Aloo Matar - Potatoes and Peas in a spicy tomato sauce

I just love Indian food on cold days, infact, I crave it.  It warms up the body, fills you up nicely, and makes your house smell absolutely lovely!  This is one of first recipes I learned, and its one of the easiest.  I made it for my in-laws when they were here and they told me that they felt like they were back in India!  That's right...it's that good!

If you're looking for the creamy, fatty, melt in your mouth type aloo matar you would recieve in a restaurant, you might want to keep looking.  There's no heavy cream.  Not even any half and half.  I didn't even use coconut milk! I cut all that out of this recipe because not only did I think it would taste better without all the milkiness, but it'd be extremely more healthy as well.  I promise, you won't even miss the cream!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs. potatoes: peeled, diced & boiled

1 c. green peas (I usually blanch these before using them.)

1 medium red onion, chopped

1 tbsp. cumin seeds

1 tsp. ginger paste

1 tsp. garlic paste

2 roma tomatoes, finely chopped

1 pinch of tumeric

1/2 tsp chili powder

1 pinch white sugar

1/2 tsp or more garam masala (I usually use a LOT)

1 tbsp. oil

green chile, chopped- to your taste

salt, to taste

Directions:

1.  Heat the oil in a heavy saucepan or frypan with deep sides.  Add the cumin seeds. 

When the cumin seeds begin to pop, add the onions and green chiles.  Saute until they are translucent.

2.  Add the ginger paste, garlic paste and tomatoes.  Simmer until the tomatoes are cooked are are like a smooth sauce.  Once they begin to break down I usually grab a potatao masher and just mash everything together.  It just helps the tomatoes to break down quicker.  (this photo is before I mashed the heck out of it).

                                                                                   
3.  Add the turmeric powder, chili powder, garam masala, green peas and potatoes and cook for some time.

Add about 1 1/2 cups of water and salt to taste.  Allow it to come to a boil, turn the heat down and let simmer for a good 20 minutes or until the gravy thickens to your liking.  The longer you let the curry simmer, the better it will taste.  Add some finely diced corriander, and you're done!

TIP:  If you think your gravy is too thin or that you added too much water, mash a few pieces of the potatoes into it.  This will thicken it up nicely.

You woudln't need to serve this with rice, infact a chapati or roti would be the better choice.  My husband, being Bengali, LOVES rice and has to eat it at almost every meal.  I also served this with Indian spiced chicken legs.  Basically I just marinated chicken legs with a bunch of spices, and it was wonderful!  I'll post that the next time I make it because really I didn't write down what I threw in the marinade.

Enjoy! 

Tonight we're having Venison, so stay tuned!