Matar ka Nimona

Awadhi and Bhojpuri winter curry of coarsely ground fresh green peas simmered with fried potato, onion, and tomato

Origin: Eastern Uttar Pradesh, India

From the journey of Pea.

Nimona is the taste of the North Indian winter in its most rustic, home-rooted form. A speciality of eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, and especially of the region around Varanasi and the wider Bhojpuri and Awadhi belt, it is a curry made by coarsely grinding fresh winter green peas and simmering the resulting green paste with fried cubes of potato, onion, tomato, and warm North Indian spices. It is cooked when the peas are at their sweetest and cheapest, in the cold months, and it is a dish that almost never appears in restaurants: it is the food of grandmothers and village kitchens, the kind of seasonal home cooking that defines a region far more truly than its showpiece dishes. Where matar paneer treats the pea as whole jewels in a rich gravy, nimona does something quite different and older: it crushes the pea into the very body of the dish, so that the gravy itself is green and sweet and tastes wholly of pea. The texture is rougher and the flavour more concentrated, the spicing earthier. Fried potatoes are almost always added for substance, and in some households a few pea-flour dumplings (bari) go in too. The pea reached the Gangetic plain in antiquity, and in the eastern reach of that plain it became a winter staple woven through the everyday vegetarian diet. Nimona is that long relationship distilled: a humble, deeply satisfying curry that asks for nothing more than a heap of peas, a few potatoes, and the patience to grind and simmer them into something greater than the sum of its parts. It is eaten with plain rice or with chapati.

Ingredients

Main

500 g fresh or frozen green peas
2 piece medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 2 cm cubes

Gravy

1 piece onion, finely chopped
2 piece tomatoes, finely chopped or puréed
1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
1 piece green chilli, chopped
3 tbsp mustard oil or neutral oil

Tempering

0.5 tsp cumin seeds
1 pinch asafoetida (hing)
1 piece bay leaf

Spices

0.5 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp ground coriander
0.5 tsp red chilli powder
0.5 tsp garam masala

Seasoning

1 tsp salt, or to taste

Finishing

2 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped

Method

Coarsely grind the peas to a rough green paste in a food processor or with a mortar and pestle, leaving some texture (not a smooth purée).
Heat the oil in a heavy pan until just smoking (if using mustard oil, this mellows its sharpness), then lower the heat and fry the potato cubes until golden on the edges. Lift out and set aside.
To the same oil add the cumin seeds, asafoetida, and bay leaf. When the cumin crackles, add the chopped onion and fry for 6 to 8 minutes until golden. Add the ginger-garlic paste and green chilli and cook for a minute.
Add the chopped tomatoes, turmeric, ground coriander, chilli powder, and salt. Cook for 6 to 8 minutes until the tomatoes break down and the oil begins to separate.
Add the ground pea paste and fry it with the masala over medium heat for 6 to 8 minutes, stirring constantly, until it darkens slightly and smells cooked and sweet.
Return the fried potatoes to the pan and pour in about 500 ml hot water to reach a loose, soupy gravy. Simmer for 12 to 15 minutes until the potatoes are tender and the flavours meld.
Stir in the garam masala, scatter with fresh coriander, and serve hot with plain steamed rice or chapati.

Notes

Some households add small dumplings of besan (gram flour) or fried pea-flour bari for extra substance. The dish is naturally vegan. Nimona thickens as it stands; loosen with hot water when reheating. Mustard oil is the authentic fat of the region, but any neutral oil works.

The Gastrographer

Name: Matar ka Nimona
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 55 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: India
Ingredients: 500 g fresh or frozen green peas; 2 piece medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 2 cm cubes; 1 piece onion, finely chopped; 2 piece tomatoes, finely chopped or puréed; 1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste; 1 piece green chilli, chopped; 3 tbsp mustard oil or neutral oil; 0.5 tsp cumin seeds; 1 pinch asafoetida (hing); 1 piece bay leaf; 0.5 tsp ground turmeric; 1 tsp ground coriander; 0.5 tsp red chilli powder; 0.5 tsp garam masala; 1 tsp salt, or to taste; 2 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control