You can’t go wrong with a paneer dish in the house. Kids love it, parents love it, your cat will probably like it (please don’t feed this to any animal), and, of course, you’ll love it! What’s paneer, you ask? Well, I am here to tell you! Paneer is a soft, savory cheese that doesn’t melt. It’s amazing at picking up flavors and is very likely why people love to use it in all sorts of delicious vegetarians curries. This Matar Paneer is made in an aromatic, creamy, tomato based salan with tender paneer and fresh peas and will definitely have you coming back for seconds. Let’s get started with the recipe, shall we?
Ingredients:
- 250 grams paneer, cubed
- 1 large onion, finely diced
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons ginger-garlic paste
- 2 large tomatoes, pureed
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Pakistani red chili powder
- 1/2 – 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup frozen peas
- 1/4 cup milk or heavy cream
Directions:
In a large skillet with vegetable oil, start by softening up that diced large onion on medium heat. As it start to turn lightly golden brown add in the ginger garlic-paste. Continue to let it cook down until dark golden-brown and translucent, this should take a total of about 15 minutes. Just let it cook low and slow, no need to rush the process or you may burn your onions!
While the onion cooks you can prepare your tomatoes by puréeing them in a blender. Then go ahead and add those into the skillet with the cooked onions. Stir the tomato in and keep the heat on medium.
After mixing the tomato in add your spices and salt and let the tomato base cook down until aromatic and thick, about 10 minutes. At this point you can add in some water to thin out the salan. Now, you’re probably wondering why I’m adding water in after spending all that time cooking water out! Well, I’m here to let you know! We were spending all that time cooking the tomatoes, of course – losing the water was collateral damage, but also just what cooking is hahaha. After the tomatoes are cooked down and infused with the spices I like to add about a half cup water to thin out the salan.
Once your tomato-based salan is ready just keep it warm on a low heat and cover until ready to use. And now you can turn your attention the CO-STAR of the show, sorry paneer, you have to share the stage with peas today. Cube up your paneer and in a lightly oiled non-stick frying pan add in your paneer cubes. Cook until golden brown on both sides, about 4-5 minutes per side on medium-low heat. Once they’re cooked stir them straight into the salaan.
Once you add in the paneer add the frozen peas in and mix everything together. Lastly add in the milk or heavy cream, which is just the *chefs kiss* cherry on top. Simmer on a low heat to let all the flavors meld together and infuse into the paneer and peas, about 3-5 minutes. At this point you can taste and adjust the salt to your liking, if necessary. And then, it’s done!
Now that you’ve made a delicious Mattar Paneer you can eat it straight away! I would recommend it with some fresh naan or basmati rice. You can’t go wrong with either!
Matar Paneer (Paneer and Pea Salan)
Ingredients
- 250 grams paneer, cubed
- 1 large onion, finely diced
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons ginger-garlic paste
- 2 large tomatoes, pureed
- ½ teaspoon teaspoon salt, to taste
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin powder
- ½ teaspoon Pakistani red chili powder
- ½ cup water
- ½ cup frozen peas
- ¼ cup milk or heavy cream
Instructions
- Heat up a large skillet on medium heat and add in your vegetable oil. Add in the diced onion and cook until lightly golden brown (about 10 minutes) and then add in ginger-garlic* paste. Cook for an additional 5 minutes until dark golden brown.
- While the onion cooks down you can prepare the tomatoes by pureeing in a blender. Add puréed tomatoes into cooked onions and mix thoroughly. Add in spices and salt to tomato-base.
- Let tomato to cook down on medium heat and spices to infuse into it until aromatic and thickened. This should take about 10 minutes. To thin out the salan (if you wish) add in ½ -1 cup water. Lower the heat to low and cover with lid – set aside until ready to use.
- Cube paneer evenly and add into a lightly oiled non-stick frying pan. Cook on medium-low heat until golden brown on both sides, 4-5 minutes per side. Add cooked paneer into tomato-based salan.
- Add frozen peas into salan and lastly add in milk or heavy cream to make salan creamy.
- Let the salan simmer on low heat for 5 minutes to allow flavors to infuse into paneer and pease. At this point taste salan and adjust salt if necessary.
- Once done serve immediately garnished with cilantro as a side to fresh naan or basmati rice.
- Enjoy!
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If you tried out a recipe and enjoyed feel free to leave a review and comment down below. I would love to hear what you thought ✨
If you tried out a recipe and enjoyed feel free to leave a review and comment down below. I would love to hear what you thought ✨