Methi Matar Malai (which translates to fenugreek leaves and green peas in a creamy sauce and is pronounced “maythi mutter malayee”) is the beautifully alliterating name of a gorgeous dish often found on Indian restaurant menus. With the contrasting flavors of the two vegetables it features– wonderfully bitter methi or fenugreek leaves, and sweet, delicious green peas – this dish would delight the finickiest tastebuds. But better still, it’s really, really good for you. Okay, let me backtrack here. The Methi Matar Malai you’d find in a restaurant would not be healthy because it would contain malai, or cream, which is of course full of heart-clogging cholesterol. For this vegan Methi Matar Malai we ditch the cream and instead use cashew cream, with amazing results.
Benefits of methi
If you have never cooked with methi, you should hunt it down at your local Indian grocery store or Asian store. Indians have long prized this wonder leafy for its amazing health benefits, including its gut-healthy fiber that probiotic or good bacteria love. Fenugreek is also great for diabetics, and it helps lower cholesterol and normalize blood pressure. And that’s just the beginning. Methi flushes out toxins in the body, is great for skin and hair, and helps stimulate weight loss, among countless other benefits. Methi leaves are bitter but this is not an offputting bitterness by any means. When cooked, that bitterness mellows down and becomes quite delicious, especially when it’s combined with a contrasting flavor like the sweet green peas and the creamy sauce. When you cook with methi, discard the tough stems although it’s perfectly fine to use the more tender stems. When added to heat methi will wilt down, like most other greens, but it also needs to be cooked longer than leafies like spinach or chard. Make sure that methi is always thoroughly cooked if you want to grow to love it. Casual Indian cooks would likely be familiar with kasoori methi, a dried version of methi leaves that is found in Indian restaurant-style recipes like my vegan malai kofta curry, vegan butter chicken, spicy urad dal and vegan dal makhani, among many. You can make this methi matar malai with kasoori methi if you don’t have access to fresh methi leaves, I’ll tell you how.
Why you’ll love this recipe
Ingredients
How to make methi matar malai
Heat a tablespoon of the oil in a saute pan or saucepan. Add the cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, bay leaf, coriander and cumin. Saute for 30 seconds to a minute until the coriander has turned a couple of shades darker and the spices are aromatic. Add the chopped onion and saute until translucent. Don’t let the onion brown. Add the chopped chili peppers and ginger garlic paste and saute for another minute.
Add the tomato and saute until tomatoes are pulpy. Add a cup of water to the pan to deglaze it and turn off the heat immediately.
Remove the onion tomato sauce to a blender, making sure you get any bits stuck to the bottom of the pan. Let it cool while you proceed with next steps, then add cashews and blend into a very smooth paste.
Wipe or rinse out the saucepan and heat the remaining tablespoon of oil. Add the chopped methi leaves and saute for a couple of minutes. Add half a teaspoon of salt and mix. Cover the pan and let the fenugreek cook until it softens, about 10 minutes, over a medium-low flame. Stir frequently to ensure it doesn’t stick. If it begins to stick, add a bit of water.
Once the methi is tender add the cashew-onion-tomato paste and the frozen green peas to the pan. Add half a cup to a cup of water depending on how thick you want the sauce. Mix well and add more salt if needed. Turn off as soon as the sauce begins to boil. Serve hot.
Serve
Serve methi matar malai with any Indian flatbread. Try it with my vegan naan or my sourdough roti or with this pudina paratha. You can also serve it with jeera rice or with plain cooked rice.
Store
Refrigerate: You can store the methi matar malai in the fridge for up to three days after cooking. Freeze: Freeze in an airtight container for up to three months. Reheat: Thaw if frozen and reheat on the stove. Add a little more water if necessary.
More Indian methi recipes
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