Soya with Peas and Gravy
Photo credit: Asha Sreedharan
Ingredients
- 1 cup dry soya chunks or ½ cup soya flakes, soaked in warm water and then water squeezed out
- 1 cup green peas
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1″ pc ginger
- 1 tsp poppy seeds (khus khus)
- 1 medium-sized onion, coarsely chopped
- ½ tsp turmeric powder (haldi)
- ½ tsp garam masala (or less if this is very spicy)
- 2 pods cardamom
- 3 cloves
- 2 medium-sized tomatoes, diced
- Unrefined salt to taste
- ⅓ cup raw cashew nuts, soaked in water for about 1 hour and ground to a paste
- 3 tbsp finely chopped fresh coriander leaves, to garnish
Method
If the soya nuggets are large, chop them into halves. Keep aside. Steam the peas and keep aside.
Grind ginger, garlic, onions and poppy seeds to a paste in a grinder or food processor, without using water.
Heat a heavy bottomed pan and fry (without oil) the onion-garlic-ginger paste on low heat. When this begins to brown, add the turmeric, garam masala, whole cardamoms, cloves and stir. Then, add the tomatoes. Cook until the tomatoes are very soft. Add salt, peas, cashew paste and soya and cook for about 5 minutes, adding water as needed to make the gravy as thick or thin as you want. Let this stand for half an hour before serving, so that the soya soaks in the flavour. Heat before serving. Garnish with coriander leaves.
Serves 4