Matar aloo

Today I prepared matar aloo. It turned out quite well besides the under-cooked potatoes. The technique for next time may be to boil them beforehand. I omitted the green peas because the ones I bought here don't cook. Even in the pressure cooker they take forever to soften at all. Is that normal? I just plan on substituting other things rather than using green peas (dal). I also think that adding chicken or veggie broth instead of water would be a tasty addition to the recipe. Although I tried to prepare a ton of this to have leftovers for tomorrow, there's barely any leftover. Cuak. Next time.

Matar aloo

1 T butter
½ t cumin seeds
1 C dried Green peas (dal) soaked overnight and cooked just until soft but mushy
1 potato cubed
1 t ginger paste
1 t garlic paste
1 small onion, minced
1 big tomato or ½ cup tomato sauce
1 T cumin seeds pd,
½ t red chilli pd
salt
cilantro
1 t sugar

To Grind:
2 T coconut
2 T toasted almonds
½ t garam masala

Melt butter,add cumin seeds.Add cubed Potatoes,saute until reddish.Put in minced onion until it gets color,then add Giner-Garlic paste and saute for a minute.Add in all the dry spices,stir fry until you see little butter on top.Add in Tomato.

Keep stirring until Tomato sauce thickens and you see the shine of butter in the pan.Add 1 cou of water,salt and cooked Green Peas with it's cooking water if any,(Do not add too much water,sauce should thickish), 1 tsp sugar and simmer gently.

Meanwhile,grind coconut,almonds,garam masala until very smooth and add to simmering Matar Aloo and mix well.Simmer (must be on low heat to prevent coconut fro curdling)gently for 10-15mins until thick and butter shows up on top.Adjust the salt and chilli pd to your taste.

This dish tastes great the next day,please have some patience!!
Serve Matar Aloo with either Poori or layered Parathas, lemon slices and sweet onion slices on the side!!