Green Peas Curry

Back home, during lent season, we usually don't go to restaurants as we wouldn't be left with many options to order from. But if we do happen to go, I would usually end up ordering Parotta and Green peas curry and just use a tablespoon or two(max.) of the curry to have the Parotta. I was not a fan of it.

But when I got married, it became so difficult for me to find a curry 'with lots of gravy', to go with chapathi for Jacob. He just can't imagine of dry stir fry's for chapathi. So he would suggest making green peas to go with it. As most of you would agree that married life rewrites the entire list of your likings, the same happened here too. I started loving this curry with chapathi. You can call it to be the hatred/laziness towards making two different curries for two people at home, that made me develop a liking towards this curry. If you too love it or have a gravy demanding person at home, this curry could help suffice the demand. So why not try it?

Ingredients

1. 1 1/2 cup of dry green peas
2. 1 cup of diced onions
3. 1/2 tbsp of chopped/grated ginger
4. 1/2 tbsp of chopped/grated garlic 
5. 2-3 green chillies, slit 
6. 1/2 tsp of turmeric powder
7. 1/2 tbsp of fennel seeds
8. 1 tbsp of coriander powder
9. 1 tsp of garam masala
10. 1 tomato, diced
11. 1 cup of medium thick coconut milk
12. 1/4 cup of thick coconut milk
13. 1 strand of curry leaves
14. 2-3 tbsp of cooking oil
15. Salt to taste
16. 1 tbsp of coriander leaves for garnishing

Method

• Soak the dry green peas overnight.
• The next day, wash it well and pressure cook it with enough water and salt, just untill they are done. For me, it takes, one whistle on high heat, followed by two whistles on medium heat. Remove it from heat and let the pressure release.
• In a skillet, pour the oil. Once the oil is hot, add onion,ginger, garlic and green chillies and saute it untill the onions turn golden brown.
• Now add the turmeric powder, coriander powder, garam masala and fennel seeds. Cook it till the oil starts showing up.
• Add the chopped tomatoes and cook it till the tomatoes turn tender. Turn off the heat.
• In a blender, grind the cooked masala into a paste using a bit of stock from the cooked green peas. 
• Heat up the skillet and drop the masala and curry leaves into it. Pour in the stock(just enough to suffice the gravy required) from the cooked green peas and let it come to a boil. Now add the cooked green peas. Give it a stir to ensure the masala spreads evenly. 
• Add the medium thick coconut milk to it and let it come to a boil. Adjust the salt if required. Now add the thick coconut milk and give it a stir. Remove it from heat as the mixture just starts to boil. 
• Garnish it with coriander leaves and serve it hot with Chapathi/Kerala Parotta/Appam/Bread.

Tips 

1. Do not over cook the green peas. The peas should remain in shape else the curry would turn out to be mushy.
2. You may want to keep the curry a little watery, as it would thicken as it cools down. If you happen to have cooked up the green peas in too much water that would result in a large amount of stock. Then, add only enough stock to suffice the gravy required, else the curry would turn out to be too watery. 

Recipe courtesy : Adapted from MIL's recipe.