About Matar Paneer Recipe: An everyday dish of cottage cheese and peas mingled in a rich, tomato gravy. Matar Paneer is a dish from India, made more often in North Indian homes in dinner menu or even for lunch. You can have it with chapati or naan and even mix with rice.
Ingredients of Matar Paneer
2 Cups Paneer (cubed, deep fried to a light brown)
2 Cups Green peas (shelled)
3-4 Green chillies (slit a little)
For the gravy:
2 Cups Onion, chopped
1 tsp Garlic cloves (ground with onions), peeled
1 tsp Ginger, chopped
1/2 Cup Tomato, grated
1/4 Cup Oil
2 tsp Cumin seeds
2 Bay leaves (tej patta)
1/2 tsp Turmeric (haldi)
1 Tbsp Salt
1/2 tsp Garam masala
1/2 tsp Red pepper, powdered
1 Tbsp Coriander (dhania) seeds, powdered
1 Tbsp Coriander leaves (for garnish), chopped
How to Make Matar Paneer
1.Blend the onions, garlic and ginger to a paste.
2.Heat oil and add the cumin seeds and the bay leaves.
3.Add onion paste and saute till brown and fat separates.
4.Add tomatoes, turmeric, salt, garam masala, red pepper and the coriander powder, and stir-fry till fat separates.
5.Add the peas, paneer and the green chillies and saute over high heat till glossy.
6.Add two cups water, bring to a boil and simmer for 5-10 minutes.
7.Serve hot, garnished with the coriander leaves. Omit the chillies if you so desire.
This matar paneer recipe is horrible. It doesn't even talk about adding the ginger in the steps or what kind of oil to use. Or to even remove the bay leaves (for the novices). Once you add TWO cups of water it's basically all water, zero flavour. Should be a much thicker consistency. Skip this recipe, it's garbage and a waste of your time and ingredients.
This was good but I only loosely followed it because the directions were vague and never mentioned the ginger. In case it helps others, here is what I did.
I pan seared the paneer instead of deep frying it.
I just finely chopped the onions and then cooked them with the garlic. Added the ginger (grated like a puree instead of chopped) for about 30 seconds after the onions were done.
I only added a tsp of salt and then tasted it and added more as needed... 1 Tbsp of salt is way too much.
It was a lot of water to add so I had to cook it for considerably longer than 5-10 mins to cook it down to a reasonable consistency. This caused the peas to cook longer than I'd have liked. Next time I think I would cut the water by half.
I added about 1/4 cup coconut milk at the end, just because yum.
Overall it turned out super tasty.