The BEST, homemade Punjabi matar paneer recipe. It’s incredibly flavorful thanks to the vibrant, spicy onion-tomato gravy. And who can resist that soft, succulent paneer cubes with perfectly cooked, soft green peas? A must-try recipe for paneer lovers!
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❤️About This Recipe
This matar paneer is home-style paneer gravy. The instruction is included to make it restaurant style.
It’s healthy and less rich compared to most paneer dishes like paneer butter masala, paneer tikka masala, etc.
This is the popular North Indian dish that you’ll surely find in any Indian restaurant menu. Every restaurant/household has its own version of making it.
This is most commonly made during the winter season in most Punjabi households. In India, fresh green peas are in abundance during the winter months. But that’s not the case here in the USA, so I always use frozen peas.
🧾Ingredient Notes
Here is the pic of the ingredients required to make super delicious matar paneer. All of them are basic to Indian cooking, nothing fancy required.
Paneer: Here in the USA, I always find paneer packets in the refrigerator or freezer section at any Indian grocery store. It’s hard to find the fresh paneer as we get in India. But if you have some time on hand, you can make paneer at home, it’s easy to make.
FYI, I prefer any of these brands when it comes to store-bought ones - Nanak malai paneer, Verka, Gopi brans.
Green peas: When it comes to frozen peas, I have never liked the ones we get in Indian grocery stores. Those are dry and not sweet (flavorless). I prefer the organic Kirkland brand from Costco.
Onion, tomato, ginger, garlic, green chili: These are basic, go-to produce to make typical Punjabi red gravy. All these are sautéed and ground into the paste to make a smooth, thick gravy.
🎥Watch The Recipe Video
👩🍳Step By Step Photo Instructions
1) Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a pan on medium heat. Once hot add cumin seeds and let them sizzle a bit.
2) Then onion, ginger, garlic and green chili. Sprinkle a little salt to speed up the cooking process.
3) Cook until onions become soft and light pink in color.
4) Then add tomatoes and cook until they are softened. Let the mixture cool down slightly.
5) Transfer it to the blender jar
6) and make a smooth puree.
7) Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil in the same pan. Once hot add prepared puree and let it simmer. If it is spluttering too much then you can partially cover the pan with a lid and continue cooking.
8) Do stir every few minutes to make sure that it is not sticking to the bottom and sides of the pan. Cook until it becomes thick and most of the water is evaporated.
9) Now add turmeric powder, red chili powder, coriander powder and remaining salt.
10) Mix well and saute for a minute.
11) Add water and let it simmer for 5 minutes. While the gravy is simmering, take green peas in a bowl with a couple of tablespoons of water and a sprinkle of salt. Microwave it for about 4 minutes.
12) Now add the paneer and cooked peas. Mix and simmer for 2 minutes.
13) Add garam masala and crushed kasoori methi. Mix well.
14) Add heavy cream and mix. Let it come to a simmer and turn off the stove.
🍽 Serving Ideas
Meal 1: Serve matar paneer with Indian bread (naan, lachha paratha) and Indian onion salad, salted lassi on the side.
Meal 2: Serve with piping hot steamed basmati rice or jeera rice. Have some roasted papad and kachumber salad on the side for some crunch and fresh element.
FAQs
- Use ghee or butter instead of oil.
- Add 7-8 cashews along with tomatoes and grind into the puree. The cashews help to make a rich and thick gravy.
- Increase the amount of heavy cream to total ¼ cup.
Please use tofu instead of paneer and a little bit of cashew paste instead of heavy cream.
I prefer to cook in the microwave as it’s easy and convenient for me. Boil in simmering water for about 4-5 minutes. If using fresh peas then it takes longer. If so you can boil in the pressure cooker.
PS Tried this matar paneer recipe? Please leave a star rating in the recipe card below and/or a review in the comment section. I always appreciate your feedback! Plus, Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook for all the latest updates.
📋 Recipe Card
Matar Paneer
Ingredients
For Sauté And Puree:
- 1 tablespoon Oil
- 1 teaspoon Cumin seeds
- 1 medium or 1 cup Red onion roughly chopped
- ½ inch Ginger chopped
- 2 cloves Garlic chopped
- 1 Green chili chopped
- 2 medium or 1 ½ cups Tomato roughly chopped
For Gravy:
- 6 oz or 170 grams Paneer cut into cubes
- 1 cup Green Peas Cooked in microwave or boiled
- 1 tablespoon Oil
- ¼ teaspoon Turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon Red chili powder
- 1 teaspoon Coriander powder
- Salt to taste
- ½ teaspoon Garam masala
- 1 teaspoon Kasoori methi (Dried fenugreek leaves) Crush before adding
- 1 cup Water
- 2 tablespoons Heavy whipping cream or fresh cream or malai
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Instructions
- Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a pan on medium heat. Once hot add cumin seeds and let them sizzle a bit.
- Then onion, ginger, garlic and green chili. Sprinkle a little salt to speed up the cooking process.
- Cook until onions become soft and light pink in color.
- Then add tomatoes and cook until they are softened. Let the mixture cool down slightly.
- Transfer it to the blender jar and make a smooth puree.
- Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil in the same pan. Once hot add prepared puree and let it simmer. If it is spluttering too much then you can partially cover the pan with a lid and continue cooking.
- Do stir every few minutes to make sure that it is not sticking to the bottom and sides of the pan. Cook until it becomes thick and most of the water is evaporated.
- Now add turmeric powder, red chili powder, coriander powder and remaining salt. Mix well and saute for a minute.
- Add water and let it simmer for 5 minutes.
- While the gravy is simmering, take green peas in a bowl with a couple of tablespoons of water and a sprinkle of salt. Microwave it for about 4 minutes.
- Now add the paneer and cooked peas. Mix and simmer for 2 minutes.
- Add garam masala and crushed kasoori methi. Mix well.
- Add heavy cream and mix. Let it come to a simmer and turn off the stove.
Notes
- Use ghee or butter instead of oil.
- Add 7-8 cashews along with tomatoes and grind into the puree.
- Increase the amount of heavy cream to total ¼ cup.
Colette
I've been trying to cook Indian recipes over the last 18 months (avoiding restaurants during COVID but still want Indian food!) and this one was great. Easy to follow directions and delicious! Thank you 🙂
Kanan Patel
Glad that you find recipes helpful.
Happy Cooking!!
kam
loved this - the whole family really enjoyed this dish! Can you freeze this in advance? Also I also add garam masala earlier on when I make torka. Is there any advantage to adding it close to the end of the method?
Kanan Patel
Yes you can freeze it.
garam masala should be added at the end of the cooking process, so it can retain its flavor and aroma.