Matar Pulao is an aromatic Indian rice and peas dish that's seasoned with aromatic spices and fresh herbs. This delicious rice dish pairs well with curry, dal, or raita. Make this easy green peas pulao in just 30 minutes. The recipe is vegan and gluten-free. Both stovetop and Instant Pot instructions are included!
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What is Matar Pulao
Matar Pulao, also known as Matar wale Chawal or Pattani Sadam, is a flavorful rice dish featuring green peas, known as "matar" in Hindi. The name translates to 'Seasoned Rice with Green Peas'. This side dish can vary in appearance and flavor; it might be white and mildly spiced like Jeera Pulao or take on a yellow hue due to the variety of spices used. It is a popular staple in both Indian and Pakistani cuisines.
Though Matar Pulav is enjoyed year-round, it is traditionally a winter recipe. In India, green peas are typically harvested in November, during the winter season. Freshly harvested green peas are celebrated in many winter dishes, such as Matar ka Nimona or Kovalam Matar. But thanks to frozen green peas, we can make it anytime of the year! It’s a beloved dish in many Indian households, each with its own twist. My matar pulao recipe is a bit different from the others. It's more like a quick fried rice. Give it a try!
What is Pulao
In India, pilaf is called pulao, pilau, pilav, or pilaf. It is a mildly spiced Basmati rice dish seasoned with spices, veggies, or some kind of meat. There are many varieties of pulav based on the country and region. Some of the other popular vegetarian pulao recipes are Jeera Pulao, Soya Pulao, Tawa Pulao, and Lahsuni Palak Pulao. If in Spanish you have Paella, in Indian we have Matar rice which is one of the best pulao recipes!
Difference between Pulao and Biryani
While Pulao and Biryani are often used interchangeably, they differ in preparation and flavor. Pulao involves sautéing spices and chawal together, then cooking them with water on medium to high heat. The water is absorbed by the rice and vegetables, resulting in a mildly flavored, lightly spiced dish. It can also be made with leftover/cooked rice for a quick meal.
Biryani, on the other hand, is a bit elaborate and uses a layering technique. The rice and vegetables or meat are cooked separately. Partially cooked chawal is layered with meat or veggies and fried onions in a vessel, sealed, and slow-cooked on low heat without additional water. Biryani is richer in spices, more aromatic, and often has a strong saffron flavor in comparison.
Green Peas Pulao 🎥
Nostalgic Favorite from Our Childhood
In Indian restaurants, the 'Rice dishes' section often features Green Peas Pulao. Growing up, my brother and I would always order Matar Pulao during special family outings to our favorite restaurant. They served a mildly flavored pulao with a green peas curry on the side. This yellow-colored matar chawal recipe is a tribute to those cherished memories.
Why make this
- Vegan and gluten-free
- Can be made in 30 minutes
- Easy one-pot North Indian-style meal
- Frozen peas and leftover rice can be used
- Can be made ahead of time
- Minimal chopping involved
- A different kind of matar pulao recipe
Ingredients needed 🧾
Rice: For a pulao, we need long, separate grains. Aromatic and aged Basmati rice works best for its aroma and texture. Any good quality basmati is ideal. You can also use other non-sticky varieties, either long-grained or medium-grained, but avoid Jasmine rice.
Green Peas: Fresh, frozen, or dry green peas can be used. If using fresh peas, soak them for 2 hours before cooking. For dry peas, soak overnight and cook in a pressure cooker for 15-20 minutes, ensuring they remain firm and not mushy. Canned peas are also an option.
Coconut: Freshly grated coconut is preferred, but dry unsweetened coconut flakes, shreds, or desiccated coconut can also be used.
Spices: Mustard seeds, cumin seeds, turmeric, cumin powder, and garam masala are the basic spices needed for Indian-style green peas pulao.
Other Ingredients: Ginger paste, garlic, cilantro, onion, jalapeno, and cashews add flavor and texture to the green peas masala pulao.
How to make it 🔪
To precook the rice
- Rinse and cook rice well in advance. Soaking it for 30 minutes prior to cooking is optional. Soaking helps remove any excess starch and makes the rice less clumpy. You can cook it in the Instant Pot, stovetop, Microwave or in a Rice Cooker. Chef tip - Cook it in coconut milk (from a carton) for a flavor boost.
- When done, spread the it on a plate for it to cool down. If using leftover rice, just warm it in the microwave and spread it out on a plate.
To make the ground paste
- Roast coconut, onions along with garlic, green chillies, and cashews in vegan ghee till they begin to get slightly charred. This could take 2-3 minutes on low flame. Keep stirring to prevent the coconut from burning.
- Take it off the flame and allow it cool.
- Transfer to a blender. Add the ginger paste and then grind it to a smooth paste by adding water.
- Keep it aside for now.
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To make the green peas pulao
- Heat vegan ghee in a pan and once its hot, temper mustard seeds and cumin seeds. Once they begin to crackle (in about 10 seconds), add the cashews. Fry for 30 seconds. Remove the cashews from the pan and keep it aside.
- Add the chopped cilantro and sliced onions. Saute till the onions turn translucent.
- Immediately add the ground paste to the pan. Fry this for 3-4 minutes. Add 2 tablespoons of water to prevent the masala from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
- Then add green peas and continue to cook till for another 3-4 minutes.
- Add turmeric Powder, Cumin Powder and Garam Masala. Fry this for another minute.
- Finally add the cooked rice along with salt and give it a good toss so that all the masala coats it well. Garnish with some chopped cilantro and fried cashews.
Serving suggestions 🍽
Sprinkle some fried onions, caramelized onions, fried leeks, or scallions on top to enhance the flavors. Add a squeeze of lemon juice or a dollop of vegan butter to prevent clumping.
Restaurant-style Matar Chawal is perfect for lunchboxes, lunch, dinners, or weekend meals, brunches, potlucks, parties, or festive occasions. This flavorful and delicious is one of the best Indian rice dishes with peas is easy to make and sure to become a favorite side dish for everyday cooking.
What to serve with peas pulao
This one-pot tasty Indian Matar Masala Pulao can be enjoyed by itself or served with a yogurt dip like Boondi Burani Raita, Beets Peanut Raita, Koshimbir, or just a bowl of plain curd, and some papad.
Some popular side dish options for Masala Peas Pilau are Dal Tadka, Mirchi Ka Salan, and Chana Masala. Even a bowl of tomato soup or Cucumber Salad pairs well with Indian peas pilaf.
Top recipe tips📖
If you follow a Jain lifestyle or dislike the flavor, you can make green peas rice without onion and garlic. Fresh peas are best, but frozen green peas or canned pigeon peas also work. Cook the rice in vegetable stock or coconut milk for added flavor, ensuring it remains separate and not mushy. Keep the spice level low if making it for kids. Add chopped mint leaves for a refreshing touch.
If you have some leftover rice, here are some other recipes where you can use them - Tomato Sadam, Bell Pepper Rice, Coconut Rice, Yogurt Rice, Phodnicha Bhaat, Mint Pistachio Rice, and Tendli Masala Bhat.
Recipe FAQs
To make fluffy peas pulao, use premium quality Basmati or any long-grain rice. As a thumb rule, for one cup of rice, use 2 cups of water.
If using leftover cooked white rice, warm it in the microwave with a sprinkle of water to keep the grains moist.
If cooking it fresh for this recipe, soak the rice in water for 30 minutes before cooking. This ensures the grains are fluffy, long, and separated.
Brown Basmati can be used instead of white rice to make this pulao. For a low-carb option, use cauliflower rice or millets like quinoa.
You can make this mutter wale chawal ahead of time. It stays well in the fridge for 4-5 days. It also freezes well. Thaw it overnight in the fridge and then reheat it in the microwave.
Tomato, potatoes/aloo, eggplants, carrot, zucchini, soya nuggets, mushrooms, sweetcorn, or baby corn can be added to this vegan pulao to make it more wholesome. You can also add some fried onions, cashews/kaju, or peanuts if you want a crunch. Add some mint to give this simple pulao an aromatic flavor. To make it protein rich, add cubes of fried paneer, tofu, chickpeas, or soya chunks. Feel free to add some greens like spinach/palak, methi or baby kale leaves.
Follow the recipe. The only difference is, add soaked rice instead of cooked rice. For every cup of rice, add 1.5 cups of water or stock. Cover with a lid and cook the pulao undisturbed on low heat until all the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender. This could take 20-25 minutes. Then remove it from the flame and let it rest for 5 minutes. Using a fork, fluff it.
Prepare the homemade ground masala. There is no need to soak the rice. In saute mode, add all the ingredients one after the other. Instead of just adding water, you can also add an equal portion of water and coconut milk to cook the rice. Then hit cancel. Close with the lid.
Select manual mode and cook it for 4 minutes. Release pressure naturally. Open the lid and fluff the rice using a fork. Similarly, you can also make this Veg Peas Pulav in a traditional Indian Pressure cooker if you don't have an Instant Pot.
More Indian green peas recipes
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Recipe 📖
Matar Pulao | Vegan Green Peas Pulao
Equipment
Ingredients
To precook the rice
- 1.5 cups basmati rice
- 2.5 cups water
To make ground paste
- 1 teaspoon vegan ghee
- ⅓ cup coconut shreds, grated, fresh or desiccated
- ½ onion roughly chopped
- 8 cloves garlic roughly chopped
- 1 tablespoon ginger paste
- 3 green chillies roughly chopped
- 2 tablespoon cashews
- ¼ cup water for grinding
To make the Green Peas Pulao
- 1 tablespoon vegan ghee or vegan butter
- 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 2 tablespoon cashews
- ½ sliced onions
- 2 tablespoon cilantro chopped
- 1 cup frozen green peas
- 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin powder
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- Salt
- 2 tablespoon Cilantro for garnish chopped
Instructions
To precook the rice
- Rinse and cook rice well in advance. Soaking it for 30 minutes prior to cooking is optional. Soaking helps remove any excess starch and makes the rice less clumpy. You can cook it in the Instant Pot, stovetop, Microwave or in a Rice Cooker. Chef tip - Cook it in coconut milk (from a carton) for a flavor boost.
- When done, spread the it on a plate for it to cool down. If using leftover rice, just warm it in the microwave and spread it out on a plate.
To make ground paste
- Roast coconut, onions along with garlic, green chillies, and cashews in vegan ghee till they begin to get slightly charred. This could take 2-3 minutes on low flame. Keep stirring to prevent the coconut from burning.
- Take it off the flame and allow it cool.
- Transfer to a blender. Add the ginger paste and then grind it to a smooth paste by adding water.
- Keep it aside for now.
To make the Green Peas Pulao
- Heat vegan ghee in a pan and once its hot, temper mustard seeds and cumin seeds. Once they begin to crackle (in about 10 seconds), add the cashews. Fry for 30 seconds. Remove the cashews from the pan and keep it aside.
- Add the chopped cilantro and sliced onions. Saute till the onions turn translucent.
- Immediately add the ground paste to the pan. Fry this for 3-4 minutes. Add 2 tablespoons of water to prevent the masala from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
- Then add green peas and continue to cook till for another 3-4 minutes.
- Add turmeric Powder, Cumin Powder and Garam Masala. Fry this for another minute.
- Finally add the cooked rice along with salt and give it a good toss so that all the masala coats it well. Garnish with some chopped cilantro and fried cashews.
Want to save this recipe?
We'll email this recipe to you, so that you can look at it later!
Jane Saunders says
Gorgeous doesn't get close. The spice profile is wonderful in this rice.
Priya says
Thank you so much
Dannii says
What a beautiful vibrant dish. So much flavour too.
Priya says
Thank you so much
Julia says
What a flavourful dish! We love rice and little heat in it, so this was perfect! Thank you for sharing!
Jere Cassidy says
I love reading about Indian dishes and how they are made and all the spices in the dish. My family loves Indian food but I haven't mastered many dishes yet, so I want to try this since I love rice dishes and peas.
Emily Liao says
Loved this dish! So easy to make yet flavorful. Definitely adding this to my dinner rotation.
Nathan says
I don't think I've ever had anything quite like this dish, but it looks so delicious so I'm definitely going to try it out!!
Priya says
Thank you so much.
Lisa Huff says
LOVE that you add coconut to this rice dish. With all those spices I bet this makes your home smell amazing!
Priya says
Oh yes, it totally does. Thank you.
Bintu | Recipes From A Pantry says
What a tasty looking side dish! It sounds like it has plenty of flavour and I love that it takes so little time to put together.
Priya says
Yes..thank you:)
Toni Dash says
This is such an amazing recipe! My family loved it and I'll definitely make it again!
Priya says
I am so happy to hear that. Thank you.
Lisa | Garlic & Zest says
I've never made pulao, but after reading your description and the ingredients (THAT PASTE) I'm sold. This would be great with our weeknight chicken!
Priya says
Yes, its really yummy! Do give it a try. Thank you
Irina says
WOW! I love this flavored Indian rice recipe. I want to make it, but my family does not like green peas. I hope the recipe still works in this case 🙂
Priya says
Of course, you can swap peas with edamame or any other beans
Noelle says
Lots of great tips in this recipe, can't wait to make it again! Love pea recipes
Priya says
Thank you so much.
Alice | SkinnySpatula says
Looks like such a great side dish! I love your step-by-step pics, you make it looks so easy.
Priya says
Thank you so much
Beth Sachs says
A delicious Indian side dish. I served it with halloumi and cauliflower curry.
Priya says
That sounds wonderful!
Maria San Juan says
I honestly find this dish very comforting, looks so delicious and seems easy to make. Thank you for sharing <3
Priya says
Thank you so much.
Jessie says
Such amazing flavor in this!! I am going to be adding this rice side dish to more nights in the future.
Priya says
Yay! Glad you like it. Thank you