Aloo Matar: Potato And Green Pea Curry Recipe

The Vegan Aloo Matar

Aloo Matar is a vegan side dish of Pakistani style potato and green peas dry curry recipe. It’s a humble dish that offers simplicity with full flavor.

You want to cook this dish when you don’t have much time to spend in the kitchen for whatever reason. 

It uses simple, cheap, but wholesome ingredients. And they are all plant-based items, so this aloo matar is a perfect curry choice for vegans.

But you will love the dish even more because it is easy and quick to make. You only need about 20 minutes to create this tasty dish. 

Yes, I actually timed myself when cooking it. It took me roughly 20 minutes. In those 20 minutes, I also managed to simultaneously cook Basmati rice on the side. So the full meal was ready in about less than an hour. 

It’s the dish I will make when I feel like having a meat-free meal in a jiffy.

Easy Ingredients

Apart from the spices, we only need potatoes, green peas, tomatoes, ginger, and garlic to make this dish.

When it comes to potatoes, I suggest you choose a waxy type of potatoes. New potatoes, Jersey Royal, or Charlotte potatoes are good options. The reason is that the spud won’t break and go mushy easily. So avoid floury potatoes such as Maris Piper, Desiree, King Edward, etc. 

Ideally, you use fresh green peas that obviously offer a better taste. But don’t fret if you can only get the frozen ones. They will do an equally tasty Aloo Matar, too.

As for ginger garlic, I sometimes make ginger garlic paste in bulk and store it in the freezer. Other times, I buy readily crushed ginger garlic from the shop that comes as frozen cubes. 

So if you only have fresh ginger and garlic, you can mince and pound ½ inch of ginger with 4 garlic cloves. This should be more than enough for this recipe. 

Simple Method

So, first, you sizzle the whole cumin and black mustard seeds with a bit of oil. Then add the rest of the spices (ground cumin, paprika powder, ground coriander, turmeric powder, and dried chili flakes), salt, and ginger garlic paste. Stir and fry until the spices release their delicious aroma. 

Next, put the prepared and cut potatoes in and continue cooking for about five minutes before adding the green peas and tomatoes. 

Cook at medium-high heat with the pan lid on for about 10 minutes until the vegetables are soft and fully cooked. During this time, keep checking and stirring to prevent burning at the bottom of the pan. Try to mash the tomatoes as much as you can simultaneously.

Though it’s a dry curry dish, you don’t want it to over-dry. So add ¼ cup of water if you find it too dry. 

Side Dish and Main Course

I often serve this potato and green peas curry as a side dish alongside meaty stuff such as aloo gosht, kebabs, chicken karahi, etc. 

However, I sometimes make this vegetarian dish on its own as the main course, together with some carbs like plain basmati rice, chapati, or naan bread. 

More Vegan Curry Recipes

Thank you for checking this aloo matar recipe. I hope you’re now wanting to try it. When you do, please share what you think about the recipe in the comments below. I really appreciate it.

Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and/or Pinterest to sneak a peek at what’s cooking in my kitchen. 

And before you go, check out my other vegan curry recipes that you may like.

• Aloo Methi: potato and fenugreek leaf dry curry.
• Aubergine curry.
• Chana Aloo: chickpea and potato curry.
• Aloo Palak: potato and spinach curry.
• Mung Bean curry: whole mung bean dal.

Thank you and all the best.

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Aloo Matar: Potato And Green Peas Curry Recipe Pakistani Style

Aloo Matar is a vegan side dish of Pakistani style potato and green peas dry curry recipe. It’s a humble dish that offers simplicity with full flavour.

Author: Devy Dar

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time20 minutes mins

Total Time30 minutes mins

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: Pakistani

Servings: 6

Equipment

• Kitchen knife
• Chopping board
• Peeler
• Cooking pan with lid
• Wooden spoon

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Ingredients

US Customary – Metric

• ▢ 14.11 ounces new potatoes.
• ▢ 1 ⅓ cup green peas see the note.
• ▢ 1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste see the note.
• ▢ ½ teaspoon whole cumin.
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon black mustard seeds.
• ▢ ½ teaspoon dried chilli flakes.
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon paprika powder.
• ▢ ½ teaspoon ground cumin.
• ▢ ½ teaspoon ground coriander.
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder.
• ▢ ¾ teaspoon salt.
• ▢ ½ cup canned tomatoes.
• ▢ Fresh coriander leaves for garnish chopped (optional).
• ▢ 3 tablespoons cooking oil.

Instructions

• Scrub and wash the potatoes. And cut them into small pieces roughly ½ inch square with ¼ inch thickness. Soak the potatoes in plenty of water and set them aside. 
• Heat the oil in a cooking pan and put the whole cumin and black mustard seeds.
• Cook the spices for a few minutes until the seeds are crackling. Then add in ginger-garlic paste, salt and the rest of the spices. Fry further until they release the aroma.
• Next, drain the potatoes and add them to the spice mixture. Give it a good stir and cook at medium-high heat for about 5 minutes as you stir every now and again.
• Then add in the green peas followed by the tomatoes. Stir well and leave it to cook with the lid on. 
• Check and stir the potatoes every so often to prevent burning at the bottom of the pan. You can add ¼ cup of water if you find the curry dry too quickly. 
• Continue cooking and stirring for about 15 minutes until your aloo matar is slightly dry with oil separated from the edges. 
• Serve your potato and green peas curry garnished with coriander leaves.

Notes

• You can use fresh green peas from the pods. 
• If tinned tomatoes are not available, you can replace them with fresh tomatoes. Just chop them into small pieces. For this recipe, you only need 2 small tomatoes or 1 medium tomato. 
• Dried chilli flakes can be substituted with red chilli powder. Feel free to adjust the amount according to your taste. 
• Potatoes soak a lot of water. Use your judgement whether or not you need to add more water than it says in this recipe. Though ¼ cup has almost always been sufficient for this recipe. 
• For ginger garlic paste, mince and pound ½ inch ginger with 4 garlic cloves into a paste.  

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 150kcal | Carbohydrates: 18g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 7g | Sodium: 366mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 2g

Disclaimer

Nutritional info in this recipe is only estimate using online calculator. You should refer to it as a guide only. Please verify with your own data if you seek an accurate info.