in colour.
- When onions are done, add roughly sliced or chopped tomatoes into the pan and saute nicely till it turns soft and mushy.
- When the tomatoes are cooked, add cashew nuts and mix with the onion-tomato mixture.
- Turn the flame off and let the mixture cool down to room temperature.
- Now, transfer the cooked onions and tomatoes into the mixer grinder jar and ground it in a smooth paste.
For making Matar Paneer gravy:
- In the same pan, heat a tbsp of oil and add bay leaf, a tsp full of jeera or cumin seeds in the pan and saute till it splutters.
- Then, lower the flame and add the blended paste of onion and tomato into the pan and mix it nicely.
- Then, add red chilli powder, coriander powder, garam masala, turmeric powder and salt into the pan and stir it with the whole masale for few seconds.
- Cover and cook till the oil is separated from the mixture and the mixture thickens.
- Remove the lid and add half a cup of water or as required and saute well. Adjust the consistency of the gravy by adding more water.
- When it starts boiling, add green peas and boiled paneer cubes into the pan and mix it well with the other ingredients.
- After 3 to 4 minutes, add kasuri methi and mix it gently with the gravy without breaking the paneer cubes. Cover and cook for 3 to 4 minutes.
- Lastly, add finely chopped fresh coriander leaves and mix all the ingredients nicely and cover and cook for another 2 minutes and turn off the flame.
- Serve hot and creamy matar paneer gravy with garlic naan or jeera rice and accompany it with sliced onions and lemon wedges.
Important tips for making paneer tikka masala:
- You can even pan fry the paneer cubes instead of boiling. Use the same pan for making gravy.
- It tastes super delicious when made with fresh homemade paneer to make more flavourful curry.
- Most importantly, you can add a smoky flavour to the dish by doing Dungar for gravy. Just burn a small piece of charcoal until it emits smoke and place it in a small bowl or Katori and put the Katori in the centre of the kadhai over the curry. Then, pour a tbsp or 2 of ghee over the charcoal and close the lid of the kadhai.
- This gives a very beautiful smoky essence to the dish.
- To get a more rich and creamy texture, you can also add fresh cream while serving.
- Typically, any paneer recipes taste better when accompanied with sliced raw onions and lemon wedges.
- Finally, Matar Paneer tastes delicious when cooked little spicy and served hot with butter naan, garlic butter naan, jeera rice or even tandoori roti.
Finally, I would like to share my other veg Curry recipes from my blog. This includes Dum aloo recipe, Paneer kadhai recipe, Mushroom kadhai gravy recipe, Matar Jhol recipe, spicy misal pav recipe, matar ke chole recipe, etc. Also, go through our Indian bread section for a variety of rotis like Butter naan recipe, palak paratha recipe, kachori recipes and thalipeeth recipe.
In addition to this, do visit my other recipes collection from my blog like Main course collection, Breakfast collection, Desserts collection, etc.
Did you try this recipe?
Please let me know how it turned out for you! Leave a comment below and share a picture on Instagram with the hashtag #fop.flavoursonplate.
This is a mouth watering recipe OMG I love this..