Indian Recipes
Potato and Pea Curry
Aloo matar: potatoes and peas simmered in a gently spiced onion and tomato gravy. Simple, cheap and comforting.
- Serves 4
- Prep 15 min
- Cook 35 min
- Indian
Method
Heat the oil in a saucepan and add the cumin seeds and bay leaf. When the cumin sizzles, add the onion and cook for 8 minutes until golden.
Add the garlic, ginger and green chilli and cook for 1–2 minutes until the raw smell goes. Add the tomatoes with ¾ teaspoon of salt and cook for 5–6 minutes until soft and pulpy.
Stir in the turmeric, ground coriander and chilli powder and cook for 1 minute, until the masala looks glossy and starts to leave the sides of the pan.
Add the potatoes and stir to coat, then pour in the hot water. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes until the potatoes are almost tender.
Add the peas and simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes more. Lightly mash a few potato pieces into the sauce to thicken it. Stir in the garam masala and coriander, check the salt and serve with chapatis or rice.
Tip: tap a step to tick it off as you cook.
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Chef’s notes
- A spoonful of plain yoghurt on top is a good addition if you like it creamier.
How this recipe was developed
The old Cookeryonline page reproduced a published recipe, so we wrote a new one. We followed the most popular home-style North Indian aloo matar.
- Masala first. Swasthi Shreekanth cooks the onion-tomato masala until the oil begins to separate (she calls this step very important) before the potatoes go in.
- Mash a few potatoes. To thicken the gravy, Swasthi mashes a few of the cooked potatoes and stirs them back in.
Sources we compared (ratings as shown on each site on 31 October 2026):
This is an original Cookeryonline recipe written in our own words. Ingredient choices and techniques are credited above; no source text has been copied.