Malai Matar makhana sabji is a mild Indian curry recipe from Mughlai cuisine. Makhana also known as fox nuts or lotus seed is cooked along with peas in a creamy rich Mughlai gravy. Trust me with a side of tandoori roti or butter Naan this tastes amazing.
This matar makhane ki sabji is definitely not the one I recommend for your everyday Indian meal. But this rich mughlai curry or another mughlai gravy of malai kofta is are perfect recipes to make on special occasions or for an Indian party menu.
Now when we are talking about special meals or party menu in the same sentence as Mughlai dishes let’s talk about Mughlai Cuisine too. Traditionally Mughlai cuisine is famous for its richness and flavourful dishes. A lot of spices, dried fruits and nuts are used. Most of these dishes from Mughlai cuisine were developed in 16th century Indo-Persian cultural centres of the Mughal Empire in India.
There are quite a few Mughlai recipes I have shared them in past. I will link them in the end of this post so you can try them as well.
White Gravy for Kofta
The white gravy base is standard mild Indian Mughali white gravy. This gravy recipe is slightly different from malai kofta gravy which I have shared earlier. But both of them are mild and very flavourful recipes. So you can definitely check out that recipe as well.
Recipe Notes
- One thing to remember while making any makhana curry is,always add roasted makhana just before serving. This is because makhana tend to get soggy pretty quickly and curry becomes mushy.
- So for this gravy I cook the curry till the point I add peas and then just before serving I add ghee roasted makhana.
- You can always roast extra makhana and save a portion to use it as a snack later on.
How to Make Ahead and Store in Freezer
Like my most other recipes, you can make this curry ahead and store in the freezer for up to 4-6 weeks. So I make a double batch and cook it till before adding green peas and store one batch in freezer.
When I am ready to serve I just reheat the gravy, add frozen peas and then just before serving add toasted foxnuts/makhana.
Serving Suggestions for Matar makhana sabji
This mughali dish tastes best with any Indian bread like, phulka, rumali roti, Naan, Paratha etc. Or a simple side of ever popular jeera rice and a raita to go with it.
More Such Recipes
How To Make Matar Makhana Sabji Step by Step Video
📖 Recipe
Mughlai Malai Matar makhana sabji
Ingredients
- 100 grams Makhana
- 200 grams peas
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅕ teaspoon cardamom powder
- ¼ cup cashews
- 1 Tablespoon Poppy seeds
- 1 Tablespoon melon seeds
- 150 grams Onion
- 1 teaspoon green chili
- 1 Star anise Chakri phool
- 1 tablespoon ginger
- 1 cinnamon
- 1 cardamom
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 cups water
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 tablespoon ghee
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoon cream
- ¼ cup yogurt dahi
- 1 teaspoon fenugreek dried Kasuri methi
Instructions
Prepare Makhana for the curry
- In a pan heat one tablespoon ghee and add makhana or fox nut. Roast these makhana on medium to slow heat till these are crisp and easily break when pressed.
- After roasting these makhana will almost shrink to half from the original size.
To Make Gravy
- Take a saucepan, add sliced onions, green chilies, star anise, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, bay leaf, cashews, poppy seeds, melon seeds and water and boil it for 5-6 minutes on a medium heat.
- After boiling, allow it to cool and then blend it to make gravy. it will give a white creamy gravy.
- Take another pan, heat some oil and add cumin seeds/ jeera.
- Also, now add the paste we made for malai kofta gravy.
- Cook on medium heat for 8-9 minutes till it thickens up.
- Keep stirring in between.
- Add cream and yogurt in it and mix it well and cook for 2-3 minutes while continuously stirring it.
- Season it with salt to taste.
- Also add 1 cup water in it and let it boil for 6-7 minutes. Adjust the consistency of gravy as per your liking by adjusting water quantity.
- Add fresh or frozen green peas in the gravy and simmer it for 8-9 minutes to cook the peas.
- Add crushed kasuri methi over the gravy and stir it well.
- Now, switch off the flame and just before serving add ghee toasted makhana.Mix well cook it further for a minute and serve it immediately.
Deepa Girish
That was really yummy.😊Lip smacking gravy. Loved it:)