Dry Green Peas Curry is a hearty, flavorful, and wholesome dish that is sure to win hearts at your table. Made with vatana, the Indian name for dried green peas, this curry transforms a humble lentil into something extraordinarily special. When simmered with aromatic spices, the peas absorb rich flavors and take on a depth that's almost reminiscent of a non-vegetarian curry and is simply hard to stop at just one helping!
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Why will you love this?
- Simple, wholesome ingredients: Made with pantry staples like dried green peas, onions, tomatoes, and basic spices.
- Big flavor, minimal effort: Despite its simplicity, the dish delivers rich, earthy, and comforting flavors thanks to the soaked peas and aromatic masala base.
- Perfect make-ahead meal: Soak the peas in advance, and the rest of the cooking is quick and fuss-free, like the moth dal recipe, making it ideal for busy weeknights or lazy weekends.
- Customizable: Adjust the spice level, add coconut milk for a creamy twist like in Coconut milk curry chicken, or toss in veggies like potatoes for extra texture and flavor.
- Versatile pairing: This curry pairs beautifully with rotis, wheat bread, or even pathiris, ghee rice, vegetable biryani layered, Pudina Pulav(Mint rice), or even toasted bread or bhatura made with bhatura dough recipe.
Ingredients
- veggies - onion, ripe tomatoes, ginger garlic paste, green chilies, coriander leaves.
- spices - Kashmiri Red chilly powder, Coriander powder, turmeric, fresh garam masala
- whole spices, cumin seeds, cloves, cinnamon
- pantry staples - vegetable oil, salt to taste
How to make dry green peas curry?
This one-pot curry is incredibly easy to make. Simply fry all the ingredients in the pressure cooker, add water, and cook. It saves both time and the hassle of washing extra dishes.
Heat oil in a pressure cooker. When hot, add cumin seeds, cloves, and cinnamon. Next, add the onions and ginger-garlic paste, and sauté for a few minutes.
- Step 1: Add spices to the oil heated in a pressure cooker.
- Step 2: Add chopped onions, sautee, then add ginger garlic paste after a few minutes.
Add all the spice powders, reducing the heat to prevent burning.
- Step 3: Add all the spices, ensuring to reduce the flame.
- Step 4: Let it mix well.
Now add the pureed tomatoes. Cook until the oil begins to separate from the sides of the cooker. Season with salt to taste.
- Step 5: Add the ground tomato paste.
- Step 6: Mix well and cook until it leaves oil on the sides of the cooker.
Finally, add the soaked green peas. Sauté for another two minutes, pour in about half a cup of water, close the lid, and cook for three to four whistles.
- Step 5: Add the soaked peas and season with salt. Add water and pressure cook for 4 to 5 whistles.
- Step 6: After pressure is released, add garam masala and mix well. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.
Once the steam is released, adjust the water to your desired consistency and stir in the garam masala powder. Garnish with fresh coriander leaves. Your flavorful curry is now ready to serve.
Useful Tips
- Soak the green peas in advance for at least 6 hours or overnight to ensure they cook evenly and become soft.
- Another variation is to pressure cook the peas separately, prepare the seasoning in a different pan, and then combine them for a slightly different flavor and texture.
- For another version, add diced potatoes as they absorb the spices beautifully and add a delicious twist.
- Soaked dried green peas usually need about 5 to 6 whistles in the pressure cooker. However, this can vary depending on the type of peas and your cooker. Adjust the cooking time as needed to avoid overcooking or undercooking.
If you loved this dish, you may also love some other tomato and onion-based gravies like Channa Masala and Rajma Masala.
Related Recipes
If you tried this Dry Green Peas curry or any other recipe on my blog, please leave a 🌟 star rating and a 📝 comment below. I love hearing from you!
Dry Green Peas Curry
Ingredients
- 1 medium sized onion cut finely
- 1 big tomatoes ripe diced
- 1 tsp ginger garlic paste
- 2 green chilies cut
- ½ bunch coriander leaves finely cut
- 1 tsp red chilly powder Kashmiri
- 2-3 tsp roriander powder
- ½ tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cumin
- 2 cloves
- ¼ inch cinnamon
- 3-4 tbsp oil vegetable or avocado
- 14 tsp garam masala
Instructions
- Take a pressure cooker and heat 3 to 4 tsp oil.
- Add the cumin seeds, cloves and cinnamon when hot.
- Next, add onion and ginger-garlic paste.
- Sautée for a few minutes .
- Next, add all the spiced powders and take care to reduce the flame to avoid burning.
- Add the diced tomatoes till the oil leaves the sides of the pressure cooker.
- Add salt to taste and the soaked green peas.
- Fry for two more minutes.
- Add about ½ cup of water and close the pressure cooker lid and wait for a whistle.!
- Once the steam is released, adjust the water to the consistency you like and add garam masala powder.
- Garnish with coriander leaves.The dish is now ready to be served.
Video
Notes
- Soak the green peas in advance for at least 6 hours or overnight to ensure they cook evenly and become soft.
- Another variation is to pressure cook the peas separately, prepare the seasoning in a different pan, and then combine them for a slightly different flavor and texture.
- For another version, add diced potatoes as they absorb the spices beautifully and add a delicious twist.
- Soaked dried green peas usually need about 5 to 6 whistles in the pressure cooker. However, this can vary depending on the type of peas and your cooker. Adjust the cooking time as needed to avoid overcooking or undercooking.
Nutrition
This curry tasted just like mutton curry and even better the next day!
I remember my mom made this when we kids ran errands! It's amazing to see how food can strike so many memories! 😀
That's so nice to know, I'm glad that brought back good old memories .Thank you!
Food is so much beyond food! Like I relate chai and coffee to certain moments of life... There's so much, food connects us with! Devine!
Absolutely right!!
Thank you so much for visiting my blog and follow dear... Nice to know about you and your space 😊..Curry looks delicious 😊
Thank you so much Lathiya! for the kind words appreciate it!
Looks wonderful! I have never had this dish before. I imagine vatana are very different from regular green peas? I'm sure I can find them in a nearby shop. I will give this a try! 🙂
Yes indeed! I believe when the fresh peas mature on the vine and are then laid out to dry for a while we get the dried variety .I found more information here . Yes they can be found easily at any Indian grocery store and also at Walmart in the Asian grocery section sometimes .Please do try and let me know how you like it 🙂
Ah, interesting! So they're the same plant! Thanks very much for the information. I've learned something new haha. I will certainly be looking for these. I'm always excited to try out new ingredients! 😀
Thank you Joshi!
Looks nice 🙂