Aloo matar (Aloo mutter)

Aloo matar is a delicious North Indian curry made with potatoes, peas, onions, tomatoes, spices and herbs. This super flavorsome aloo matar makes for a fantastic meal with jeera rice, ghee rice, plain rice, poori, roti, paratha or even with bread. Make it in a regular pot or in the instant pot, it is super easy and quick to make for a weeknight dinner. It is kids’ friendly, vegan and gluten-free too!

But what is it

About Aloo matar

“Aloo matar” means “potato & peas”, where aloo translates to potato and matar to peas. So “aloo matar” is a “curried dish of potatoes and peas”. This is a dish you will find across India, in almost every state, made similarly but most often with a regional touch.

Potatoes and peas are like a match made in the heaven!! They go so well in any dish. The starchy potatoes soak up all of the flavors from the spices and peas compliment the dish with a sweet aroma.

For this reason, In Indian cuisine we make a lot of dishes like kurma, curry, pulao , biryani and so many others with both these veggies.

Aloo mutter is a staple across India and is usually made often during the winters when fresh peas are in season. However the dish can also be made with frozen peas.

If you love green peas, you may also like these Matar paneer, matar pulao and matar mushroom, all made with peas.

My recipe

There are many different ways to make North Indian aloo matar. Every household may have a different recipe to make the dish. Various ingredients like besan, yogurt, cream or onion puree are also used in some versions. But my recipe is simple enough for a beginner and uses only pantry ingredients. I have not used any of the above mentioned ingredients.

My aloo matar recipe will give you a simple, delicious and flavorsome curry with little effort. This recipe is made like most other Indian curries where a spicy onion tomato is prepared first to which the potatoes & peas are added. Later the curry is simmered until the potatoes turn tender and soak up all the flavors.

I prefer to use pureed tomatoes as it helps to bind the gravy well and won’t let the water separate in the final dish. But if you want you may simply use chopped tomatoes.

You can also add some cauliflower florets to make aloo gobi matar. I also have the tips to make this a dry aloo matar sabzi in the faq section.

More Potato recipes.
Dum aloo
Aloo gobi
Jeera aloo
Aloo methi
Potato stir fry

How to make aloo matar (stepwise photos)

Preparation

1. Wash and peel 3 medium to large (250 grams) potatoes. Chop them to 1 inch cubes and keep them in water until used. Chop or puree 2 to 3 medium tomatoes (200 grams) and chop 1 large onion finely (100 grams).

Optional – If you like smooth gravy, alternatively you can also blanch the onions in hot boiling water for 2 to 3 minutes. Remove and puree them together with tomatoes. In this case you will have to saute ginger garlic paste first then add onion tomato paste while cooking.

Make onion tomato masala

2. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a kadai or cooker. Add ¾ teaspoon cumin seeds and allow to crackle.

3. Add ¾ cup fine chopped onions (100 grams), 1 slit or chopped green chilies and saute until golden. I have not used chilies as my kids still cannot eat hot foods.

4. Next add 1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste and saute until the raw smell disappears.

5. Add 1 cu chopped tomatoes or tomato puree (200 grams). Mix and cook for 2 to 3 mins.

6. Sprinkle ½ teaspoon salt, ¾ teaspoon red chili powder, ¼ teaspoon turmeric, 1 teaspoon coriander powder and ¾ teaspoon garam masala.

7. Stir and Saute until the masala is cooked well and oil begins to separate from the masala. This step is very important otherwise the gravy will not taste good.

Making aloo mutter gravy

8. Drain the potatoes and add them to the pan.

9. Add ½ to ¾ cup peas/ matar.

10. Saute for 2 to 3 mins.

11. Pour 1 cup water just enough to cover the potatoes.

12. Mix and cover the pan. Cook on a low to medium heat until the aloo is soft cooked but not mushy. Keep stirring in between and add more water if needed.

13. Check if the potato is soft cooked. You can add more water if needed at this stage to adjust the consistency.

14. Crush ½ to 1 teaspoon kasuri methi in your palms and add it to the gravy. Stir and mix. Check salt and spice. Add more salt if needed. If you like to make it more hot, you can cut a green chili and add it at this stage.

15. Sprinkle some coriander leaves. If your gravy is runny, then you can cook further with out covering until the water evaporates. To thicken the curry further, simply mash a few potatoes in a separate bowl and add it here.

Serve aloo matar with roti, rice or jeera rice.

Faqs

Related Recipes

Recipe card

Aloo mutter recipe first published in March 2017. Updated and republished in July 2021.