Delhi Style Maatar Paneer

My early childhood was spent growing up in Delhi, India when my dad was stationed at the Army base. One of the famous vegetarian dishes in Delhi/North India is Maatar Paneer, aka Peas & Paneer cheese in a tomato-onion curry base. Paneer is a simple cheese similar to ricotta, but firm enough to hold its shape through any cooking process. For those reasons its used in many curries and a favorite vegetarian protein in India.

At one point in my life as a child this recipe was my favorite, my mom made it mild with loads of freshly shelled sweet peas so we kids would enjoy it. My favorite way to eat it was with plain parathas, unleavened flat chapati smeared with a little ghee or buttery rice. Then somewhere when I was 8-9 years old we went to a family wedding and Maatar Paneer was on the menu as one would find in almost all Indian weddings. Needless to say I devoured the creamy tomato curry studded with emerald peas and cheesy paneer with my cumin scented rice, only hours later I experienced the worst violent vomiting of my life. My mom swears it was something else because nobody else fell sick, but for me the experience was traumatic enough to keep me off paneer for the rest of my life. Yes, I never ate paneer after that day!

I cook paneer for my family specially for my son who loves all things paneer and I enjoy making it for him. Maatar paneer in India is a winter dish best made with fresh green peas and homemade paneer. Markets in north India during winter months are stacked high with fresh plump pea pods and sold in bags just for this special recipe. The fun part is shelling the emerald pods and popping half the sweet peas into ones mouth and saving half for the recipe. When fresh peas is not in season frozen works just fine, I actually prefer frozen peas in this recipe because they’re blanched and partially cooked, leaving them bright and rich green. Paneer can be store bought or homemade, now readily available in regular grocery stores across U.S and of course all Indian grocers do carry them. If you re into making things from scratch homemade paneer is perhaps the simplest cheese to make. And please use fresh tomatoes, canned just doesn’t cut it. From here on the recipe is fairly simple with the usual suspects: onions, garlic, ginger, turmeric, ground coriander, garam masala etc etc.

Delhi Style Maatar Paneer, Serves 4-5

Ingredients

• 8-10 ounces fresh paneer, cubed into one inch cubes
• 14 oz-1 pound frozen organic peas, defrosted
• 2 tablespoons ghee
• 1-2 tablespoons avocado or any neutral oil that you regularly use for frying the paneer
• 1 large onion, thinly sliced
• 4 cloves garlic, about 1 tablespoon
•  1 ½ inch ginger, 1 tablespoon 
• 2 large fresh ripe tomatoes or 3 Roma tomatoes, puréed
• 1 heaped teaspoon coriander powder
• 1 bay leaf
• ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
• 3/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• ½ teaspoon ground cardamom
•  1 tablespoon dried fenugreek leaves also called kasuri methi, crushed between the palms
• 1 teaspoon Kashmiri chili powder, for color, sweet mild paprika also works
• ½ -1 teaspoon hot chilli powder, Indian or cayenne
• 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons fresh cream or coconut milk, optional for extra richness

Instructions

1. For the Paneer: warm 1-2 tablespoons oil in a frying pan or skillet. Gently add cubes of paneer into the warm oil and fry them until golden brown. (be careful the paneer has moisture that tends to splatter) Once golden brown on you[le of sides, transfer the cubes to a bowl of water allowing them cool.
2. In a large sauce pan warm the ghee and add cumin seeds and bay leaf allowing the cumin seeds to crackle.
3. Add the chopped onion and saute until translucent. Now add the ginger-garlic pastes, and saute for a minute.
4. Next add turmeric powder, both red chilli powders, coriander powder and saute until the onions are soft and have a paste like consistency, this is essential for the ultimate creamy texture of the curry.
5. Once the onion mixture is fragrant add the fresh tomato puree, kosher salt, garam masala, dried fenugreek leaves, cardamom powder and saute until the ghee starts to separate from the mixture. Then add the paneer and gently toss so the paneer can absorb some of the flavor. Followed by green peas.
6. Add a cup of water and boil it for 5-6 minutes until a thick curry gravy/sauce like texture is achieved.
7. Take it off the heat and serve hot with roti, naan or rice, garnished with chopped cilantro leaves.