Matar paneer
- rosemary
- Aug 15
- 7 min read
The dish above is not matar paneer - it's paneer pasanda - which means favourite paneer. I was about to finish my 'research' on matar paneer when I discovered that this relative - paneer pasanda was - in 2022 - Google's most researched recipe, which is mildly mind-blowing. So of course I had to find out what it was - obviously it isn't matar paneer because there are no peas - the 'matar' part of the matar paneer dish, but the sauce is similar, to another variation - butter matar paneer in which the paneer and peas are basically cooked in a butter chicken sauce.
However the real thing about the paneer pasanda - as clearly shown here in the version from Shawasthi's Recipes is that you make little sandwiches of the paneer chunks - cut them almost all the way through and then stuff them before frying and cooking in a sauce. It's not the topic of my post, however, so I don't know much more about it. You'd have to wonder how it became such a popular search. I found an Instagram video from Chef Kuna making his version of Paneer pasanda if you're interested in the technique but it won't give you quantities and timings.
I see I have sort of started at the end, so let me return to the beginning - which is my granddaughter's 18th birthday. Obviously the entire extended family will be gathering for this one - 15 people - maybe 16 now that I think of my grandson's girlfriend who seems to have become a member of the clan. And a real asset to the group she is.
15 people requires a bit of a feast and my granddaughter decided on Indian food for the main course. I have been assigned - or to be honest I assigned myself - the task of a requested paneer dish and also a chicken curry - which I am still dithering about. So I started looking into paneer curries and found that the three that most cropped up featured spinach, peas or cauliflower. And isn't it interesting that in spite of its popularity back in 2022 - Paneer pasanda did not crop up as an option? So I asked and was told that of the three vegetable options, peas were the preferred ones. So Matar paneer it is.
A quick aside here though for the cauliflower, which was in a non-traditional recipe from Rukmini Iyer - One-tin roast cauliflower and paneer curry. After all I had only been asked for a paneer curry. It didn't have to be traditional and this looked pretty tempting, a bit different, not to mention easy. But, it's her very special birthday and she prefers peas, so peas it is.
Damn - Woolworths had a special on cauliflower too in one of their two for $5.00 things. I bought one anyway, but now I shall Which is not a problem at all. So much to choose from these days. It's a favourite of all the trendsetters.
But back to matar paneer, which appears on most Indian restaurant menus - although one writer said less so these days. It's also said to be a favourite home dish. It comes from the northern Indian state of Punjab, where it began as a royal dish, became a celebration dish - birthdays, weddings and the like, and is now more everyday, and a favourite of restaurants.
Another brief aside. In her book Indian Cooking Class, Christine Manfield says in her introduction to her recipe Tomato paneer curry (recipe not online), that "Mattar paneer is a staple dish in the kitchens of southern India and also a popular dish in Mumbai's Irani cafés". Which rather goes against the unanimous statement everywhere else that it is a Punjabi dish. Mind you maybe the 'Irani cafés' reference is a hint of its northern origins. Although a quick check has not turned up a similar Persian dish. Christine Manfield's recipe is similar however, to most of the other recipes I have seen, and I have the book, so it's a potential source. I haven't quite decided on which recipe to use as yet.
There is actually a fair amount of agreement on how to cook this dish with just a couple of common variations. The website Mynt summarises it thus:
"The paneer is typically marinated and cooked in various aromatic spices, such as cumin, coriander, and garam masala, which infuse it with flavor and tenderness. The dish is finished with a creamy tomato-based sauce that adds a tangy and sweet taste." Mynt
Actually the best summary of the dish and its common variations came from a website called Tea for Turmeric, whose Indian writer Izzah had researched 10 books, which she sort of amalgamated in her own recipe for Matar paneer. Which is sort of what I do in circumstances like these. Well I take one as my base and then may modify it a bit. Here is what Izzah says:
"8 out of 10 recipes didn’t use cream. The two that did (Dishoom & 660 curries) had restaurant-inspired recipes. I prefer the creaminess of restaurant-style Paneer so I do include a small amount.
8 out of 10 didn’t purée the masala. Again, blending the masala is only necessary if you’re going for a restaurant-style sauce. This recipe calls for blending, but it’s designed to work either way.
Many recipes asserted that it’s better to pan-fry the paneer in this dish. I find there are advantages to both:
Adding it raw allows it to soak in the flavors of the curry and get very tender.
Pan-frying in butter or ghee lends the paneer itself a more complex flavor and crisp texture, making it more restaurant-like."
Does 'get very tender' mean it disintegrates? Below - the two creamed dishes from Dishoom and 660 curries
On that last point - the pan frying - I did find a recipe from Sohla El-Waylly of Bon Appétit - Paneer with burst cherry tomato sauce which is not at all traditional - as you can see from the photograph - sugar snap peas, whole - sort of - cherry tomatoes and long blocks of paneer - which fried the paneer on just one side, and then positioned it in the sauce with the fried side upwards. A kind of compromise - soaking up the sauce below and staying crispy on top. Although it probably wouldn't work so well with small chunks which is universally how the paneer is treated in all of the other recipes I found. A modernised version anyway. And it's actually quite tempting, because if you fried it, wouldn't it go soggy during it's period of cooking in the sauce?
Suffice to say that either method - frying or not - has its proponents. I think I'm tempted towards the crunchiness outside and creaminess within of the fried version - although that said, I bet it all sticks to the pan leading to potential disaster and paneer all broken up.
And I didn't mention the other problem for me - the scattering of the dish, or indeed the putting in the sauce - of coriander. At least one of my family hates coriander. Would they notice if I put it in the sauce? I could say it was parsley. Or could I provide a dish of chopped up coriander, for those who wanted to, to sprinkle on top? I doubt anyone would notice and therefore do it. So my current thought is to substitute mint - everyone likes mint. And yes indeed there are some recipes out there that do indeed substitute mint. In fact that Bon Appétit recipe has fried mint on top. I mean mint is a traditional pea companion isn't it?
But before I get to my possibles list, here are two more variations. The first from Meera Sodha - Fresh matar paneer on the National Post website, is in some ways similar to the Bon Appétit one in that not only does she play with the concept of peas, but she also adds in beans.
And then there is, of all people, Charmaine Solomon who does a Mattar panir - peas and fresh cheese on the Charmaine's Kitchen website - alas no picture It's a kind of cheat's version in that it uses her brand of Butter Chicken marinade, so it really is a butter matar paneer dish rather than the traditional one anyway. I include it however, because she uses ricotta which she bakes in the oven, until firm and golden, rather than paneer. Well ricotta is basically the same as paneer, but is soft. You weight the curds for paneer so that it becomes harder. A curiosity.
But what about my rather more traditional versions to choose from: Matar Paneer from Nik Sharma - whose recipe appears twice - the second looking rather different from the first, but which is the same recipe - which says something about food photography I guess; Green peas and Indian cheese in fragrant tomato sauce recipe - Julie Sahni/Eater - a much respected classic recipe; Matar paneer - Miriam Nice/BBC Good Food and Mattar paneer - Kaushy Patel/The Guardian. And looking at them all I see there is also a degree of variation in the sauce to content ratio. As always, somewhere in the middle for me I think. But you can always adjust that as you cook anyway.
I should say that, in all of the recipes, the composition of the sauce, pretty much stuck to the same ingredients - well there was variation between tinned and fresh, but tomatoes anyway. The spices were always very similar. And they almost all sprinkled garam masala on at the end. Then there's that cream question as well. Currently leaning towards Nik Sharma - well he is Indian, and it is a brilliant looking photograph - but I shouldn't get sucked in by that.
And no, Ottolenghi did not have a recipe and Jamie preferred spinach.
YEARS GONE BY
August 15 - Happy birthday Abby
2023 - The second time around
2022 - Another Parisian address
2021 - Nutella
2020 - Missing
2018 - Vale Reg
2017 - Lucky dip - figs
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