Matar Makhana

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Matar Makhana

Matar Makhana is a delicious Punjabi recipe of green peas and makhana cooked in a thick gravy prepared with onions, tomatoes, ginger, garlic, cashew nuts and aromatic spices.
This recipe is quite popular and known with different names like matar makhana, phool makhana curry, or Makhane ki sabzi.

Makhana are also known as Foxnuts in English. Makhana are puffed lotus seeds. They are a popular food to eat during fasting. They are filled with carbohydrates, fiber, iron, zinc, and many other nutrients. They are rich in antioxidants, are gluten free and good for bones. I always keep a big bag of makhana at home. Usually, I roast them and keep them in an airtight box as they are perfect for a healthy snack that you can enjoy any time of the day.

The base of this recipe is a creamy textured sauce that is an insanely delicious velvety smooth sauce made with onions, tomatoes, cashews, cream and spices. Makhana is roasted and boiled peas is simmered in the sauce that absorbs the flavours from the buttery rich sauce.

Other recipes you might like to try are

Paneer Butter Masala,

Achari Aloo/Indian Spiced Potatoes,

Potato Lotus Stem and

Kaju Masala (Cashew Curry)

Ingredients

For Roasting Makhana
2 teaspoons ghee/ clarified butter
100 grams makhana (foxnuts)

For The Gravy Base
2 teaspoons oil
1 cup finely sliced onions
2-3 green chillies
1 inch ginger piece
4-5 garlic cloves
2 cups roughly chopped tomatoes
4-5 dry Kashmiri red chillies
2 tablespoon cashew nuts
1 cup water
Salt to taste
1 bay leaf
1 inch cinnamon stick
1 black cardamom
4-5 black pepper corns

For The Gravy
2 tablespoons oil
2 teaspoons butter
1 teaspoon Kashmiri red chilli powder
¼ cup milk
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 tablespoon kasuri methi
2 teaspoons cream
1 cup boiled peas
2 tablespoons finely chopped coriander leaves

Directions

Step-1

Soak the whole red chillies in warm water for 10 minutes.

Heat ghee in a pan and add makhana. Roast the makhana on medium heat for 4-5 minutes, stirring frequently. Roasting on medium heat is very important. If you roast them on high heat, they will not be crunchy from the inside. Once roasted and crunchy, remove on a plate and let them cool down to room temperature. The makhana will become crunchy as they cool down.

Step-2

Heat the oil in a pan and add onions, green chillies, ginger, garlic cloves, tomatoes, cashew nuts, soaked red chillies, whole spices and salt. Add 1 cup water and cook on medium heat for 5-6 minutes or until the tomatoes turn mushy.

Step-3

Once cooked, remove the whole spices and blend the onion and tomatoes to a fine smooth puree.

Step-4

Heat oil in a pan and add the bay leaf and red chilli powder. Add the tomato onion puree, milk, garam masala, kasuri methi, mawa/khoya, cream and peas. Cover and cook for 5-6 minutes on medium heat. You can add some water to adjust the consistency of the gravy.

Step-5

Once the gravy is cooked for 5-6 minutes, add the roasted makhana and coriander leaves. Cook for 1 minute and serve.

Tips & Variations

It is important to roast the Makhana well before making the curry.
Add makhana to the curry just before serving, as if the makhana is added before it can become soggy and shrink.
Tomatoes are a key ingredient in this recipe as it forms the base of the gravy. So, I would recommend using ripe sweet tomatoes. I would avoid using unripe or sour tomatoes.
If you do not have cashew nuts, then you can add melon seeds, poppy seeds, sesame seeds or peanuts.
Restaurant use orange food colouring in this recipe to give it the iconic orange colour. I have not used any artificial colours but if you want that bright colour you can add a pinch of orange food colouring.
To make it vegan replace cream and milk with coconut milk and skip adding khoya.