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 by God, 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.
- 2 cups of shelled peas, fresh or frozen (thawed)
- 2 tbsp of coriander seeds
- 3 dry red chillies
- 2 tsp oil
- ¼ tsp of turmeric powder
- 2 large onions, chopped
- 2 tomatoes, chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic
- A small piece of ginger
- 1 cup of thick coconut milk
- 1 tsp of garam masala or any curry powder
- Salt to taste
- 1 tbsp coconut oil (or any oil you prefer)
- ¼ tsp mustard seeds
- A few curry leaves
- In a small pan, heat 1 tsp 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 tsp 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.
- 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 tsp 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 tsp 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 water.
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 hot.
For Kerala peas masala recipe in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Urdu, etc please use the Google translate button in the sidebar.
Excellent Recipe! So simple yet very tasty.
This recipe is just spot on and perfect for my malyali taste buds. Thanks a ton !
thank you! 🙂
Hello!! After a long day i was looking at this recipe with the yummy pictures trying to (and succeeding) tempt myself into cooking dinner! Then it suddenly hits me that it’s you!!! Ah! What a yummy surprise!
– Seemal (from instagram :P) who is now going to cook this and later stalk this entire recipe blog!
Kisses
oh yay! so good to see you here too 😀 let me know how it turns out
Am an ardent fan of your recipes and writing.tried out this recipe.turned awesome.
we had it with idiappam. the whole family liked it and have a reserved one more bowl to have it with pathiri.special thanks to your mom.as well. Could you please tag all your moms recipes as a separate list. Sorry if that bothers a lot. Would love to try those recipes
Thanks and Best
so glad you liked the peas masala recipe mitha. that’s a great suggestion to tag amma’s recipes. you can actually search for “recipe source amma” in the search box to find these recipes – just a quicker hack 🙂
wonderful . straight away heading to it 🙂
That turned out delicious! Thank you! Im going to spend forever on your blog now 😀
*grin*
It came out "Awwwwwwwssummm" !!!thx a ton Nags !! 🙂
Hi…..i just bumped into your blog while searching for a peas curry recipe and your recipe turned out to be awesome and an instant hit with everyone in the family. Gr8 blog, gr8 recipes!!
p.s. love the pics too.
tried it.tooo good
Awesome recipe
Hi Nags, have benn eyeing this recipe for a long time. I made it today for rotis. Excellent recipe. Thanks to your mom & you ofcourse
Made this for dinner tonite. Turned out great. Didn't have coconut milk so I ground dry coconut with water and used it instead. Took a pic but didn't turn out tooo good. But the dish was all
Empty in no time. Great work out there !!
The peas curry on the other hand turned out really well what a shame..
It is one thing i do not know how to make a roti and then the other day i decided to cook kerala parotta. armed with various videos i begin and then in the end .. one kitchen full of sticky maida dough and a hungry spouse at 11 pm!!i finally make a peanut butter sandwich and vowed never to try it again!!
how about adding paneer also in this??
that would make it even more delicious for sure 🙂
like a different version of a matar paneer recipe! it's a great idea to add paneer to this actually! 🙂
I think adding paneer would be delicious. Will try it with paneer and tofu sometime soon 🙂 Thanks for the suggestion Shankari !
Hi Nags,
Thanks for a wonderful recipe. I have added this recipe to my blog, http://eastrwestkitchenisthebest.blogspot.com/2012/08/kerala-style-peas-masala.html.Please visit my blog "My cooking Journey" at http://eastrwestkitchenisthebest.blogspot.com/ and let me know your opinions. Once again thanks for a marvelous blog and keep them coming.
Cheers,
Sandhya
Hi Nagalakshmi,
I stumbled upon your blog a couple of days back when I was looking for some brinjal recipes. No idea why I didn't know about your blog for so long !! 🙂 Anyways the first recipe I ended up making was the kerala style peas masala ( i added paneer too since I had some) and it was great ! I kinda have a similar story as yours, its just that I am a tamilian and my husband is a mallu. So its great that I can get some mallu recipes here :)I love cooking and trying new dishes and excited to try out some of your recipes !! Thanks for a wonderful blog 🙂
thank you meghana. so glad you liked the kerala peas masala. do try the other kerala recipes too! 🙂
Interesting blog…going to try this recipe!
also, can u plz tell me if it would taste good with pudina pulao.
That's hard to say. Depends on your personal preferences but I don't see why they will taste bad together
hi mam, thank u very much fr sharing such wonderful recipes. i hav a doubt, tht is, when u say a cup, which cup does tht mean?? the usual measuring cup or any specific T-cup. forgive me if my doubt seems silly bt i jst started learning how to cook.
thank u…
Can you use other vegetables with this sauce?
yep, don't see why not. any kind of beans also taste fabulous
google brought me to the right place. picture by picture method helped my debut cooking a lot. Tried the dish and it turned out just great. It would be nice if you could start a separate category for bachelor cooking. Thanks again 🙂
It came out really well tasty ,,thnaks for the post
Tried this…and yum yum yum 🙂
thank u nags my hus like the dish alot iam a big fan of urs.thank u for the post
Nags ur dish is such a hit in my house 🙂 thank u and it was so good.Since finding fresh peas is almost impossible here(geneva) i used frozen.
Its seems so simple and yummy nags. The additioon of roasted dhania is new to me! Also i wanted to know if you added punjabi garam masala. Is the final dish very spicy??
Looks great and I love the clicks.
Shobha
i added kitchen king masala 🙂 the final dish is just right but if you prefer it less spicy, add lesser red chillies and garam masala, maybe?
Hey Nags, Thanks a ton for this awesome recipe.just made this for dinner and we loved it 🙂
The best green peas curry i have ever made
…Thanks to ur mom too..
Awesome recipe Nags !!! I just made it tonight for dinner. I will be adding it in my blog with your reference. Will post my blog link once I get it in. Thanks a lot for a wonderful Keralite delight 🙂
Bindya,
divya here da, can i use coriander powder fresh or old instead of the seeds? will it give the same taste? if so how many spoons? 1- 2?
hey da, sure! just take care not to burn it when roasting.
Hi!!! I have left an award for you. Please collect at my blog.
http://desperatehousewifesdiary.blogspot.co.uk
Just drop by to say hello to a fellow singaporean blogger, I came across your website recently after moving to Singapore and glad to know your lovely blog..and your photography is amazing.
Thanks Jehanne!
Hi Nags,
I have been following your blog for a very long time. I should say that your blog is too good and has been an inspiration. Lovely recipes and awesome pics. I tried this recipe on Sunday for my husband although I was apprehensive abt using the coconut milk. Coconut is not my hubby's fav. But this turn out to be a winner. He loved it. Thanks to you and keep up the good work.
thank you vidya. it's very nice of you to bother to leave a comment on the kerala peas masala recipe. i am glad you liked it 🙂
Kerala style recipe looks so delicious! Great description with wonderful photos!
Really awsome looks..im going to try it today:)
Look delicious..will try it next time when I get fresh peas..
Dude..your chappathis are awesome..and of course the curry looks great. I;m 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're inherently sweet. Got to try yours and planning to make it spicy!
yeah that could work. these peas were not that sweet at all actually
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…:)
aww that's so sweet! so glad this was worth changing your plans for 🙂 thanks for leaving a note
Feels like grabbing those rotis with that yummy curry. I do the same way without using coconut milk. Love it
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!
lovely to meet you 🙂
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.
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!
Sooooo creamy and delicious..
I hope everyone who tried the kerala peas masala will share the recipe pics or notes with me 🙂
This post reminds me so much of home and my mom's peas masala… planning to try this straight away
delicious and so inviting curry..loved the clicks..
mmmmm… simply adipoli..
it was suparb thumba chanagethu
Wow drooling over this masala. I too make in a simila way but never added coconut milk. Suresh never allow me get any fruits and veggies from india, though our customs doesn't mind:(
awesome post, loved it.
i must asked my wife to try this at home…!
please convey my special thanks to your mom too, who seems to be the force behind your culinary adventures ! lots of love from trichur ,kerala
this is one food blog i have been devotedly following since the past year or so , i have even recommended edible garden to all the wannabe cooks i know:) thanks for all the awesome recipes , keep up the good work …
superb recipe. loved it… thanks
Beautiful pictures, planning to try it tonight. Do you think adding fresh cream at the end will enhance the flavor? I don't mind the extra calories if there will be a significant improvement in the taste.
cream should definitely work, yes. 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.
can't wait to lay my hands on peas Nags! The recipe and the way its presented is awesome as always! Thanks !
Love this version. will try soon ..
Earlier my mother used to buy capsicum, cauliflower,peas and many other 'English Vegetables' whenever she was visiting Madras or Bangalore. Now that these are available in Trivandrum itself, she doesn't do it any more. Now she takes home things like Vatha Kuzhambu paste or Rice appalams 🙂
vatha kuzhambu paste and onion thokku is a regular for me too. i buy them from grand sweets and bring them back to singapore 🙂
Ohh..I brought back Haak and Apricots from Leh last year 🙂
This peas recipe looks really yummy. Must try it. Can be another Khoya matar recipe for my folks. Just replace the CM with khoya and it looks the same.
Love the consistency,I am sure this one would be a great combo with Idiyappam as well.
Mmmm….cravings for good ol' peas masala!Love your step by step illustration!
mouth watering curry
I just hv only a word to describe…awesome. The way u hv presented the recipe with simple easy instructions makes everyone to try it imm. I gonna do it right now..:)
Yummy curry !! I simply love kerela style dishes and this one is a keeper !!
Even I have bought green peas,spinach leaves,bathua leaves from Delhi,..:) curry looks delicious,..will try sometime,.
Hahaha…I so agree with you. I mean I just LOVE to buy veggies. Its a family and close friend circle joke-Whenever we go out anywhere-daytrips, towards the rural sides-I feel like buying the fresh produce from the locals/farmers. I get a sort of high satisfaction in buying, cooking and later eating them. It almost makes me feel healthy-instantly. 🙂
oh my, i can so relate to that!
I have this weakness for fresh vegetables too 🙂 Inherited from my mom ! This looks nice, can't resist peas…I had kilos of them during winter, in parathas, sabjis, pulav, puris, everything !!
i considered peas pulao but felt like a side dish would bring out the sweetness better 🙂
Looks so creamy and yummy, my fav side dish with rotis