Aish Cooks

Matar Khumb Masala | Peas and Mushroom Curry

Everyone likes restaurant-style food. Right? D just likes to take it a tad bit further.He likes restaurant-style food at home, anytime he can get his way with it 🙂 So that’s how this curry came to be on our regular rotation at home for dinners.

If D has his own reasons to love this dish, I have mine too. It is super-duper easy and unbelievably quick too. No onions to saute means your cooking time is already cut in half. You know how those dang things take just about forever to get “fully done” for the perfect curry consistency! In under 10 minutes, you’ll have the perfectly silken base for your curry.. go ahead and get a taste of it right away, I almost never can resist doing that.

I had my doubts at first given how this curry has so little going into it spice-wise, but trust me.. you’ll be blown away too. The herbs make a big difference.. especially the kasuri methi, which is dried fenugreek leaves. As is true with dried herbs in general, a little goes a long way with this one too. Just a little bit and your curry is already infused with the magic that restaurants weave.

Feel free to swap out the mushrooms for potatoes, soy chunks or other firm vegetables of choice. You can also play around with the ratio of peas to the other veggie. More mushrooms, less peas or the other way round. Just make sure not to crowd the curry too much with vegetables, so you have enough sauce to dip into.

Matar Khumb Masala | Peas and Mushroom Curry

Cooking Time: 30 minutes | Serves: 4 – 6

Slightly adapted from Nisha Madhulika’s Mushroom Matar recipe

Ingredients:

1. 16 oz white button mushrooms, cleaned and diced into big pieces (*see Cook’s notes)
2. 1 – 1.5 cup fresh or frozen green peas (*see Cook’s notes)
3. 4 medium tomatoes
4. 1 inch piece fresh ginger
5. 2 green chilies
6. 2 tbsp cooking oil or ghee
7. 1 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
8. 1/4 tsp asafoetida (hing)
9. 1/4 tsp ground turmeric powder
10. 2-3 Tbsp dried fenugreek leaves (kasuri methi), crushed
11. 1/2 tsp red chili powder, adjust to taste
12. 1/2 tsp garam masala powder, home made or store bought
13. 1/2 cup heavy cream (substitute with half-and-half or part-milk and part-cream)
14. 1 cup water, or as needed to thin the curry to desired consistency
15. 1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves and stem, finely chopped
16. salt to taste

Method:

1. Puree together the tomatoes, green chilies and ginger and set aside. You’ll have just over 1 cup of the puree. Skip adding the chilies to the puree if you prefer a mildly spiced curry.
2. Heat the oil in a large pan, and add the asafoetida, cumin seeds and ground turmeric.
3. As soon as the cumin begins to crackle, add the tomato-chili-ginger puree and combine.
4. Add garam masala and red chili powder to the tomato mixture and mix well.
5. Add crushed kasuri methi to the mixture and combine.
6. Allow the mixture to cook on med-high, stirring frequently to avoid burning, until the oil begins to seperate.
7. Add the cut mushrooms and peas, along with 1/2 cup of water and combine. Season the mixture with salt.
8. Cook with lid on, until the vegetables are fully done and oil begins to float at the top of the curry.
9. Reduce the heat to med-low and add cream, along with 1/2 cup of water or as-needed to thin the curry to desired consistency.
10. Add chopped cilantro to the curry and combine. Check for salt/spice and add more if necessary.
11. Bring to a simmer and turn off the heat.

Serve hot with roti or rice of choice!

Cook’s Notes:

• For more peas, substitue with 12oz mushrooms and 1.5 or 2 cups peas.