Name: Matar Paneer
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients: 350 g paneer, cut into 2 cm cubes; 250 g frozen peas; 2 onions, finely chopped; 400 g tinned chopped tomatoes; 4 garlic cloves, crushed; 2 ½ cm ginger, grated; 2 green chillies, slit; 3 tbsp vegetable oil; 1 tsp cumin seeds; 1 tsp ground coriander; ½ tsp ground turmeric; 1 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder; 1 tsp garam masala; 1 ¼ tsp fine sea salt; 300 ml water; 2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves

Matar Paneer

Paneer and peas in an onion-tomato gravy, the weeknight version of the butter masala and the one most Indian households actually cook.

45 min total Serves 4 servings Easy

Fry the onion paste until the oil separates and pools at the edge of the pan. That is not a garnish, it is the signal that the water has gone and the sugars have caught — before it, the gravy tastes raw and sharp; after it, sweet and round. It takes about eight minutes and there is no shortcut. Frozen peas go in near the end: they need three minutes, and twelve turns them grey.

Matar Paneer: Step by Step

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Heat the oil in a wide pan and fry the cumin seeds for 30 seconds until they pop.
Add the onions and fry over a medium heat for 10 minutes, until deep golden.
Stir in the garlic, ginger and chillies and cook 2 minutes.
Add the coriander, turmeric and chilli powder and cook 30 seconds.
Tip in the tomatoes and cook 8 minutes, until the oil separates and pools at the edge.
Pour in the water, add the salt, and bring to a simmer.
Add the peas and simmer 3 minutes.
Add the paneer and simmer 4 minutes more, without stirring hard, so the cubes stay whole.
Stir in the garam masala and half the coriander.
Rest 5 minutes off the heat, then scatter the remaining coriander over.

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Tips That Matter

Wait for the oil to separate before you add water.
Peas at the end, not the beginning.
Slit the chillies rather than chopping them, and they season without burning.

Common Substitutions & Variations

Dried chilli flakes can stand in for the green chillies. Heat varies a great deal between chillies and between jars, so start with a small pinch and add more to taste.
If you only have ground ginger, a quarter-teaspoon for each tablespoon of fresh is the ratio usually given; it tastes warmer and less bright than the fresh root.
An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.

Serve It With

Chapati · Jeera rice · Plain yoghurt

Sides from the same cuisine on this site: Chapati (Roti), Gluten-Free Naan, Idiyappam.

Storage

Keeps 3 days refrigerated and reheats well with a splash of water.

Matar Paneer Nutrition

No nutrition figures are given for this recipe: they cannot be worked out reliably from its ingredient list (most of the energy comes from foods with no recorded source). Why some recipes have none.

Vegetarian Gluten-Free No Added Sugar