Matter paneer/Mutter paneer

Matter paneer is a dish you can find in almost any Indian restaurant outside India. Most of these Indian restaurants have Punjabi dishes on their menu with dishes such as matter paneer, palak paneer, allu gobi , etc along with rice and naan. Paneer is Indian soft cheese, similar to mozzarella with no salt add. I have made a version of paneer adding salt and pepper which I have used in Matter paneer. My hubby likes all kinds of Punjabi dishes, which I try to make with novice expertise.

Matter paneer is a dish high in calories as paneer and cream are usually used. However, I have tried to reduce the calories by not using the cream. Even without cream this dish looks and tastes great. I came across lot of recipes on the web and also checked out the videos in You Tube making this dish. Finally after a few trial and errors, I have a recipe that I like.

What you need

Paneer : 1 cups cubed( Shallow fry in little oil until brown color and keep it in warm water until the time of use. I didn’t fry my paneer)
Green Peas: 1 cup
Almonds: 15 no
Ginger-garlic paste: 2 tablespoon or (Garlic : 2 cloves, Ginger : 1 inch freshly ground into paste)
Tomato: 3 no
Green chili: 1 nos
Onion: 1 no
Whole Garam masala (Bay leaves: 1, Cloves: 3 no, Cinnamon: two 1”inch stick, Green cardamom: 3 no mace: 1 no)
Cumin seeds: ½ teaspoon
Chili powder: 1 teaspoon
Cumin powder: 1 teaspoon
Coriander powder: 1 teaspoon
Kasturi methi( Dried Fenugreek leaves) : 1 tablespoon
Chopped coriander leaves: 1 tablespoon
Olive oil: 1 tablespoon
Butter: 1 tablespoon
Water: ¾ cup
Salt: 1 teaspoon or to taste
Heavy cream: 2 tablespoon (optional, I didn’t used)

How I made

Heat ½ tablespoon oil and butter in a sauce pan and add almonds and fry till they become slight brown takes about 3 minutes. Then add chopped onion and half teaspoon of salt and fry until onion become translucent or slightly brown color. Then add ginger-garlic paste and stir until the raw smell goes and then add, turmeric and chopped tomatoes to this mixture and let it fry for another 6 minutes, until tomato become soft and mixed well onion. Switch off the flame and let cool the mixture for about 6 minutes. Grind the cooled tomato, onion almond mixture to fine paste.

Heat a thick bottomed pan and add ½ tablespoon oil and butter and add whole garam masala , cumin seeds and when cumin seeds splutter add the ground paste of tomato, onion, almond, ginger-garlic along with ¾ cup water add turmeric, chili, cumin, coriander powder and green chilies boil for 15 minutes or until oil oozes on the top . Add kasturi methi (crush with hand and add) to this mixture and let it boil for another 5 minutes.
Add green peas and cooks for another 5 minutes (if using fresh give more time, or pressure cook for one hiss and add to the paste). Then add paneer and let it boil for another 5 minutes in low flame. Finally add cream and simmer it for another 2 minutes.

Switch off the flame and garnish with chopped coriander leaves and enjoy with chapathi or nan.

Preparation time 45 minute
Yield : 4 serving
Verdict: Tasty rich dish
Will you make it again: Yes

Swathi