Easy Mattar Paneer Recipe | Indian Paneer Curry

Mattar Paneer is a flavorful Indian curry cooked with green peas(mattar) and cottage cheese(paneer) in an onion-tomato base spiced with Indian spices.

The recipe for this delicious curry is simple and it takes about 30 minutes to prepare it. Eat it with rotis, chapatis, or naan to make it a filling weeknight meal.

Ingredients:

Paneer – Any good quality store-bought or homemade paneer works well. If you are following a vegan diet, you can replace paneer with tofu.

Green peas – You can use either fresh ones or frozen green peas.

Sunflower oil – I generally prefer sunflower oil for making Indian food. Vegetable oil is a good option too.

Onion – Any kind of onion work well in this, but I prefer red onions (that are spicy.)

Tomatoes – Use the best quality tomatoes for this, it adds so much flavor.

Green chili – this one’s for the heat and I have used Indian green chili or hari mirch.

Cashews – Use unsalted whole or split cashews.

Ginger-garlic paste – I like to use good quality, store-bought ginger-garlic paste. But an instant homemade ginger-garlic paste adds a lot of flavors.

Butter – Any unsalted butter works well in this. If you are following a vegan diet, you can skip this or add vegan butter.

Spices (turmeric powder, Kashmiri red chili powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, garam masala) – I prefer using whole and powdered spices from the swad brand. You can essentially use any good-quality spices from your favorite brand.

Preparation:

Add tomatoes and soaked cashews into a mixer jar and blend into a fine paste. Keep this aside until required.

Heat cooking oil in a medium-sized cooking pan. Once the oil is hot enough, add cumin seeds into it and allow them to sizzle. Then, add the slit green chilies plus chopped onion, and saute on low-medium heat until the onion turns translucent. Add the ginger-garlic paste and saute for about 30 seconds or until you don’t smell the rawness of the paste anymore.

Next, pour the freshly ground tomato-cashew paste into the pan and mix well. Cover the pan with a lid and simmer the gravy until the oil separates (which may take up to 4-5 minutes). Later, sprinkle some salt and add all the powdered spices – turmeric, red chili, coriander, and cumin and mix well.

Add frozen or fresh green peas and pour about 100 ml of water, cover the pan lid, and partially cook green peas for 2-3 minutes on low-medium heat. At this point, taste for salt and check the consistency of the curry. If you feel the curry is dry, add some more water and simmer the curry until it reaches the desired consistency. Then add garam masala, mix and cook for a minute. Add the cut cubes of paneer into the curry and gently mix. Cover and cook the paneer for 4-5 minutes on low heat until softened and well cooked.

Lastly, crush and add some Kasuri methi (dry leaves) to the curry. Give the curry a good mix and simmer for a minute or two and turn off the heat. Add a tablespoon of unsalted butter if you like and gently mix. Serve and enjoy delicious mattar paneer with homemade or store-bought rotis, naan, chapati, ghee rice, or plain steamed rice.

Check out other paneer recipes – paneer butter masala, methi paneer, paneer burji, palak paneer

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Print Recipe

Mattar Paneer

A delicious vegetarian curry made with paneer and green peas, simmered in an onion-tomato-spices-butter base. Ideal to eat with rotis, chapatis, naan and flavored rice.

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time20 minutes mins

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: Indian

Keyword: Green peas paneer curry, Indian Curry, Mattar Paneer, Paneer, Paneer Recipes

Servings: 3 people

Author: Swaadista

Equipment

• Cooking pan with lid
• Mixer grinder

Ingredients

For tomato paste

• 2 large tomatoes roughly chopped
• 8-10 cashews soaked in water for 10 minutes & drained

For the curry

• 250 gm paneer cut into ¾-inch cubes
• 200 gm green peas fresh or frozen
• 3 tbsp sunflower oil
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 2 green chilies slit
• 1 medium red onion finely chopped
• 1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
• ¼ tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp kashmiri red chili powder
• ½ tbsp coriander powder
• ½ tsp cumin powder
• ½ tsp garam masala
• 1 tsp kasuri methi
• 1 tbsp butter unsalted
• salt to taste
• water

Instructions

• Make a fine paste of tomatoes and cashews in a mixer and keep it aside until used.
  2 large tomatoes, 8-10 cashews
• Heat oil in a medium pan.
  3 tbsp sunflower oil
• Add cumin seeds into it and allow them to sizzle. Then, add the slit green chilies plus chopped onion, and sauté on low-medium heat until the onion turns translucent. 
  1 tsp cumin seeds, 2 green chilies, 1 medium red onion
• Add the ginger-garlic paste and sauté for 30 seconds or until the raw smell goes away.
  1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
• Pour the freshly ground tomato-cashew paste into the pan, add salt and mix well. Cover the pan and cook until the oil separates from the gravy. (this may take up to 5 minutes).
  salt to taste
• Add the spices and sauté for 20 seconds.
  ¼ tsp turmeric powder, 1 tsp kashmiri red chili powder, ½ tbsp coriander powder, ½ tsp cumin powder
• Add green peas, pour water to adjust consistency, cover, and partially cook green peas for 2-3 minutes on low-medium heat. 
  200 gm green peas, water
• Taste for salt and adjust if necessary. Add garam masala, mix and cook for a minute.
  ½ tsp garam masala
• Add paneer cubes and gently mix. Cover and cook paneer for 4-5 minutes on low heat until paneer soft and the curry semi-thick.
  250 gm paneer
• Lastly, crush and add Kasuri methi in along with butter, and give the curry a gently mix.
  1 tsp kasuri methi, 1 tbsp butter
• Serve warm with rotis, naan, chapati, ghee rice, or plain steamed rice. Enjoy!

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Happy cooking, happy eating!