Mushy-Minty Peas

Mushy-Minty Peas

The base recipe is courtesy a very sexy chef who wields a mean (mean: as in great) knife in the kitchen ~ Gordon Ramsey. I've adjusted the spice proportions to my liking and to suit the Indian palate. Actually, I have to shamelessly admit I'm so busy drooling over him that I always check out the recipes on the net after the show. This one goes beautifully with batter fried fish so I promise the next recipe on the blog will be batter fried fish. Now you don’t have an excuse to not make this. ;-)

Ingredients:

200 grams frozen peas

2 shallots, roughly chopped

2 red chili, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

15 -20 mint leaves, adjust the mint flavor to your liking

½ teaspoon finely crushed black pepper

Salt to taste

1½ tablespoon butter

Method:

1. Blanch peas in rapidly boiling hot water for 3 minutes. Drain. Retain the cooking liquid.
2. Heat butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add shallots, red chili, garlic cloves and sauté till the shallot turn translucent.
3. Add the drained peas, mint leaves, sauté for a few seconds. Add salt and pepper to taste. Toss well for a minute.
4. Mash the peas with a masher or in a grinder using the pulse mode. Use the cooking liquid as required to attain desired mushy consistency. (The mushy peas should remain slightly coarse). Serve with batter fried fish.
   
   

Chef Notes: 

1. This recipe makes about one cup of mushy peas.
2. Feel free to use fresh peas instead of frozen ones if you so wish. Please increase the time for blanching by a minute or two if using fresh ones.
3. Adjust the proportion of chilies and mint to suit your taste.
4. I have not used any color to brighten the color of the peas. The trick is to not over-blanch the peas. Over-blanching darkens the peas and lends a murky grey-green color to the peas.
5. I used a grinder in pulse mode to mash the peas instead of a manual masher.
6. Mushy peas are always ground to thick consistency. When you pick it with a spoon and set it on a plate it has to be a semi-smooth blob.
7. You may share the direct blog-link of the recipe/s but do NOT publish my recipes and my photographs on any blog-site or website without my explicit consent or attempt to pass off my recipe/s as your own. You will be held accountable for plagiarism.