A classic Punjabi Dish… Aloo Matar is potatoes and green peas cooked in a tomato gravy.
Anyone else into The Bachelorette as much as I am? Tonight I watched the 20/20 Special on Inside the Bachelor on my DVR. I personally think a lot of this drama is real, and I love it! I can’t wait to see who Ali chooses on Monday. Rumor has it that she picks no one. OMG, I would be so annoyed because both guys are great in my opinion, especially Rrrrrrrrrrrrrroberto (rolling the r)… LOL!
Moving along, for dinner I made a classic Punjabi dish called Aloo Matar, which is essentially potatoes and green peas sauteed with Indian spices in a tomato gravy. There are so many variations of Aloo Matar, however I wanted to create a version that didn’t have too much gravy and I wanted to achieve a yellowish-green color for my dish. How did I do it? I added more turmeric powder, used only one tomato, and topped the dish off with fresh cilantro leaves. This dish goes really well with Roti/Naan. Hope you love it!
How to make Aloo Matar step by step?
Start by chopping the garlic, ginger, and onions.
Heat a pot on medium heat, once hot, add avocado oil, then add the cumin seeds.
Once they start sizzling, add the asafoetida and turmeric powder. Cook for about 5 seconds.
Now add the ginger and garlic. Saute for 15 seconds or so.
Add the onions and salt. Saute for about 8-10 minutes. Keep checking to make sure the onions don’t burn.
In the meantime, chop the tomato.
After 8-10 minutes, this is how the onions should look.
Add the tomato, red chili powder, coriander powder, and salt. Combine.
Lower the heat to dial #3, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
In the meantime, peel and cube the potatoes.
After 10 minutes, onion and tomato should form a paste-like consistency.
Add the potatoes and salt. Stir.
Add 1 cup of frozen green peas. Stir.
Add 1 cup of water.
Cover and Cook
Stir. Cover with a lid and allow this to simmer for 25 minutes on dial #3. Keep checking in between.
In the meantime, chop the cilantro.
This is what you should have after 25 minutes. Check the potato and make sure it is soft and edible. Add garam masala and turn off the stove. Adjust salt.
Add cilantro.
Combine. And there is that yellowish-green color I wanted. Wait at least 15 minutes before serving, this will allow all the flavors to combine.
Aloo Matar | Potatoes and Green Peas (vegan, gluten-free, healthy)
Ingredients
- Olive Oil - 1 1/2 tbsp
- Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp
- Asafoetida, hing - just a pinch
- Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp
- Garlic - 2 cloves, chopped
- Ginger - 1 inch piece, chopped
- Onion - 1 medium, chopped
- Plum Tomato - 1, chopped
- Red Chili Powder - 1/2 tsp
- Coriander Powder - 2 tsp
- Potatoes - 2 medium, bite size cubes
- Frozen Green Peas - 1 cup
- Water - 1.5 to 2 cups, depends on how much gravy you want
- Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp
- Fresh Cilantro - 1 bunch, chopped
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Start by chopping the garlic, ginger, and onions.
- Heat a pot on medium heat, once hot, add Olive Oil, add the cumin seeds.
- Once they start sizzling, add the asafoetida and turmeric powder. Cook for about 5 seconds.
- Now add the ginger and garlic. Saute for 15 seconds or so.
- Add the onions and salt. Saute for about 8-10 minutes. Keep checking to make sure the onions don't burn.
- In the meantime, chop the tomato.
- After 8-10 minutes, this is how the onions should look.
- Add the tomato, red chili powder, coriander powder, and salt. Combine.
- Lower the heat to dial #3, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
- In the meantime, peel and cube the potatoes.
- After 10 minutes, this is how the onion and tomato should look, should form a paste-like consistency.
- Add the potatoes and salt. Combine.
- Add 1 cup of frozen green peas. Combine.
- Add 1 cup of water.
- Stir. Cover with a lid and allow this to simmer for 25 minutes on dial #3. Keep checking in between.
- In the meantime, chop the cilantro.
- This is what you should have after 25 minutes. Check the potato and make sure it is soft and edible. Add garam masala and turn off the stove. Adjust salt.
- Add cilantro.
- Combine. And there is that yellowish-green color I wanted. Wait at least 15 minutes before serving, this will allow all the flavors to combine.
DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE?
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I love seeing your creations!
Pin Aloo Matar
wow this recipe is awesome!! I really hope your will submit it to http://www.findingvegan.com ~Kathy
Good description !!!
From where do you buy the spices ?
i go in for The Big Indian Store.
http://spicesonline.info
Hope that helps your readers and maybe you too….
I am putting on a Healthy Cooking and Nutrition Class in my very small community of 1,000 people and for our last class wanted to try some ethnic foods to try to break down some barriers when it comes to non-American cuisine and also show them that just because they are eating healthy doesn't mean they can't eat out (or eat in if they want to now that they'll have this recipe!). Thanks for this easy and delicious recipe!
@Jennifer – that's awesome. 1000 people is not a small community, that's impressive. Glad you like this recipe. Let me know how it goes.
Hello! Lovely dish.. i was goin thru for sum dish for brkfast wid roti and i got d perefct one! Thanx 🙂
@Mehnaz – Glad you enjoyed it! Hope you try other great recipes.
hey great recipe …was really easy tofollow …thank u
Hi! I made this for dinner tonight (with tandoor-style grilled chicken and store-bought naan) and it was FABULOUS. I doubled the tomato and the peas but otherwise kept everything the same, it was so so tasty and much better than the store-bought variety I've had before, and not at all hard to make.
@tabari – thank you for the compliment. I'm glad this worked for you. I would never have thought of combining chicken and peas – but sounds yummy!
Want to make this tonight what would you recommend besides nan to accompany this dish, my husband needs to eat more than potatoes and bread. Thank you.
@Anonymous – sorry I was away and didn't see your message in time. I'm not quite sure what you are asking. How about some spinach or lentils to go with this. Lentils do contain carbs, however they do contain a decent amount of protein. Or something with eggs? Please click on labels under "Search by ingredient" to find a recipe.
Could you please tell me what's the nutrional content for this dish?
Thank you. 🙂
@emogerl – Hi, I'm sorry I cannot give you the calories and fat amount because I don't calculate the amounts for the "cooking" recipes. I only calculate the fat/calories for the "dessert" recipes. Sorry!
However, for each serving estimate about 200-300 calories and I'm guessing it will make about 4 servings.
Tried your recipe tonight! It was delicious : ) Thank you for posting it!
Love how you've done the step-by-step. Am going to try this out on Saturday 🙂 Will definitely be back! – Kristy, Malaysia
Thanks guys! @Kristy, definitely let me know. 🙂
I am gonna attempt to make this – hope it turns out well… Btw, what is Cilantro in Urdu/Hindi?
http://twitter.com/#!/nubeals/status/59593483689799680
@Nabeel – cilantro is 'dhaniya' in Hindi.
hey great recipe helpd me win my boyfriend,s heart….
@Anonymous – I'm always happy to help when it comes to heart matters. 🙂 I wonder what recipe will get you a proposal. lol.
Thank u for a simple yet delicious dish. I tried it for dinner and it came very well. Keep posting punjabi dishes. I love them a lot.
@Shreesudha – glad you enjoyed it. Will work on some more Punjabi recipes. 🙂
you have a major error in your recipe by adding the tomatoes beforehand i had to spend more the 25 minutes boiling the potatoes!
@Anonymous – sorry that you spent more than 25 minutes boiling the potatoes. I suppose this depends on pot/stove maybe? Did you add the water and cover with a lid? How many minutes did it take you? This wasn't an error though, it did take 25 minutes and based on the feedback of this recipe, I'm sure it did for others, 5 minutes more or less. please let me know.
Do you boil the potatoes ahead of time or will it boil while cooking?
@ms ivory – boil it while cooking.
Can I use ground cumin powder instead of cumin seeds? If so, how much do I use?
@hookedontaste – yes you may. Start with 1/2 tsp and see how you like the flavor. You can add another 1/2 tsp, but that's it. Do this in Step #8 when you add the red chili powder and coriander powder. Let me know how it goes.
I used the ground cumin powder and it came out great. Thanks for the great recpie.
@hookedontaste – Glad that worked out for you. 🙂
I am soooooooooooo happy to find and make the most awaited "Aloo Mutter Receipe" which was the exact receipe I was looking for….Although my cooking skills are good enough but this was too good!!! Simple and yummy!!!
@uzma – thank you for the feedback.. I'm glad you enjoyed it. 🙂
my only negative feedback while cooking it was that I ended up adding salt twice by mistake because you say to add it when cooking the onions, then with the tomatoes, and then again with the potatoes! Luckily I realized by the second time that I had already added too much salt, but maybe there's a way to clarify so that people don't get confused. Waiting for it to cook so that we can enjoy it. Smells great and great photos to accompany instructions on how long to cook.
@Anonymous – sorry about that. The key is to season every main ingredient, so when I mentioned add salt, what I mean is season it enough for just that particular ingredient. If you season with salt at the end of a dish, it won't be well seasoned. This is something I learned by watching The Food Network. Sorry your dish turned out so salty, adding water will probably correct that.
Where I live there are these food carts and my favorite one is the Indian cart. Punjabi Aloo is what I always order and I love it. So when I came upon this site I had to try to make it. It's not bad. I think next time I will adjust a couple of things to taste to my preference. More garlic, more cilantro, no peas. But it's fantastic! Thank you for sharing!! 🙂
Nikki
My wife followed this recipe and it turned out great! Thank you! Brock.
I m gonna try making a puree of onion and tomato,hope it helps. Fingers crossed
@Brock – thanks for the feedback, so glad it worked out for you.
@Anonymous – sure, you can puree the onion and tomato, however make sure you cook it until all the water evaporates so you are left with a paste, then go ahead and add water as in step #14, or not. 🙂
Thanks for the recipe, i cooked it for my wife and daughter, they liked it.
Wow… Looks awesome.. I am definitely gonna try this on Sunday…. Do you have a dry version of aloo matar as this recipe seems to be gravier…. Neel.
@Neel – 2 things. If you want a dryer version, don't use water. Also, use a flat cooking pan so the potatoes cook more evenly if you are skipping water. If you want a little bit of gravy, add like a 1/4 cup of water for moistness, but it is really up to you.
Hope that helps.
Thanks for the wonderful recipe.Had it with rotis and the only thing i did different from what you had mentioned was that i did all the frying etc in the pressure cooker and it was still awesome.
@Sapna – that's great you made this in a pressure cooker.. it's fast and probably requires even less oil. 🙂
awesome description…i just finished the cooking and my collegues said it was delicious. thankx
@Debdeep – I'm so glad this came out good and your colleagues enjoyed it. You're welcome.
Hi – You have added salt two times. Please let me know how much of salt are you adding each time.
Hi Kalpesh – the key is to season each ingredient, hence why I added salt a couple times. I always add salt to taste, so just season the onions, and then season the tomatoes. At the end check for seasonings. If you season the dish at the end, it will taste salty and lack flavor, hence why it is important to season as you go along. Hope that helps!
Just made this for dinner with parathas. My hubby loved it!! Thanks for sharing!
You're welcome. Glad he enjoyed it.
I love this dish! You're right. There are so many different variations on this. Yours looks like a classic Indian buffet. Can't wait to try
Thanks Scott.. yes, mine is the classic version. Hope you like it.
you are a life saver 🙂
Haha.. you're welcome!
Hi Honey, please tell me I don't have Asafoetida what else can be use instead of it.
Thanks. I followed ur recipe to the T and earned some valuable brownie points from my wifey.
Great