Green Peas Masala Recipe – Matar Masala

GREEN PEAS MASALA / MATAR MASALA / GREEN PEAS GRAVY / MATAR MASALA GRAVY / NORTH INDIAN GRAVY TYPE DISH / HOW TO MAKE GREEN PEAS MASALA ? / PEAS MASALA RECIPE / GRAVY TYPE DISH RECIPES / DHABA STYLE GREEN PEAS MASALA / HOME STYLE GREEN PEAS MASALA RECIPE / VEGETARIAN RECIPES / PUNJABI RECIPES / GREEN PEAS MASALA STEP WISE PICTURES RECIPES / GREEN PEAS SUBZI / GREEN PEAS SUBJI / SUBZEE / SABZJEE 

Green peas masala is a very popular North Indian accompaniment for rotis/ phulkas / Chapatis or even mild pulao / ghee rice type of dishes. Whenever we hear Matar Masala,we immediately relate to this super creamy rich red colored restaurant style gravies… but this can be also made at home with some simple ingredients.  I’ve already shared the Dhaba style Green Peas Masala already and this one is simple home style preparation a little different… This week we had some vegetarian guests and i made this gravy to go with mild Ghee rice & Cabbage parathas, they all enjoyed very much.

Before you start with the preparation we have to do little prep work. Lets start one by one.

Soak the whole cashews in milk for about 15 minutes (refer Table-2 for this step)and grind them to fine consistency. It can be on the thinner side, some mixers won’t run with small quantity. (add extra milk if that’s the case, its fine!) Keep this aside.

In a pan, heat oil (refer Table-1 for this step) and splutter cumin seeds and saute the onion, green chili, ginger & garlic. When the onion turn little golden and translucent, add the chopped tomatoes and cook them till soft. (You may use blanched tomatoes too, but i have quartered the tomatoes and when they cook— the skin slides off and I removed them and discarded. Usually tomato skin is a little tough, is not used for making tomato puree and recommended to be removed. It doesn’t make much difference and its ok to grind along or you can try what i did after cooking them. Once done let this mixture cool a bit and then grind to fine paste like consistency.

Now for the gravy.. (refer Table-3 for this step) heat oil in pan, splutter cumin seeds and then saute the copped onion till golden brown, thena dd the tomato onion paste along with turmeric powder, red chili powder, coriander powder, kasuri methi leaves and salt.  Saute this over low flame for about 15 minutes till the becomes shinny and you should see the oil float a bit on top. (Remember if you don’t fry this mixture properly, your gravy will taste raw with onion & tomato smell)

Now add the sugar or honey along with green peas and saute for few minutes. Add cashew milk paste at this stage(this should be done at low flame or else the milk will curdle), slowly and gently stir in and incorporate. Simmer for few minutes or till the gravy thickens a little bit, garnish with coriander leaves and switch off.

Serve with roti / puri/ Chapati / Phulkas / parathas or Ghee rice or Mild Pulao.

Notes

• Recipes yields about 4 adult servings.
• Tomatoes blanched gives you a clean tomato puree – If you have time you can blanch and make the puree and add it instead of the chopped tomatoes. OR remove the tomato skin as shown in the procedure OR include them with the skin while grinding. It difference will not be noticed.
• If using fresh green peas then you have to boil them in water to cook them completely. Then add them to the gravy. If using frozen green peas then no need to cook, you can add them straight to the gravy.
• If using store bought garam masala then add just 1/2 teaspoon to start with as they are very strong and increase if you like more. If you plan to make fresh then add (1 inch cinnamon + 3 cloves + 1 cardamon) along with onion tomato mixture and saute and grind.
• No need to add any food color if you are using kashmiri chili powder and if your tomatoes are really rip and juicy.
• I’ve used 2% milk for the cashew paste, you can use any type low fat / no fat or full fat milk as per your preference.
• This recipe as such is midly low fat as does not include any cream or butter except for the cashews. You can make it low fat – by excluding cashews.
• To make it creamy – Saute everything with butter + add full fat milk while grinding cashews and also garnish with fresh cream.
• Kasuri Methi leaves, Kashmiri Chili Powder & Sugar is a must to keep it appetizing and on the tastier side.