Aloo Matar, a popular Punjabi curry, is a simple and comforting dish. Potatoes and peas are humble ingredients, but when you serve them in a fragrant spiced tomato sauce, they turn into something extraordinary.
I almost always have potatoes (aloo) in my pantry and a bag of frozen peas (matar) in the freezer. As long as you’ve got those two things and some of my onion masala prepared, then you can make aloo matar in an Instant Pot in no time at all. This is an easy, hands-off recipe that is absolutely delicious!
An onion masala recipe:
This recipe is part of my Indian Onion Masala Series!
If you don’t know about the magic sauce that is onion masala, then check out my series! We all know the key to a person’s heart is through their stomach, right? Right. So hopefully, by the end of the month, you’ll be in love with ME for sharing these easy and tasty recipes (lol). Or I mean, hopefully, you can win over the heart of whoever you’re cooking for… if not, more food for you. 😉
I am not a vegetarian but if you are, then you must start cooking Indian food if you don’t already. If you can cook Indian food, then you’ll never get bored eating a vegetarian diet. There are SO many tasty Indian veggie dishes out there including this one. If you’re looking for more recipes, you can find all of my Indian vegetarian recipes here (this list gets updated often).
Serve aloo matar with an Indian flatbread like roti or paratha (or if you are gluten-free, then use my paleo naan or basmati rice). Or eat it by itself – like a veggie soup!
Instant Pot Aloo Matar (Potato Pea Curry)
Instant Pot Aloo Matar (Potato Pea Curry)
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- ½ cup frozen or fresh/thawed onion masala
- 1 serrano minced
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon garam masala
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 medium potatoes approx. 1 pound, chopped (in 1-1 ½ inch pieces)
- 2 cups fresh or frozen peas
- 1 ½ cups water
Instructions
- Press the sauté button on the Instant Pot, add the oil and allow it to heat up for a minute. Add the cumin seeds and serrano pepper and once the cumin seeds turn brown, add the remaining ingredients to the pot.
- Secure the lid, close the pressure valve and cook for 5 minutes at high pressure.
- Open the valve to quick release any remaining pressure. If you prefer a thicker consistency, mash a bit of the potato into the curry.
Notes
- This recipe is part of my onion masala series – be sure to check it out!
Nan Hedrick says
Another delicious quick meal using the onion masala I made. I confess, I made a couple of additions which made it a thick stew. I added 2 large carrots, chopped, 1/2 cup yellow lentils, and 1/2 cup water. I cooked in Instant Pot for 6 minutes with high pressure, natural release. I like that it makes 4 servings, 2 meals for us, so that we don’t get tired of it. Will definitely make again!!
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Nan, that’s great to hear! I’m glad you made and liked this – and added your own spin to it!
Priyanka says
Hi Ashley ,
Thank you for the receipe and Onion Masala receipe ,its made life so much easier with work from home in the pandemic and home schooling and a toddler !
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Hi Priyanka, I’m so glad you’re finding the recipe helpful! Hope you’re doing well during these crazy times!
Preetha says
I loved how this turned out. This method beats stovetop cooking. As a mom myself and a full time employee, I have limited time to devote to household work. So, using the InstantPot greatly helps me! This recipe was great. The only thing was – I had to cook for a bit longer than the suggested time for the potatoes to soften. Thanks for an easy recipe! 🙂
Irene says
Excellent curry! I forgot to put the frozen peas in the beginning, but added them as I opened the lid and just heated through – it was great! And having onion masala is such a wonderful shortcut!…
My Heart Beets says
Irene, I’m so happy to hear that! Thanks for letting me know how the aloo matar turned out for you 🙂
Kimberley says
AJ I want to know the same. I don’t have much freezer space so I’d really appreciate being able to try the recipe!
Kapil C says
Family loved it. I refuse to believe I’m the only man surviving the shutdown with recipes from this website.
My Heart Beets says
Kapil, lol! I’m glad you and your family liked this so much!
Haley Henderson says
Another great recipe for onion masala! I’m really loving how to make Indian food and have been following the Onion Masala series ! This is so healthy, tasty, filling and EASY! Loved it! Thank you !!!!
My Heart Beets says
Haley, that’s so great to hear! I’m glad you’re liking the series so much 🙂
Krithika says
What type of potatoes do you use please? That could make a lot of difference.
AJ says
Hi, if I didn’t have the onion masala ready, how would I adjust the recipe to have those particular ingredients as part of this recipe?
Michelle says
I used this recipe as the base for a vegan mattar “paneer” using baked seasoned tofu as the paneer. It turned out wonderfully. Since I did not have potato in it I used a tablespoon or so of arrowroot to thicken. It is delicious.
It was so easy because I had the onion masala ready in the freezer. Thank you for a great recipe!
My Heart Beets says
Michelle, that’s awesome! Glad to hear it turned out well 🙂
Miranda says
Do you think I could sub out the peas and potatoes (already serving meal with rice) for green beans? I liked the idea of the onion masala with green beans (can’t use nuts/seeds due to allergies). Thank you.
Sani says
Ashley, I am such a fan of your recipes!! This recipe was so easy and came out awesome! Didn’t have Serrano peppers but used jalapeños and if worked great. The onion masala recipe is brilliant and I loved the chicken curry recipe with it as well. Can’t wait to see what else you come up with using it, especially a chicken biriyani one!
My Heart Beets says
Thank you Sani! I’m so glad you made and liked this dish and happy to hear that you’re liking the onion masala too! 🙂
Jia says
Hello,
Thank you for your wonderful recipes! How many servings does this make?
My Heart Beets says
Jia, I’d say 3-4 depending on what else you’re also serving – hope that helps!
Sharon says
This came out so good! I followed your advice and mashed some of the potatoes for more thicker consistency and it turned out great. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
My Heart Beets says
Sharon, I’m so happy to hear that! Thanks for letting me know how the aloo matar turned out for you 🙂
Cooking Dude says
Can you make Matar Paneer as well with this recipe?
Sophie says
I just made three cookbook version of this recipe (without the onion masala) and it was so good. So easy and so good. I must get around to making the onion masala though!
My Heart Beets says
Sophie, that’s so great to hear! Glad you liked it 🙂
Allison Low Bognar says
Delicious! This one is a keeper for sure. I recently had aloo matar for the first time in a restaurant and wanted to make it at home. Thank you for simplifying this for me!
My Heart Beets says
Allison, so happy to hear that!! Thank you for letting me know how you liked it 🙂
DANNY says
your recipes does not exactly specify the way to cook ….on ingredients you mention list of spices but n methods you leave out those spices you listed on ingredients….please specify with exact details…
My Heart Beets says
Hi Danny, when I say to “add the remaining ingredients to the pot” that means you can just dump everything in that’s on the ingredients list that hasn’t been used yet 🙂 I hope that helps!
Michelle says
This was great. I did only cook for 4 minutes and my potatoes were pretty mushy. It might just have been the kind of potatoes I used though (yellow potatoes.)
My Heart Beets says
Glad you liked it! 🙂
AK says
I followed the directions and taste is decent but way too mushy. Not sure what I did wrong?
My Heart Beets says
As in the potatoes are too mushy? If so, maybe try cutting the potatoes into larger chunks to see if that helps?
Michelle says
Hi Ashley,
What size should we chop the potatoes?
Thanks
My Heart Beets says
Hi Michelle, you can chop them up into 1 to 1 ½ inch pieces – I’ll add that to the recipe, thanks for asking 🙂
Cristina Tijerina Sepulveda says
I made the onion Masala first and then this recipe. I found that the onion Masala wasn’t spicy enough and the Aloo Matar wasn’t as chili-like in consistency as I expected from your comments. Either way, great recipe. I’m just starting out with the Indian food and I use the Breville pressure cooker so I have to modify for the differences between the two machines (although I wouldn’t trade my Breville for the world)!!! I’m really hoping that the Butter Chivken turns out divine. That’ll ge my second dish. I also got ingredients for the Punjabi Chole, your tuna salad and your Saag. I’ll keep you updated on the results. In the meantime any advice, especially in light of my idiosyncratic results today, would be awesome.
My Heart Beets says
Hi Cristina, you can adjust the spice level to your tastes! I keep the cayenne minimal in the onion masala recipe to keep it mild – feel free to add more cayenne or other spices if you wish. And sorry for the confusion about the aloo matar – it is not actually supposed to be as thick as chili – I was trying to say it could be a good vegetarian substitute but I’ll remove that sentence from the post. Anyway, I look forward to hearing what you think of the other recipes.
Cristina Tijerina Sepúlveda says
Thanks for your response, I understand better. I adjusted the heat in the onion mattar. Will you be posting more recipes that call for the onion mattar? Tonight it’s butter chicken and Saag! I can’t wait!!
My Heart Beets says
I will be sharing more recipes calling for the onion masala – I actually just shared a chicken curry recipe using it today 🙂 You can find that here: https://myheartbeets.com/instant-pot-indian-chicken-curry/ and you can find all of my onion masala recipes here: https://myheartbeets.com/indian-onion-masala-recipes/
Cristina Tijerina Sepúlveda says
Thanks! Can’t wait to try the curry chicken! I asked in a different post whether the onion masala can be substituted in recipes that call for the exact same spices? If so, how would the recipe be modified?
My Heart Beets says
You can definitely substitute it! It may take some experimenting to figure out the quantity but the more you cook with onion masala, the more you’ll get it!