Matar Pulao - we have here a much loved pair. Comfort food at potentially its purest and most wholesome. Something the kids (usually, depending on their mood) love. Economical. Quick and easy to prepare. Just generally an all-round winner.
My recipe comes together quickly, doesn't require the contents of your whole entire spice cabinet and tastes like a warm hug! Caramelised onions, warming spices like cloves and cinnamon, fluffy and fragrant basmati rice - what's not to love?
Matar Pulao, rice cooked with peas and onions, has always been a favourite at my Mother's house. My Mother would cook this to serve alongside a delicious Chicken Shorba or Aloo Gosht, or sometimes with some Shami Kebabs or Aloo Tikkis and we would always gobble our plates down and greedily ask for seconds.
What really makes this recipe a die-for affair is the sweet pops of flavour the peas provide us with. Kids tend to love peas and since this is a relatively mild, non-spicy recipe, Matar Pulao is ideal for younger children.
Jump to:
Why Matar Pulao is so good
- It comes under the highly rankings of good ol' Pakistani comfort food. Y'know, them lofty levels that include Aloo Gosht and Aloo Keema? Yeah, those ranks.
- It's just so wholesome! Like, does it get more pure and wholesome than peas and rice?
- It's quick, comes together with very little active time. The only real active 'work' you'll be doing is frying the onions.
- Super duper convenient. Like, we're talking frozen peas, onions and rice. Literally, when it comes to Desi home-cooked food from scratch, this is as convenient as things get
- It's cheap! Fill those bellies for less! Win!
- Keeps in the fridge great too. It's winning alllllll the points for being efficient and economical
- Who doesn't like peas? *silence*
- You can serve it with literally ANYTHING, yet you can also serve it with NOTHING except yogurt and you're good.
Matar Pulao, you bring SO much goodness to the table.
Method
As always, full quantities and instructions are at the bottom of the post.
We start off by frying some finely sliced onions in oil.
Once they are a shade of gold, add in some cloves, cinnamon and bay leaf. Continue to fry the onions till they become a darker shade of brown.
Next we'll add in the peas. I use frozen peas for this recipe. We'll just stir-fry these until they defrost.
Once the peas are defrosted, add in some water, whole green chillies and salt.
Once the water comes to a boil, we will add some basmati rice. Ensure the basmati rice has been washed thoroughly and soaked for at least half an hour before using.
Allow the basmati rice to cook with everything over a high heat, stirring once or twice gently to ensure the rice doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan.
Once the water has been absorbed by the water, the rice should be about 80% cooked with just a slight bite to it. Turn the heat down to the lowest it can go, place a tight fitted lid (lining it with a clean tea towel or some foil is recommended) on top and cook the rice for 10-15 minutes. This process is called dum (steaming) in Urdu.
Once the steaming process is done, fluff the rice up well even if you do not intend to eat the rice immediatly.
The importance of getting the onions right
Matar Pulao starts with frying onions in a pot until deep brown. The frying stage of any Pulao is really important - it's what ensures the flavour of the entire dish is deep, rich and has that characteristic Pulao flavour.
If you don't fry your onions enough, your Pulao will remain light-coloured and not take on much deep flavour. You'll have raw, white and sad looking onions hanging around in your rice. Not cool.
If you fry your onions too much and they end up burnt, your rice will likely become bitter, they also may become too dark and then there will obviously be black stringy bits of onion hanging around like unwanted guests. Again, not cool.
Getting the right level of fried goodness is paramount. The ideal way to get to this stage is to fry the onions on a medium-high heat, stirring often and ensuring you stay close to make sure they don't get too brown. It's a small labour of love but a labour well worth it.
The rest of the Pulao making business is pretty simple and straight-forward. I have a post on how to make the best Pulao rice here for more tips which can be used to help you with other Pulaos too!
How to get your basmati rice perfect
Sometimes getting the texture of the basmati rice fluffy, soft and getting the grains separate is the biggest struggle when making pilau. Here are my top tips for ensuring perfectly cooked rice.
- Purchase a good quality, extra long grain basmati rice. Some of my favourite UK based brands include Shama basmati, East End royal basmati, Tilda XL and Daawat basmati rice
- Take special care to wash the rice well and then soak it for a minimum of half an hour. This helps remove the startch from the rice and helps keep the grains separate
- I have a full, detailed YouTube video about how to cook the perfect basmati rice here. It's definitely worth a watch if you struggle in this area
- It can take some time getting used to the delicate nature of basmati rice. If you are struggling to get things right despite these tips, consider using sella basmati rice. Sella basmati rice is notoriously difficult to overcook or break, making it a good alternative to regular basmati rice.
Substitutes + Variations
I'm all for altering recipes so they suit you better! And the great thing about this recipe is that it's just so easy and simple and it just does so well with these additions too. Feel free to change things up!
- You can add other vegetables to this recipe too - ideally you want to use vegetables that are either pre-cooked, frozen and cooked vegetables work too. This can become a vegetable Pulao in this way
- This recipe contains just 2 whole green chillies but this is not in any way, shape or form a spicy recipe. If you would like to increase the spice however, increase the green chillies to 6-7, or alternatively you can chop the green chillies when adding them to infuse some heat
- Adding potatoes into this recipe also works great! Throw in a few potatoes chopped in small-sized cubes around half-way through frying the onions so that they cook through. You'll need to increase the salt to compensate for this addition
- Don't have onions? Or, you want to switch things up? Try frying leeks or spring onions instead!
Serving suggestions
Here are some ideas for how you can serve your pea pulao:
- For a super simple and basic dinner, serve alongside a salad, some plain yogurt or raita and kebabs, such as my Aloo Tikki or Chapli Kebab
- Pea pulao goes great alongside a curry with a soupy base, such as Aloo Gosht or Chicken Salan
- Here's the beauty of Pea Pulao - it's such a people-pleaser dish that it goes pretty fab with dry-style curries too, such as Bhuna Chicken or Fish Bhuna
- This is a great side dish to a roast chicken or roast lamb/beef too
- Something we often had at home was this alongside homemade fried chicken. It's lush, I tell you!
Enjoy, with love x
📋 Recipe
Ingredients
- ¼ cup (65 ml) oil
- 2 (220 g) medium onions, sliced finely
- 2 tablespoon cumin seeds
- 9 whole cloves
- 1 small stick cinnamon
- 2 green whole chillies (optional)
- 1 ½ cups (220 g) frozen peas
- 3 cups (600 g) white basmati rice (wash and soak for half an hr in water before using)
- 3.5 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
- 4 cups/1l water (IMPORTANT: please read notes if you are changing the serving size)
Instructions
- 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 deep shade of gold.
- Add the peas and stir-fry them till they defrost.
- Add the water and salt, and bring to a boil. If you are adjusting the serving size, please refer to the notes for the correct quantity of water.
- Add the basmati rice.
- Cook on high heat till all the water has dried out. Stir gently with a slotted spoon, using a folding motion instead of a vigorous stir, to avoid breaking the rice grains.
- Once the water has dried out, turn the heat to the lowest setting possible, cover the pot with a tight-fitting lid and allow the rice to steam for 15 minutes. If you have a flat pan (tava), you can place this below the pot too - this helps prevent the bottom layer of rice from burning)
- Fluff well once the rice is done, even if you don't intend to have the rice straight away to prevent it from getting clumpy.
Notes
- If you are adjusting the serving size: the amount of water you use will be: 0.5x = 2.5 cups/600ml water, 2x = 7 cups/1.65l water , 3x = 10 cups/2.5l water
- If you are adjusting the serving size, the salt quantities may also change. Use a ratio of 1 teaspoon salt per 1 cup (200g) rice, + ⅓ tsp, then adjust if needed.
- If you'd like to spice this up, you can either chop the green chillies up or increase the quantity
📩 Want me to email this recipe to you?
Enter your email & I'll send it right over.
Plus, you'll get bonus Pakistani food-goodness from Fatima Cooks, like new recipe alerts, exclusive email-only recipes + more!
By submitting this form, you consent to receive emails from me. Your details are secure. Opt-out any time.
Mariyam
At what point do we add the green chili?
Shahbaz
So here's my hack to make this even simpler if you have a rice cooker:
1. Setup a rice cooker with e.g. 3 cups of basmati rice and the amount of water recommended by your rice cooker
2. Fry all the non-rice things (onions, cumin seeds, peas, salt, etc) and then add them to the rice cooker and stir everything well so it all mixes together
3. Close the rice cooker and start it cooking on the "white rice" setting and let it take care of it
The end result is always-perfect peas pilau.
Jihad
I am such a big fan of your recipes! They help me allot!!!!
Thank you so much Fatima!
Love,
From a Moroccan woman who is married to a Pakistani man who live in the Netherlands xx
Anisah
Brilliant! Perfect every time, always nervous about the ratios but this is spot on! Thank you Fatima x
Fatima
So happy to hear!
Hena
Thanks for making this recipe easy to follow, helpful for my first time making matar pulao. And it just turned out amazing.
Anam
Do you mean add 4 cups of water when it’s 3 cups of rice. I was always told to
Double the water according to the cup of rice
Naseem
This is what I thought too, help??
Raz
What is 4 cups for where it says salt and rice. and what is measurement 1/4 pls
Nadia
Super easy recipe resulting in delicious muttar pilau - thank you!
Lucia Schultz
Thank you
Naveen Sohail
I read this blog, its quite interesting and this mattar pilao is best dish for dinner.
Betty
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.
paulina
thank you