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Mattar paneer – Sweet and spicy cheese and pea curry

Mattar paneer – Sweet and spicy cheese and pea curry
    • Prep time:
    • Cooking time:
    • Total time:
  • Serves: 4

Mattar paneer is a fantastic combination of sweet, fresh and spicy flavours. Not too hot, but very tasty. A cheese and pea curry suitable for almost everyone.

  • Vegetarian

Ingredients

  • 7cm root ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
  • 200g frozen peas (ideally petits pois)
  • Sunflower oil, for frying, plus 100ml
  • 380g paneer cheese, cut into 1.5cm cubes
  • 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
  • 1 x 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
  • 2 teaspoons medium red chilli powder
  • 2 teaspoons turmeric
  • 2-4 teaspoons ground coriander
  • ½ teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 ¼ teaspoons salt
  • 1 handful of fresh coriander, finely chopped

Method

If you want to try making this Mattar paneer curry recipe, follow the below stages.

Stage 1

Chop the root ginger until it’s really fine. Rinse the frozen peas in warm water to start them thawing.

Stage 2

Heat the frying oil – about 10cm deep – in a large pan over a high heat. Test the temperature by dropping a piece of paneer into the oil – when it is hot enough, the oil will bubble around the cheese. Reduce the heat to medium.

Gently lower the paneer cubes into the oil and fry for 2 minutes, until they start to turn golden brown. Be particularly careful while they fry, as the moisture in the cheese can sizzle and spit when it meets the hot oil. Remove from the oil with a slotted spoon and leave to rest on kitchen paper to drain.

Stage 3

Heat 100ml of oil in a separate large pan for 90 seconds over a medium heat, then add the cumin seeds. When they start to brown, reduce the heat to low and stir in the tomatoes. Add the finely chopped ginger, chilli powder, turmeric, ground coriander, ground cumin, salt and fresh coriander. Mix well and allow to cook for a minute, then stir in the paneer cubes and peas. Increase the heat to high and pour in 275ml of boiling water. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to medium and simmer three-quarters covered for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Remove from the heat and leave to rest, covered for at least 10 minutes to allow the flavours to develop.

Spoon off any excess oil released by the paneer during cooking, then reheat over a medium heat until piping hot and serve with cooked rice and/or naan bread.

The finished Mattar paneer curry, served in a white bowl with some Naan bread on the side.
The completed Mattar Paneer curry

If you enjoyed making this Mattar paneer curry recipe, check out a few more recipes.

Notes

I use frozen petits pois for this dish, as they tend to be sweeter and more tender than regular garden peas.