Peas and rice – we have here a much loved pair.
Lets pair that with some soft, caramelised fried onions and aromatic cloves and cinnamon. We have here a winning combination.
Mattar Pilau, rice cooked with peas and onions, have always been a favourite at my Mother’s house. My Mother would cook this to serve alongside a soupy chicken or lamb curry, or sometimes with some fried chicken and we would always gobble our plates down and greedily ask for seconds. My Mother herself loves peas and tells me that when she was young, she would pick out all the peas from her Mattar Pilau, put them to the side and save them to eat at the end.
My husband, strangely, doesn’t like peas (amongst many other things). I’m putting things very lightly here – the truth is my husband HATES peas and he RARELY eat anything with peas in them. Thus, I haven’t cooked Mattar Pilau much since getting married. In fact – a browse through all the recipes I’ve posted on the blog will show you that peas make a scarce appearance in my cooks. Just this past weekend, however, my family was holidaying in Paris for the new year and I received a long and emotional message from my Father saying ‘I’ve been craving some hot and meaty Pakistani food! Please cook a chicken meat curry and some pea rice when we come back!’ Turns out, they had been living off croissants and cold sandwiches in Paris and had been dying for a hot Desi meal! So, thus after many months, I cooked a dish with peas in it. And that, my friends, is how a recipe with peas has made it’s way onto my blog.
Mattar Pilau goes well with any curry, roasted or fried chicken and also goes quite well alongside kebabs and raita. I’d recommend the following recipes to try alongside your Mattar Pilau!
Lets get onto the recipe now!
Enjoy, with love x
- 1/4 cup oil
- 2 medium onions, sliced
- 3 tsp cumin seeds
- 9 whole cloves
- 1 small stick cinnamon
- 1.5 cups frozen peas
- 3 cups white basmati rice (wash and soak for half an hr before using)
- 3.5 tsp salt, or to taste
- In a pot, heat up the oil and add the sliced onions. Once they become golden, add the cumin seeds, cloves and cinnamon stick. Continue to fry the onions till they become a very dark brown.
- Add the peas and stir fry them till they defrost
- Add the basmati rice, salt and enough water for it to come up to just below your knuckle when your finger tip sits right on top of the rice - as shown in the picture below.
- Cook on high heat till all the water has dried out. Stir once or twice with a slotted spoon.
- Once the water has dried out, turn the heat to the lowest setting possible, cover the pot and allow the rice to steam for 15 minutes. Allow the rice to sit for 10-15 minutes before serving.
thank you
First time I’ve tried anything other than steamed or fried rice. Delicious but I did use half water, half chicken stock. Look forward to trying more of your recipes.