Try this Matar Paneer recipe.
- 1 bay leaf
- salt as needed
- 2 green cardamoms
- 1 cup chopped onions (discard the basal part of the onio
- 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cup ripe tomatoes
- 8 to 10 cashew nuts or skinned almonds (use 5 to 6 m
- 1 green chili(optional)
- 1 to 1.5 tbsp butter or oil (or half butter half oil
- 1 1/2 tsp ginger garlic paste
- 1/2 cup green peas
- 1 1/2 cups paneer/ indian cottage cheese
- 1/2 tsp cumin / jeera (optional)
- half inch cinnamon stick/ dalchini
- 2 cloves/ laung
- 1/2 to 3/4 tsp kashmiri red chili powder
- 3/4 to 1 tsp garam masala (or 1/2 tsp garam masala 1/2 tsp coriander powder)
- 1/4 tsp kasuri methi
- few coriander leaves chopped finely
- 1/4 cup cream(substitute with 5 to 6 cashews)
- Carbohydrate 2.18608999990987 g
- Cholesterol 0 mg
- Fat 0.106494999996196 g
- Fiber 0.746099988569606 g
- Protein 0.600019999990769 g
- Saturated Fat 0.0208424999989704 g
- Serving Size 1 1 to 5 (18g)
- Sodium 80.8139999999341 mg
- Sugar 1.43999001134026 g
- Trans Fat 0.0376499999987878 g
- Calories 11 calories
Step-by-step
- Make a fine paste of onions, tomatoes, chili, cashews. You can also blanch onions and use them here. Refer step by step instructions for details.
- Optional step. Saute paneer in little oil and immerse them in hot water until used.
- Saute cumin, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon and bay leaf in oil for 1 to 2 minutes. Fry ginger garlic paste until the raw smell goes off.
- Add the ground paste and fry until it leaves the sides of the pan.
- Also the raw smell must disappear. Add chili powder, garam masala, coriander powder and salt. saute for 2 to 3 minutes.
- Add peas and 1.5 cups water. Cook until the gravy thickens. When the gravy turns thick, you will also see some oil on top of the gravy. There is not much oil used in the recipe so you can see very little oil on top.
- To the thick gravy, add paneer and kasuri methi. Cook for just 2 to 3 minutes.
- Using cream is optional. Pour cream to a bowl, add little gravy and mix well. Stir this in to the pan.
- Switch off the stove and add finely coriander leaves.
- Serve matar paneer with roti or rice.
Timing the addition of the paneer determines whether the cheese cubes turn soft and absorbent or rubbery and dry. Simmer the paneer in the gravy for strictly two to three minutes at the end of cooking. Longer heat exposure forces the moisture out of the dairy proteins, leaving behind a squeaky, tough texture.
Many cooks ruin this dish during the initial paste-making phase. Blending raw onions, tomatoes, cashews, and green chilies together creates excess moisture that requires prolonged frying to evaporate. Watch the pan carefully. Fry the blended paste until the mixture separates from the edges and oil glistens on the surface. Rushing this step leaves a harsh, raw allium taste that spices cannot mask.
Soaking paneer in warm water after a light pan-searing step keeps the interior spongy. This technique compensates for the low fat content found in commercial blocks of cheese. Cashews function as a dual-purpose ingredient in this dish. They thicken the aromatic onion-tomato paste while doubling as a dairy-free cream substitute when blended separately with warm water at a one-to-one ratio.
North Indian dhaba traditions heavily influence home preparations of matar paneer, favoring heavy gravies built on caramelized bases. Modern kitchens adapt these roadside styles by scaling down the quantity of oil without sacrificing body, relying instead on the natural starch of the blended nuts and the sweetness of green peas to round out the heat of Kashmiri chili powder.
