Matar Chi Usal (Maharashtrian Style) | Green Peas Curry

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Matar chi usal also known as Green Peas Curry is a simple everyday kind of curry made using green peas, garnished with freshly scrapped coconut and basic Indian spices.

This is a vegan, no onion no garlic, beginner & bachelor-friendly, protein-rich delicious one-pot curry recipe.

This is an incredibly tasty, rich, filling, healthy recipe that gets done in under 30 minutes.

Curries are staple of Indian Cuisine. They are prepared with vegetables or lentils (dals), which are rich in protein and vitamins that are best served with rice, chapati, phulka, poori.

What is matar chi usal (Green Peas Curry)

Matar chi usal is a simple, quick and easy curry recipe made with fresh or frozen green peas. Matar in English is translated to peas.

In winter, we get abundant fresh green peas, and that’s when we often indulge in this curry. The taste and texture of fresh peas in this curry are heavenly.

This is our vegetarian Sunday special meal served along with bread buns (Indian ladi pav).

Making this aloo matar recipe is very easy and quick. You can also make this in an instant pot or pressure cooker.

I normally make it in a kadai but feel free to make it in a pressure cooker or instant pot. I love to make this recipe using fresh green peas over frozen ones as the taste and texture differ otherwise.

This makes a great weekday meal after a busy working day. This is one of our family favourites, a comforting and filling meal!

The best thing about making this vegetable is that everything goes into one pot and within minutes you are ready to serve this delicious curry. You can make this recipe in the instant pot too

This curry is widely prepared in most households with slight variations from region to region.

During winters when fresh tender green peas are in season, we often make this recipe and serve it with pav (Indian bread). You can also use frozen peas to make this curry.

When green peas are in season I always stock these tender peas and freeze them so as to use them all around the year.

This curry has a mild sweet taste. The sweetness comes from fresh peas and fresh coconut.

This curry is mildly spiced with Maharashtrian Goda Masala which is a quintessential spice in Maharashtrian Cuisine.

Goda Masala blends nicely with the peas to give you the perfect taste and texture. You can find Goda masala easily in any Indian grocery store.

In case you don’t want to add goda masala, use coriander-cumin powder or garam masala instead.

This is a perfect recipe for beginners as it’s super simple to make and can be made in under 30 minutes. Fresh peas take approximately 30 minutes to cook.

A bowl of hot green peas curry along with bread (pav) is a soul-warming meal and best as a dinner menu after a busy hectic day.

As the consistency of this curry is on the runny side, it’s not easy to pack it for tiffin. But again you can make it either semi-liquid or dry as per your preference by adding less water.

Being on the sweeter side, kids also love this green peas curry along with bread or rice.

This green peas curry can be stored in the refrigerator for 2 days. Before serving, reheat on the stove or microwave.

lngredients

Green Peas – To make this delicious curry either fresh green peas or frozen peas can be used. While using frozen peas, make sure to first thaw them.

Herbs & Spices – Very minimal basic spices are used in making this matar chi usal. The main spice is Maharashtrian goda masala which is made with coconut & mild flavourful spices. Goda masala is easily available at any Indian grocery store. Incase you do not have goda masala, add garam masala instead or 1 tablespoon of coriander-cumin powder.

Apart from that, we need turmeric powder, hing (asafoetida) and red chilli powder.

Seasoning – Jaggery is used in this curry to balance the flavours, you may use 1 teaspoon of sugar instead or totally skip adding. Salt is used as per taste.

Oil – I have used sunflower oil here. You may use any oil here.

Water – Is required to adjust the consistency of the gravy.

Serving Suggestions

With Breads – This curry goes well with Indian bread (laadi pav), poori, palak poori, chapati and tava paratha.

With Rice – This green peas curry can be served with plain steamed rice, vegetable pulao / pilaf, Maharashtrian masale bhat and yellow moong dal khichdi.

Storage Options

This curry can be stored for about a week in a refrigerator. Reheat before serving.

Variations

Finely chopped onions and tomatoes can be added in making this matar chi usal. You can also add some roughly crushed ginger garlic.

If you are looking for some spicy green peas curry, check out aloo matar cury (vegan) that I have already shared on this blog.

If you like, you can also add potatoes along with peas without onion and tomatoes. This also tastes good and gives a nice texture to the curry.

For a creamy texture, instead of garnishing the usal with fresh coconut, you may add coconut milk while making the curry. This type of curry goes well with rice and poori.

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Food FAQ’s

Step-by-Step Matar Chi Usal – Green Peas Curry

How to make matar chi usal (Maharashtrian Recipe)

• Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds and let them crackle. Add hing, and turmeric powder.

• Add green peas. Saute the peas for 2 minutes on medium flame without water.

• After 2 minutes, add water till the peas or submerged. ( you can add water as per the gravy requirement). In case you want to make it semi-dry add 1/2 cup of water.

• Add spices & seasoning. Here we have red chilli powder, jaggery (gul), salt and goda masala. Use garam masala or any curry powder that is available to you.

• Let the peas cook on medium flame. Keep on stirring occasionally.

Matar Chi Usal – Green Peas Curry is ready.

Serve hot with pav/ slice bread / phulka / chapati / plain rice.

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