Creamy Rich Paneer Mattar Masala

Paneer -  Paneer or  panir, is a non melting , non aged Indian cheese made from full fat cow's milk, by curdling it with lemon juice or vinegar. 

Mattar -  Peas, pachai pattani.

Paneer mattar masala is a quite popular dish all over India. It is a less-spicy (sweetish touch) curry and hence it's popularity has spread globally to a point that, you will definitely get this curry if you go to an Indian restaurant buffet. We love this paneer mattar masala very much and make it once a month.Whenever I make it, I do this in a large batch , so that we could have this along with chapathi for almost 4 dinners and I could focus on my other works. So this is like a blessing dish for anyone who likes 'meal preps'. 

Hi friends,

Kindly subscribe to my channel if you are enjoying my content. Also please help by 'like and share' as this will definitely help my channel to grow.

Thanks for subscribing !

Lots of love,

VikiXavier

Ingredients:

Paneer -300 gm 
Green Peas - 2 cup
Peanut oil - 2 tbsp
Tomato - 4

(or) 2 cups Diced tomato from can

Onion - 1 (big)
Gnger - 2 inch
Garlic - 5 cloves
Almond or cashew  - 10
Cinnamon - 2 inch
Cumin - 1 tsp

Fennel - 1 tsp

Cardamom - 6

Sugar - 1 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Red chilly powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam masala powder - 1 tsp
coriander powder - 3 tsp
salt - 2 tsp
Cilantro - a handful
Dried methi leaves  - 1 tbsp
Butter - 1  tbsp

Method:

Add hot water to almond or cashew and soak for 1 hour. Let cool.

Grind ginger garlic together to a fine mixture without adding water.

Heat oil in a wok. Chop the paneer into 1 inch size cubes. (Fry the chopped paneer till golden brown and keep aside - Optional).
Slice the onion lengthwise. 
Heat 2 tbsp peanut oil in a kadai. Add onion, fennel, cumin, cinnamon, cardamom.

Fry till onion becomes golden brown. 

Then  add ginger garlic paste and fry for 1 minute. 

Add chopped  tomato and saute till oil separates. Add 1 tsp sugar.

Remove skin of almond. Add it to the frying tomatoes.

Add 1/2 tsp turmeric, 1/2 tsp chili powder, 3 tsp coriander pdr, 1/2 tsp garam masala powder.

Saute for 1 min to remove raw smell. Then switch off and let cool.

Grind this to a fine paste using 1/2 cup water.

In the same pan, add 2 cups of water. Add 1 cup fresh peas (or frozen peas thawed for 30 mins).  Cook till soft.

If using Indian fresh peas, then cook it for long time. If using American sweet peas, we can cook it within 10 mins.

After cooking the paste, add the prepared 'finely ground masala'. Reduce flame and cook covered for 10 minutes.

As the raw smell vanishes and oil starts showing up add the fried / chopped paneer and mix well.
Keep it in low flame for 5 minutes and switch off.

Garnish with finely chopped cilantro and kasuri methi.

Paneer mattar masala is ready!

Serving suggestions:
Serve hot with chapati or paratha.

Note:
No need to fry the paneer. It is optional only.

Paneer mattar masala

Paneer mattar masala is a curry with Indian cottage cheese and green peas. Paneer means Indian cheese and mattar stands for green peas. This is a lesser spicy curry of Indian vegetarian cuisine. Most common among North Indians and admired by all.

Long back I tasted it in 'DATA udipi hotel' in Nesapakkam, chennai along with parotta for the first time. After that, that restaurant became a regular for us while in that location. Eating out was not a common thing in my birthplace and so after marriage , Xav took me to many restaurants of Chennai. Even though not a big restaurant, it was the first that comforted me with chole poori and relieved my home sick feeling after marriage. They used to sell a kind of sweetened betel leaf named 'paan' and it was a lot of fun for me to take a piece of paan while going home. I have heard that those paan may spoil the teeth . So ask the pan maker to carefully prepare it without any lime (sunnambu) , otherwise we may end up with red mouth:)

Recently one day I prepared this curry for Xav's lunch along with chapathi and some curd rice. We absolutely love this dish with 'Indian store bought' frozen parotta too and remembered those great days.



Ingredients:
Paneer -100 gm (chopped 2 handful)
green peas (fresh / frozen) - 1 cup

For masala to grind:
oil - 1 tbsp
Tomato - 2
onion - 1 (big)
ginger - 2 inch
garlic - 5 cloves
cashew - 5
cinnamon - 2 inch


others:
Red chilly powder - 1 tsp
garam masala powder - 1 tbsp
coriander powder - 1 tbsp
Turmeric powder - 1/8 tsp
salt - to taste
cilantro - a handful
dried methi leaves  - 1 tbsp
butter - 1  tbsp
cumin - 1 tsp

Method:
Heat oil in a wok. Chop the paneer into 1 inch size cubes. (Fry the chopped paneer till golden brown and keep aside - Optional).

Then fry the cashews, cinnamon, onion and fry till it becomes golden brown. Also add ginger garlic and fry for 1 minute. Let everything cool.

Cook tomato with 1 cup water till mushy. (I microwaved it for 3 minutes). Let it cool.

Grind the onion, cashew, spices, tomato together into a fine paste along with the water from cooked tomato.

Heat the wok and fry a bay leaf, cumin .

Add the ground paste, coriander powder, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, garam masal powder, salt and bring it to a boil. Then add the green peas and cook completely. Reduce flame and cook covered for 10 minutes.

As the raw smell vanishes and oil starts showing up add the fried / chopped paneer and mix well.
Keep it in low flame for 5 minutes and switch off.

Garnish with finely chopped cilantro and kasuri methi.

Paneer mattar masala is ready!

Serving suggestions:
Serve hot with chapati or paratha.

Note:
No need to fry the paneer. It is optional only.
If needed add a tbsp of brown sugar to increase the taste.
I add one cooked potato to this dish to give more thickness to the curry.