Restaurant-style Green Peas(Mattar) curry

Cooking was never an imperative part of my life while growing up. Though I was constantly surrounded by food and restaurateur parents, I was not very keen on learning to cook. I’ve probably cooked a whole lot in the past two years than I have in my entire adult life!

Now that I think back, I wish I had paid more attention to mom’s words of cooking wisdom and her excellent recipes. If I had, then I probably would have discovered my passion for cooking much sooner. As they say, better late than never, I am still grateful I can ask mom for recipes and savor them here, thousands of miles away. One dish mom made often and exceptionally well was the Green Peas(Mattar) Curry. This curry also happens to be my Dad’s favourite and he never failed to order this when we ate out. He could polish off an entire dish of the curry with no accompaniments whatsoever!The same happened when mom made it at home too.

The other day, I was struck with this overwhelming nostalgia of Dad's f'inger licking' favourite, literally. I just had to make this curry to feel better :) I'm glad I did, this was a feast to the taste buds as well as a wonderful trip down memory lane.

You will need:

2 Cups Fresh Green peas, boiled

½ cup Onion paste (raw)

1 tbsp Ginger Garlic paste

1 ½ cups Tomato puree (Made from about 3 large tomatoes)

3 tbsp Cashew bits, soaked and ground to a smooth paste

¼ cup heavy whipping cream

2 tbsp Oil

2 Whole cloves

2 Whole cardamom pods

1 inch piece Cinnamon

¼ tsp Turmeric powder

2 tsp Corriander powder

1 tsp Cumin powder

1 tsp Cayenne ( Hot chilli powder)

2 tsp Paprika ( Mild chilli powder)

½ tsp Garam masala

2 tsp Dried Fenugreek leaves, crushed

Salt to taste

Heat oil in a pan. Add the whole cloves, cardamom and cinnamon stick. Add the ginger garlic paste and onion paste. Fry on medium heat for 5-6 minutes. Now add the turmeric, coriander and cumin powders, garam masala, cayenne and paprika. Also stir in the prepared tomato puree. Saute on low heat for 10 minutes. This thickens the gravy and helps the flavours blend well.

Season with salt and add the dried fenugreek leaves. Stir in the cashew paste and cream. Combine well and bring to a boil. Adjust seasonings if required and turn off heat.

This curry goes great with Butter Naans or plain rotis/chapathis.