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Mushroom matar masala starring mushrooms and peas in an easy, creamy tomato curry sauce that you make in the blender! It’s a versatile Indian curry that’s ready in about half an hour. This post was originally published on aug 19,2016.
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This mushroom and pea curry is easy and delicious and perfect for weeknights. Masala means many things in Indian cuisine. It can be a dry spice blend, a wet spice blend or a masala sauce which can be used to make a dish. This masala sauce is paired with browned mushroom and green peas to make a delicious mushroom pea curry. I add some spinach or greens as well as chickpeas for protein.
Make the sauce creamier with more cashews, add vegan butter to make makhani or butter sauce. You can also control the heat, making it spicier or milder, to taste. The matar masala sauce with mushrooms and peas is a satisfying, flavorful meal.
Serve this dish over rice or cooked grains, with flatbread, or over toast for snack or breakfast. It’s an easy recipe with just 20 minutes active cooking time, then let everything simmer so the flavors can meld.
This recipe was originally written with a blended sauce. I used to make blended sauces a lot more before as they reduces all the chopping time. But you can finely chop the aromatics and use that instead as well.
Matar mean peas, and you can use less or more peas, to preference. This simple masala sauce also works well with any veggies, or baked tofu, soy curls, chickpeas or lentils.
To make the sauce without nuts, use pumpkin seeds, silken tofu, plain unsweetened non-dairy yogurt, full fat coconut milk, or coconut cream in place of the cashews.
Why You’ll Love Mushroom Matar Masala
- hearty, creamy, tomatoey curry sauce with toothsome mushrooms and sweet peas
- chickpeas for protein, or use your plant based protein of choice
- tons of flavor from garlic, ginger, green chili, and garam masala
- versatile! Creaminess, spiciness, texture, and proteins are all adjustable to your taste.
- naturally gluten-free and soy-free with easy nut-free option
More North Indian Curries
Mushroom Matar Masala (Mushroom Pea curry)
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup red onion, chopped
- 5 cloves garlic
- 1 inch ginger
- 1 hot green chili such as Serrano or Indian , remove seeds to reduce heat if needed
- 1 tsp oil
- 2 large tomatoes, or 14 oz diced tomatoes
- 1/4 cup raw cashews, soaked for 15 mins if needed, use 1/3 cup for creamier sauce
- 1 to 2 tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp dried fenugreek leaves, kasuri methi
- 6 to 8 oz sliced white mushrooms, or cremini or baby bella , sliced thin 1-2 mm
- 15 ounce can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed, or 1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas
- 3/4 cup or more peas
- 1/2 tsp or more salt
- 1/4 tsp or more sugar
- 1 cup chopped spinach, optional
- cayenne, to preference
- cilantro, for garnish
Instructions
- Blend the onion, garlic, ginger, and green chile with a few tablespoons of water to a puree in a blender.
- Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the above puree. Cook for 5 to 7 minutes, or until the onion smell is not raw. Stir occasionally.Alternatively, finely chop the onion, ginger, garlic and green chili. Add to the oil and cook for 5-6 minutes until onion is translucent. Then proceed.
- Meanwhile, blend the tomatoes and cashews in the same blender until smooth. Blend for two 1-minute cycles, so the cashews are blended in. Add a few tablespoons water if needed. We want a thick tomato purée so that the tomatoes can roast and deepen in flavor. . Add the tomato mixture, garam masala, paprika, and fenugreek to the skillet. Cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add mushrooms, chickpeas, other veggies(optional, you can add peppers carrots etc), 1/2 cup water, salt, and sugar. Mix well.
- Cover and cook for 10 minutes, or until the mushrooms are cooked to preference. Check in between if it’s thickening too much or scorching. Add more water if needed. Cook 5-10 mins longer depending on mushrooms.Fold in peas and spinach if using, add water to adjust consistency, taste adjust salt and heat. I usually add some cayenne. Bring to a boil, 1-2 mins and switch off heat. Garnish with cilantro and serve over rice, cooked grains or with flatbread.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Ingredients
- aromatics – Pureed aromatics give the matar masala sauce its first layer of flavor. You will use: onion, garlic, ginger, and green chili. You can use finely chopped aromatics as well.
- oil – To sauté.
- tomato – Adds umami, color, and flavor to the sauce.
- cashews – To make the sauce creamy. You can use pumpkin seeds, silken tofu, plain unsweetened non-dairy yogurt, or coconut cream instead for nut-free.
- ground spices – This curry gets a ton of flavor from the garam masala, paprika, and dried fenugreek in the sauce. Don’t have fenugreek, omit it.
- mushrooms – Add a meaty texture. Use white, cremini, or baby bella mushrooms. Slice them thin so they cook quickly.
- chickpeas – You can use canned or cooked . Drain and rinse before using. You can use other proteins, like crisped up tofu, cooked soy curls, or vegan chicken substitute of choice. Other white beans will also work well.
- peas – Matar means peas, so they are crucial in this sauce! Fresh or frozen peas . You can use more or less, to preference.
- salt and sugar – Brings out all of the other flavors.
- spinach – You can use any quick wilting green you like, or omit if you don’t want greens in your matar masala.
- cayenne – This is optional, and you can use as little or as much as you like, to taste.
- cilantro – For garnish. The freshness contrasts so well with the rich curry!
💡Tips
- The recipe calls for dried fenugreek leaves, but you can use any form of fenugreek you like. Use a 1/4 teaspoon fenugreek seed powder instead of 1 teaspoon fenugreek leaves, if needed. If you have seeds, grind them and use a 1/4 teaspoon of the ground.
- Blending in rounds will help the cashew-tomato mixture get nice and creamy. You want it really smooth and not grainy at all.
- For instant pot version see here
How to Make Mushroom Matar Masala
Blend the onion, garlic, ginger, and green chile with a few tablespoons of water to a puree in a blender.
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the above puree. Cook for 5 to 7 minutes, or until the onion smell is not raw. Stir occasionally.
Alternatively, finely chop the onion, ginger , garlic and green chili. Add to the oil and cook for 5-6 minutes until onion is translucent. Then proceed.
Meanwhile, blend the tomatoes and cashews in the same blender until smooth. Blend for two 1-minute cycles, so the cashews are blended in.
Add the tomato mixture, garam masala, paprika, and fenugreek to the skillet. Cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add mushrooms, chickpeas, other veggies, 1/2 cup or more water, salt, and sugar. Mix well.
Cover and cook for 10 minutes, or until the mushrooms are cooked to preference. Check in between, if the mixture is thickening too much, add some water. Cook 5-10 mins longer depending on mushrooms. Cooking longer deepens the flavors and darkens the sauce because of roasting.
Fold in the peas and spinach , add water to adjust consistency, taste adjust salt and heat. I usually add some cayenne.
Bring to a boil, 1-2 minutes, and switch off heat. Garnish with cilantro and serve over rice, cooked grains or with flatbread.
What to Serve with Mushroom Matar Masala
Serve matar masala over rice, cooked grains or with flatbread or gluten free flatbread.
Frequently Asked Questions
Mushroom matar masala is naturally gluten-free and soy-free.
To make the sauce without nuts, use pumpkin seeds, silken tofu, plain unsweetened non-dairy yogurt, or coconut cream instead.
I made this today (a triple batch) and it’s ridiculously delicious! The spices and heat are perfect. This is a new favourite in our home. We make recipes from your books and website every week. A thousand thanks for another amazing recipe.
awesome! Thanks!
This was amazing. I used coconut cream instead of cashew milk and stirred in some left over chicken (without it, it’d still be amazeballs though) It was perfect. I did substitute chile peppers for roasted red peppers however
This was delicious and so simple to make. I changed the spice from tsp to tbsp and used red chili powder instead of paprika. Taste almost as good as restaurant quality.
Can I replace the raw cashews with something else? perhaps coconut milk?
If you see the recipe notes, its already mentioned that you can “Nut-free: To make the sauce without nuts, use pumpkin seeds or silken tofu or plain unsweetened non dairy yogurt or coconut cream or thick coconut milk from a can of full fat coconut milk.”
I made this recipe tonight and it was fabulous! Served it over brown rice with some toasted naan bread to soak up the deliciousness. I can’t wait to make it again. Thanks so much for the recipe!
Made this tonight after seeing the Instapot one. Really full of flavor and the perfect spiciness. So yummy. Served it with an almond flour tortilla and lots of chopped cilantro on top. It was perfect after tasting it so I didn’t end up folding in the spinach I had prepared. Thanks!
Awesome!
I made this tonight with two very minor variations (powdered ginger instead of fresh; crushed fenugreek seeds popped in the oil before adding the onion, garlic, and jalapeño; additional water). At the end I added some leftover coconut milk.
Served over germinated brown rice. Oh my, absolutely exquisite. Thank you! This is my first successful attempt at Indian cooking.
Clean-up was easy, too, since there’s nothing oily or greasy going on.
Next time I will use a soup pot instead of the skillet, because I always double any recipe. I also plan to add garbanzo beans and cauliflower.
yumm!
I made this for lunch today and it turned out pretty good and kid friendly. Although I appreciated the convenience of the blender base I couldn’t help myself wondering how it would taste like if I could properly brown my onion, garlic … I very much appreciate the simplified recipes you provide. As someone relatively new to Indian cooking (vegan for 4 yrs) and a pantry stocked with exciting indian seasonings I was wondering if you would consider sharing recipes with the original technique perhaps your mom used to follow and your user friendly quick versions side by side. That could be fun and educational.
I continue to learn a lot from you and I greatly appreciate the guidance your website and books provide.
Awesome! All of these are methods that my mom, aunts, chefs use for various dishes. Blending the raw onion is a common sauce step for making many sauces. The onion blended with garlic or with tomato, garlic, ginger etc is roasted after the blending for a long time. It takes much longer to roast that way but the active time of chopping etc is reduced. There are some sauces that use browning the onions before blending and then cooking again and some that use blending the raw and roasting. My mom generally prefers the raw blended sauces as she lets them cook and roast at a lower heat for a longer time for best results. Depending on your pan, stove and moisture content, the cooking time varies. So just cook the mixture for longer until the onion smell changes from raw to roasted.
In a recipe like this which isnt a particular regional cuisine recipe, you can use either way. You can brown chopped onion and garlic and blend and proceed as well.
Thank you for your reply. I don’t want to make a chat site out of your blog, but I just wanted you to know that I cooked 2 of your recipes again today because they cook fast, they are full of flavor and health boosting ingredients and my kids always eat it so I don’t need a “backup plan”.
yay! so glad everyone loved them! I love hearing feedback, so chat away!
Hi Richa, this looks amazing. To make it nut free with coconut milk, how much coconut milk would you suggest using for 2 servings?
thanks!
1/2 to 1 cup. If you want it creamier, use 1/2 cup coconut cream.