Sunday, January 10, 2010

Kadai Matar - Spicy Green Peas Curry


Happy New Year!

Hope you all had a great New Year! Sorry for being so slack with the posting. Time passes by me super fast these days, and other things have taken more priority too. We were out of town for the holidays and I took my own sweet time to get back to routine. It’s been a cold and snowy winter so far around our area, and I just prefer to cuddle on my couch during the weekends. This weekend for a change, I had the urge to be active in the kitchen and ended up with some new dishes.

This is one of those recipes I tried just in the spur of the moment. I was just flipping through some green-peas recipes a few hours ago, since a friend of mine had just then called up and had asked for a recipe primarily with green peas. She wanted to make use of a few packets of frozen peas stuck in her freezer. Green peas is one such vegetable that usually gets tossed in along with a bunch of other vegetables, and honestly I hardly make such a dish just with green peas. Of all the recipes I stumbled on, I liked this delicious looking recipe in a Punjabi cookbook I had purchased quite a while back. I decided to pass this on to my friend right away. It looked super-simple with hardly any chopping, with an elegantly styled photo along with the recipe. I was totally motivated and wanted to try my hand at this recipe, before passing it on to my friend, as it was dinner time anyway.

I think it makes a great dish - certainly better than pairing it up with another heavy feeling ingredient like paneer or potatoes. I should thank my friend in giving me a chance to try this new and yummy dish! Certain recipes are all about assembling the right ingredients together with right proportions, and this is one of them. Hope you all enjoy it as well!

Ingredients:
  • Frozen Peas - 2 cups
  • Ginger/Garlic Paste - 1 tbsp
  • Tomatoes - 2 medium (ripen)
  • Fenugreek seeds - 1/2 tsp
  • Red Chillies - 2
  • Lemon Juice - 1 tsp (optional)
  • Sugar - 1/4 tsp
  • Milk - 3 tbsp
  • Garam Masala - 3/4 tsp
  • Chilli Powder - 3/4 tsp
  • Corriander Powder - 1.5 tsp
  • Cardamom 2 - crushed
  • Kasoori Methi - 1 tbsp (crushed)
  • Corriander leaves - a hand full
Procedure:
  • Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a pan and season with fenugreek seeds and red chillies.
  • Add ginger/garlic paste and saute for about 2 mins.
  • Add garam masala, chilli powder and corriander powder one by one and saute in medium heat. (Have enough oil to fry these powders. If using less oil, be cautious in frying the powders as they may get burnt without oil.)
  • Add Lemon juice and tomatoes and saute for about 5 - 7 mins until tomatoes get well blended and soft.
  • Add the washed peas and mix well. Add milk, sugar and salt and cover and cook for 5 mins or until the peas is completely cooked.
  • Finally add crushed cardamom, Kasoori methi and corriander leaves and mix well. Let it boil for a min and remove from heat.
Enjoy it with chapathis and [whispering] I actually enjoyed it with curd rice much better :)

23 comments:

gtyuk said...

welcome back!!! No wonder it tasted good with the curd rice too :):) , delicious curry!!!

Unknown said...

Sounds easy and flavourful, green peas is my fav too!

chef and her kitchen said...

I always see this kadai matar recipe behind the frozen peas packet and always wanted to prepare,Before I prepare it i would hv finished that green peas packet..looks yummy dear

Priya Suresh said...

Such a delectable peas curry, prefect pair for rotis..

Raks said...

I have not tried recipes with full n full matar! This is very new to me,sounds awesome Sujatha!

notyet100 said...

looks delicious,...;-)

FH said...

Happy 2010 to you too. Kadai matar looks perfect, will try! :)

Sailaja Damodaran said...

Simple & colourful.Thanks for your honest suggestion.

Finla said...

Love peas curry like thsi, especially with chapathies.

Deepthi Shankar said...

I have never made anything only with green peas. looks nice

Cham said...

Happy New Year!
Kadai matar with curd rice, creamy and tasty!

Unknown said...

Sujatha,Excellent recipe.. I tried it yesterday. Very easy , less time consuming and very tasty ! Thanks for posting it !

Anu

Parita said...

Kadai matar looks fabulous! Perfect with phulkas and rotis..yumm!

Tina said...

Looks creamy and yummy.....

Cham said...

Happy Pongal Suja, did u get time to cook something for Pongal ?

Sujatha said...

Hi Cham,

I made sakkarai pongal and vadai for pongal. I wish I was in India to enjoy sugarcane too :) take care.

Parita said...

Curry looks lovely, perfect with phulkas!

Ramya Vijaykumar said...

The color itself is so indulging and yummy!!! Cant take my eyes off the dish!!!

Indranee Batabyal said...

This is a lovely recipe and I loved the paneer one as well! How r u doing?

AdukalaVishesham said...

never tried this but looks very tasty...

Dori said...

Mmmmm, spicy green peas are the best! Looks wonderful!

Kanchana Shekhar said...

looks very delicious! perfect accompaniment to chai on a rainy day!

janu said...

Tried it today for chapati and loved it!! Was very flavourful& rich.. Going to be regular!!