Matar Paneer No Onion No Garlic

There are many recipes which are simply difficult to cook without onion and garlic. Especially dishes like matar paneer. But there are families in India who cook without onion garlic always or during specific periods or days, so I have posted quite a few such recipes. ( You can try these recipes I have made without garlic or onion) But does that mean these are not tasty enough? Or gravy is not good? Or even flavour is any less? Well, I am pleased to tell you none of these is true. All of these recipes are tasty, with a good body and flavour in the gravy. So you can try them and see for yourself. Coming back to this matar paneer recipe without onion and garlic, this is one of the most convenient paneer recipes to make. All you need is one pot and simple ingredient to make this. No need to fry paneer, or use any kind of paste or puree. But the spices I have used in making this makes it flavourful and fragrant. With this recipe, you will make a semi-dry matar paneer that tastes best with rice, paratha, Naan or any bread of your choice. In case you are looking for regular Matar paneer recipe with Onion garlic Click here.

Ingredients for Matar Paneer

You can make this with frozen peas or fresh peas. Since in India fresh peas are in available in abundance in the market I used fresh peas. Also, if you have fresh peas in season in winters, you can make another no onion no garlic peas recipe UP style Matar ka nimona . Likewise, you can use raw paneer or fried pieces of paneer as per your taste preference. Also, You can use store-bought paneer or make fresh homemade paneer. I mostly use homemade paneer in most of my recipes. I use a tablespoon of milk cream/malai in the recipe, in case you want to make it without cream, you can simply skip that. Or you can substitute cream with cashew or almond paste.

Can you make it vegan?

Since paneer itself is milk product you can not make it vegan. But I can suggest that to make this vegan you can substitute even paneer with firm tofu. Although the taste of paneer and tofu is not the same but that’s best I can suggest. Replace yogurt /curd with non-dairy yogurt and cream with cashew paste. Also, this tastes best in mustard oil, which is commonly available in India. But you can substitute it with any vegetable oil or olive oil.

Most of the spices I have used in making this recipe are easily available in the Indian pantry. But in case you do not have them, you can easily find them easily in Indian Stores near you.

How To Make Matar Paneer without Onion and Garlic

First you need to heat ghee in a pan or wok.[photo 1] Heat it and add cumin seeds, Asafoetida, and bay leaf and allow cumin to crackle. [photo 2] Next add chopped tomatoes, cook them for few minutes and add grated ginger. [photo 3,4] Cook them further for few minutes and add salt, when tomatoes are mushy add peas. [photo 5,6]

Also add turmeric powder, coriander powder, red chilli powder, cumin powder. Mix and cook till peas are tender. [photo 1] Then add cream and curd/yogurt, mix well and cook for 2-3 minutes [photo 2,3] After that add ginger juliennes, and cubed paneer. Mix well and add water. cook further for few minutes.

While peas and paneer are cooking, In a small pan heat ghee and add 1tsp red chilli powder. and immediately add that in paneer and matar gravy [photo 1] Add garam masala powder and kasuri methi mix well and switch off the flame. No onion-garlic matar paneer is ready. [photo 2,3,4]

Step by Step Video

Recipe Notes and Expert Tips

If you are using mustard oil, make sure to smoke it first otherwise it will have strong flavour and aroma. The right way is heat mustard oil till it is smoky. Then switch off heat allow it to cool slightly and then proceed with recipe. While adding red chilli directly in oil be quick and as soon as you add red chilli powder in oil immediately add the tempering to gravy. otherwise red chilli burns very fast. Lastly when you are cooking paneer, make sure not cook it for more than 5 minutes. The texture gets rubbery after overcooking.