Indian Spiced Peas
A quick, flavor-packed side dish that transforms simple peas into something extraordinary. In just about 10 minutes, frozen (or fresh) peas, red pepper and onion simmer with garlic, ginger, and warm spices to create Indian Spiced Peas. A vibrant, curry-like dish with a silky little sauce. It’s healthy, vegan, and bursting with a little taste of India.
Similar to Kerala-style peas from the Indian region, my simple recipe uses many of the same base spices and flavors but swaps dried peas for fresh and leaves out the coconut milk for a version that lets the spices really pop. A popular recipe here since 2018 with some flavorful updates.
Table of contents
Ingredients
- Oil
- Onion
- Red pepper
- Garlic
- Fresh ginger
- Ground cumin
- Turmeric
- Ground coriander
- Garam masala
- Salt
- Pepper
- Tomato paste/puree
- Water
- Green peas
- Fresh mint
Spices for easy flavor
There’s no easier – or healthier – way to add big flavor than with a good mix of spices, and they bring so much depth to this pea recipe. The dish isn’t spicy, but you can add a pinch of Indian red chili powder if you want a little heat.
I even make my own Indian Spice Blend (pictured below) to keep on hand for vegetables, like my Indian-Spiced Acorn Squash, so I can add instant flavor whenever I need it.
Fresh or frozen peas
This recipe works year-round. Use fresh peas when they’re in season, or frozen peas any time for a convenient, flavorful alternative.
Feel free to toss in other frozen vegetables, such as carrots or corn, to add extra color and flavor to the peas.
These peas were part of a full Indian meal of Chicken Tikka Masala, Indian Dal and Easy Homemade Naan Bread. See below.
You can make this a fully vegan meal by serving the peas with my Curry Vegetable Basmati Rice.
If you’ve made my Indian Spiced Peas please leave a star rating in the recipe. You can also leave a comment below or ask question.
Indian Spiced Peas
Video
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- ½ cup (64 grams onion) quartered and thinly sliced
- ½ red bell pepper, thinly sliced
- 2 garlic cloves, grated or finely chopped
- ½ teaspoon fresh ginger, grated
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- ½ teaspoon ground coriander
- 1½ teaspoons garam masala
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste/puree
- ¾ cup (180 ml) water
- 2 cups (270 grams) peas, fresh or frozen (no need to defrost)
- 2 teaspoons fresh mint, chopped
Instructions
- To a large pan, heat the oil over medium heat.
- Add the onion and pepper and cook until softened, about 8 minutes. Stirring often.
- Turn down the heat to low. Add the garlic, ginger, cumin, turmeric, coriander, garam masala, salt and pepper. Stir well and mix into the vegetables, cook for 2 minutes. Watch the heat and don’t brown the garlic, this is just to cook the garlic and spices. Stir in the tomato paste/puree and mix well into the spices.
- Add the water and stir well so the spices and tomato blend into the water to make a sauce. Stir in the peas. Turn up the heat slightly to a low boil and cook until the peas are warmed through and the sauce thickened slightly. Don’t let the sauce dry out. Taste and add more salt if needed. Serve warm, garnished with the mint.
I was looking for a quick dish to go along with my daughter’s Soy Curl Tikki Masala (we eat plant based) and stumbled on your Indian spiced peas. It was the perfect accompaniment to the dish and so delicious and colorful that I will be making it frequently. Thank you.
I’m so happy you found my recipe and this is pretty much how I came about making the recipe 🙂
I always keep frozen Vegetables on hand. I heard on a TV cooking show that one can of green beans costs about a dollar, and if you buy fresh or frozen green beans, you can get enough for one dollar to fill 6 cans. So frozen vegetable vegetables are economical also.
This is good information, thank you for sharing.
Yummy!! This looks so good! You have an amazing website
This curry looks great! So nice to have frozen veggies in the freezer for quick and easy meal.
Hi James, thank you for pointing that out. They were a last minute (and tasty) addition. I’ll add them to the recipe now.
These look lovely and something I wouldn’t usually think to make. I love anything with cumin in it.
I do stock frozen vegetables in my freezer, especially green peas. This Indian spiced peas looks so delicious and flavorful!
I love to keep frozen veggies on hand—and now i have a great new way to use them, thanks for the recipe!
Those peas look fabulous. I would never know they were frozen first.
This dish looks so tasty and colorful!
What a healthy, delicious dish!
How delicious, my daughter and I are studying India right now we will have to try!
I’ve never had Indian Spiced Peas but darn they look fantastic! I definitely would love to try them!
I love how colorful and beautiful this is. And I bet all these wonderful flavors make this side dish one to remember!
Love peas I’ll have to try this.
Hubby just came back from India so I have all these yummy spices to try this yummy dish!
I can almost smell all of the wonderful aromas coming from your kitchen with these beautiful spices. Looks delicious – pinning for later!
Gosh, I love Indian food. This recipe looks really easy to make!
OOoh these sound gorgeous! Love the spices!