Kerala Peas Masala Recipe: I've been wanting to try a good Kerala Style Peas Masala recipe for ages now. I rarely make appam or puttu and that's what this peas masala recipe goes best with but it went beautifully with chapatis too, I must say.
Now, I really don't want to give you more reasons to think I am weird but in the interest of full disclosure, I want to admit that when I went to Delhi on work for a week earlier this month, I brought back fresh vegetables from the farmer's market. There, I said it. And before you ask, no, the Singapore customs didn't mind.
I can never resist fresh peas. I think I am wired exactly like my mom in that aspect. Fresh vegetables make us go weak in the knees and farmer's markets and even a well stocked supermarket with fresh product is our happy place. While I invariably need to default to frozen peans most of the time, the chance at using some fresh peas in a peas masala recipe was too good to pass by.
It was Sunday and I was talking to Amma and as it often does, our conversation turned to food and recipes. I asked her for typical Kerala restaurant-style peas masala. The watery, spicy, peas-laden side-dish served with Kerala parotta in almost every restaurant. She boo-ed me. In her exact words "why do you want to make that at home? They add maida and who-knows-what-else to make it golu-gola" (referring to thickening of the gravy). I said fine, tell me your version.
And she did.
And it changed my life.
I am not kidding when I say this is the best side dish I have ever made for chapatis. Ever. It's a bit of grinding and sautéing and stuff, but I promise, it's worth it.
I have two types of appam recipes in the blog - Kerala appam without yeast and spongy appam with yeast. Either would go really well with this Kerala peas masala recipe. You can also serve it with rotis or chapatis like I did. This idiyappam recipe may be another good one to check out too.
Also check out this matar paneer recipe for another amazing green peas recipe.
Kerala Peas Masala Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups of shelled peas fresh or frozen (thawed)
- 2 tablespoon of coriander seeds
- 3 dry red chillies
- 2 teaspoon oil
- ¼ teaspoon of turmeric powder
- 2 large onions chopped
- 2 to matoes chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic
- A small piece of ginger
- 1 cup of thick coconut milk
- 1 teaspoon of garam masala or any curry powder
- Salt to taste
For tempering:
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil or any oil you prefer
- ¼ teaspoon mustard seeds
- A few curry leaves
Instructions
- In a small pan, heat 1 teaspoon oil and fry the coriander seeds and red chillies until nicely browned. Take care not to burn it and set aside to cool.
- In a larger pan, heat another teaspoon of oil and add the chopped onions.
- Once they brown, add the tomatoes, garlic and ginger. Saute some more until the mixture cooks up and looks mushy - about 4-5 mins.
- Remove from fire, transfer to a bowl and set aside to cool.
- In the same pan, add the peas and enough water to cover it completely.
- Add the turmeric powder and bring to boil, then lower fire to a simmer.
- Grind the roasted coriander-chilli mixture with some water (just to get it ground up nicely, doesn't need to be a super smooth paste) and add to the peas.
- Mix well and continue to cook on low flame.
- In the same mixer jar you used for the coriander-chilli mixture, grind the onion mixture to a smooth paste. Don't add water this time
- Add this paste to the peas and continue to cook for another 5 mins or until the peas are cooked and turn mushy when you apply pressure. Don't overcook them though.
- Add the coconut milk next along with salt. Mix and let it come to boil.
- As soon as it comes to boil, add the garam masala or any curry powder you like and remove from heat.
For tempering:
- Heat the coconut oil in a small pan and add the mustard seeds and curry leaves.
- When the mustard seeds start to pop, add to the cooked peas curry and mix well.
- Serve hot with chapati, roti, appam, nan, idiyappam, dosa, etc
Kerala Peas Masala Step by Step Recipe
1. In a small pan, heat the 1 teaspoon oil and fry the coriander seeds and red chillies until nicely browned. In fact, mine turned almost black, just short of burning, and that's perfect. Take care not to burn it because that will obviously spoil the peas masala. Set this aside to cool.
2. In a larger pan, heat another teaspoon of oil and add the chopped onions. Once they brown, add the tomatoes, garlic and ginger. Saute some more until the mixture cooks up and looks mushy - about 4-5 mins. Remove from fire, transfer to a bowl and set aside to cool.
3. In the same pan, add the peas and enough water to cover it completely. Add the turmeric powder and bring to boil, then lower fire to a simmer.
4. Grind the roasted coriander-chilli mixture with some water (just to get it ground up nicely, doesn't need to be a super smooth paste) and add to the peas.
Mix well and continue to cook on low flame.
5. In the same mixer jar you used for the coriander-chilli mixture, grind the onion mixture to a smooth paste. Don't add any water water while grinding.
6. Add this mixture to the peas and continue to cook for another 5 mins or until the peas are cooked and turn mushy when you apply pressure. Don't overcook them though.
7. Add the coconut milk next along with salt. Mix and let it come to boil.
8. As soon as it comes to boil, add the garam masala or any curry powder you like and remove from fire. If you think the gravy is too thick, you can add some water along with the coconut milk. Mine turned out perfect with these proportions.
Time for tempering. Heat the coconut oil in a small pan and add the mustard seeds and curry leaves.
When the mustard seeds start to pop, add to the cooked peas curry and mix well.
Serve green peas masala hot with any main like roti, chapati, or idiyappam.
Anu Nandu
Dude..your chappathis are awesome..and of course the curry looks great. I am a big lover of all mutter curries but can only make them when I eat alone..not for the guy in the house. He cribs its always too sweet ..I just blame the american green peas for that - they are inherently sweet. Got to try yours and planning to make it spicy!
Nagalakshmi V
yeah that could work. these peas were not that sweet at all actually
Anu
Made it last night and we all loved it. We had it with chapathi too (your last pic was too tempting to ignore 🙂 and I ended up changing my dinner plans to make this.) Thanks a lot for sharing...:)
Nagalakshmi V
aww that's so sweet! so glad this was worth changing your plans for 🙂 thanks for leaving a note
Sailaja
Feels like grabbing those rotis with that yummy curry. I do the same way without using coconut milk. Love it
Anonymous
One step less for a lazy goose like me :-). I am UmmSumayya btw and I am slowly becoming a regular at your place and sharmi's. You guys are doing a great job, keep it up!
Nagalakshmi V
lovely to meet you 🙂
Anonymous
I had asked about using cream, but went ahead without it, made this for dinner last night and it came out very nice. Only problem I had was with the grinding of the roasted seeds. The quantity was so little that my mixer refused to grind it well, so I added the onion tomato mixture together with it and ground to a nice paste. Still was very happy with the end result. Thank you for teaching me how to make a decent curry with peas.
Nagalakshmi V
so sorry i couldn't reply on time. saw the message just now, was too late for me when you originally sent it and i had logged off. adding cream would give it a different flavour and i would probably up the amount of masala to make it spicier since cream on it's own is tasteless (in my opinion) but coconut milk gives a different kind of depth.
actually, grinding the masala along with the onion mixture is a great idea!
Tina
Sooooo creamy and delicious..
Nagalakshmi V
I hope everyone who tried the kerala peas masala will share the recipe pics or notes with me 🙂
MH
This post reminds me so much of home and my mom's peas masala... planning to try this straight away
Maayeka
delicious and so inviting peas curry..loved the clicks..
Zareena
mmmmm... simply adipoli..