Matar Paneer Recipe | Mutter Paneer

5 from 28 votes

Matar Paneer Recipe | Mutter Paneer

Matar Paneer (Mutter Paneer) is a popular & delicious, creamy & flavorful vegetarian North Indian Punjabi dish where paneer and green peas are cooked in an onion-tomato gravy. Serve this restaurant-style paneer matar masala with any Indian bread like Tawa naan, homemade roti, soft chapati, or rice items such as steamed rice, jeera rice, or ghee rice.

Prep Time10

Cook Time20

Total Time30

Course: Dinner, Lunch

Cuisine: Delhi, north indian, punjabi

Diet: Gluten Free, Vegetarian

Servings:

Calories: 171kcal

Author: Kushi

Equipment

1 Pan

Ingredients

For Onion Tomato Masala

1 tablespoon Oil
1 tablespoon Butter
½ teaspoon Cumin seeds
1 Bay leaf
1 inch Cinnamon stick
3 Cloves
2 Cardamom pods
4 to 6 Dry red chillies (You can use red chile powder instead to taste)
8 to 10 Cashews
3 Onion, medium sliced
6 to 8 Garlic cloves chopped
3 Green chilies, slit
1 inch Ginger, chopped
¼ cup Cilantro or Corainder leaves
3 Tomatoes
Water, as needed (maybe total of 1 to 1 ½ cups for dish)

Other Ingredients

¾ teaspoon Salt, adjust to taste
200 grams Paneer cubes
1 ½ cups Green peas (fresh or frozen)
1 tablespoon Dried fenugrek or Kasuri methi
1 tablespoon Heavy cream
1 tablespoon Coriander leaves or Cilantor chopped

Instructions

How to make onion-tomato gravy or sauce?

Heat oil and butter in a pan on medium flame. To this, add cumin seeds, bay leaves, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, dry red chilies, and cashews. Saute on a medium flame for 2 minutes.
1 tablespoon Oil, 1 tablespoon Butter, ½ teaspoon Cumin seeds, 1 Bay leaf, 1 inch Cinnamon stick, 3 Cloves, 2 Cardamom pods, 4 to 6 Dry red chillies, 8 to 10 Cashews
Add onion, garlic, ginger, green chilies and continue to saute till onions become light golden. Sauteeing onions is a very important step and may take 6 to 8 minutes.
3 Onion, medium sliced, 6 to 8 Garlic cloves chopped, 3 Green chilies, slit, 1 inch Ginger, chopped
Once the mixture cools down, transfer this to a blender along with tomato, cilantro, ½ cup of water, and blend it to a smooth paste.
¼ cup Cilantro or Corainder leaves, 3 Tomatoes, Water, as needed (maybe total of 1 to 1 ½ cups for dish)

Making of matar paneer masala

In the same pan, add the ground tomato-onion masala with an additional ½ to ¾ cup water for the desired consistency, salt to taste, and cook for a minute or two.
¾ teaspoon Salt, adjust to taste
Add paneer, green peas, and simmer for 5 to 8 minutes. Finally, add heavy cream, dry fenugreek leaves, coriander leaves, and mix. Switch off the flame.
200 grams Paneer cubes, 1 ½ cups Green peas (fresh or frozen), 1 tablespoon Dried fenugrek or Kasuri methi, 1 tablespoon Heavy cream, 1 tablespoon Coriander leaves or Cilantor chopped

Instant Pot Matar Paneer

Press the saute button on your instant pot. To this, add butter and oil. Next, add cumin seeds, bay leaf, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, cashews, and saute for 1 minute.
Add onion, garlic, green chilies, and ginger, and saute for 3 to 4 minutes or until lightly golden. Turn off your IP. Let this cool down completely.
Add this to the blender along with tomatoes and coriander leaves and blend it to a smooth paste.
Turn on the saute mode of your IP. Add the paste and cook for 1 minute. To this, add paneer, green peas, 1 cup water, salt to taste, and mix. Deglaze the bottom if needed.
Press cancel and close the lid with a vent in the sealing position. Pressure cook on HIGH for 2-3 minutes. Quickly release the pressure manually.
Add heavy cream, dry fenugreek leaves, and coriander leaves, and mix everything together.

Video

Notes

If you do not have whole garam masala, you can skip it. Saute other ingredients along with onions. Substitute whole garam masala by adding 1 teaspoon of garam masala powder when adding paneer. Make sure the garam masala is of good quality.
Adding kasuri methi is optional, but it gives your dish a unique taste.
You can add the tomatoes & cilantro directly to the blender, as I have done today, or you can saute it along with tomatoes and blend. Both taste great.
How well you saute the onion-garlic mixture decides how your gravy tastes. So do this correctly.
Adding more cashews will make your dish creamier. This gravy thickens as it cools down. So, adjust the consistency accordingly.
To make vegan matar paneer, use tofu instead of paneer, soy or cashew milk for cream, and coconut oil for butter.
If using red chile powder instead of whole red chilies, add it along with the ground onion tomato masala and salt.

Some Variation to matar masala:

You can substitute paneer with mushroom or baby corn or, gobi(cauliflower) or potatoes (aloo), or you can even combine all of these. It tastes better when many veggies are added together, as the flavors from each enhance the taste of this dish.

Nutrition