Rice and peas with real peas, or muttar pilau, is a satisfying vegetarian dish popular in Pakistan and northern India, where fresh peas are plentiful, though the frozen sort has made it a year-round favourite everywhere else. Chef Asma Khan remembers her amazement on seeing her first bag of Bird’s Eye peas in Britain, because “in India, peas were only available in winter, and muttar pulao was essentially a winter rice dish”. She describes children being “rounded up to pop the pea pods” before a feast or party.

Simon Daley believes muttar pilau is as good for a weekday lunch as for a family gathering: “Its universal appeal is down to the fact that it is, I think, a perfect combination of simplicity and subtle refinement.”

Indeed, Daley adds, though you may find this on restaurant menus as an accompaniment, in the British-Gujarati family into which he married, “it is usually served as the main event” – a satisfying vegetarian main course in its own right, with just a chunky tomato and cucumber salad on the side. Frankly, I’m not sure it even needs that: fluffy rice, aromatic spices and sweet green peas – why bother to gild the lily?

The rice

Gloriously aromatic, basmati is the top choice here, but long grain will work just fine if you can’t find it; just make sure it’s not quick-cook, or you’ll end up with mush. Rinse the grains to get rid of some of the sticky surface starch, then soak it in cold water for as long as possible to soften the grains and minimise the cooking time – the less time the basmati is over heat, the more aromatic the final result. Khan recommends two hours in her new book Asma’s Indian Kitchen, but notes that “even the briefest soaking time makes a difference”.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Soaking the rice preserves the flavour: the less time the basmati cooks, the more aromatic it will be ...

The only recipe not to rinse or soak, from the India and Pakistan volume of Charmaine Solomon’s Complete Asian Cookbook, takes twice as long to cook and, while delicious, the rice gathers in clumps: if you don’t have time to soak at all, then at least rinse (though note you’ll need to increase the cooking time significantly: Solomon recommends using 625ml boiling water, bringing the pan to a simmer, then leaving it covered, over a low heat, for 25 minutes).

The peas

Frozen are, of course, our only option in Britain at this time of year, though to be honest, unless you happen to grow peas yourself or live very near someone who does, they’re often a better bet than the fresh kind, whose sugars begin to turn to starch the moment they’re picked. Only Kaushy Patel’s Prashad cookbook specifies petit pois: this is one instance where I slightly prefer the bigger garden pea, but the difference is marginal, so use whichever you have to hand.

More important, I think, is how you cook the peas. My testers think they don’t benefit from a whole 20 minutes in the pan with the rice, as recommended by Daley’s mother-in-law Roshan Hirani, with whom he wrote the book Cooking With My Indian Mother-in-Law. Indeed, unless you’re using monstrously large examples, Khan’s technique of adding them once the pan is off the heat is preferable, to keep them as plump and juicy as possible.

The aromatics and spices

Patel and Hirani start with a masala paste of green chillies, garlic and ginger, giving their pilaus a more assertively savoury flavour that testers enjoy, “especially if you’re going to eat it on its own”. Khan and Roopa Gulati use onion instead, with the former frying it to crisp golden rings that look rather special scattered on top. It’s another step, but frankly not a difficult one.

Patel keeps her spicing similarly savoury with mustard seeds and vivid yellow turmeric, but fragrant spices – such as cinnamon or cassia bark, cardamom and cloves, and, in Gulati and Khan’s case, Indian bay leaves – are more common in the recipes I try. The latter have a much sweeter flavour than the European bay leaf. If you can find them (they’re easily available in specialist grocers and online), they’re a nice addition, but if you can’t, leave them out rather than substituting the kind you might have growing in your garden in the UK.

The extras

The Hirani family recipe is indeed a feast in its own right, boasting tomatoes, potatoes and boiled eggs on top of the standard rice and peas. All, of course, are welcome, though given the shorter cooking time in the recipe below, if you’d like to bulk it out in this way, I’d recommend cooking them separately and adding them to the pan at the end with the peas.

The cooking method

Gulati’s is the only recipe to cook the rice in stock (vegetable, in her case) rather than water, but this shouldn’t be necessary: the masala and spices will provide quite enough flavour on their own.

The most popular cooking method for soaked rice is to boil it hard until most of the liquid has evaporated, then cover the pan and let it gently steam in the remaining moisture for another five minutes. It works well, and is far quicker than the alternatives. Leaving the rice to sit, covered, off the heat for a few minutes before serving will give even fluffier results, especially if, like Hirani, you cover the pot with a clean tea towel to help soak up any excess moisture.

Perfect muttar pilau

Serve as a side dish, or on its own with perhaps some boiled eggs or potatoes to bulk it out.

Prep 10 min

Soak 30 min

Cook 20 min

Serves 4

250g basmati rice

150g frozen peas, rinsed to break up any clumps

1-3 green chillies

2 garlic cloves, peeled

10g fresh root ginger, peeled

1 tsp salt

3 tbsp ghee (or oil, to make the dish vegan)

1 cinnamon stick

6 cardamom pods

4 cloves

1 Indian bay leaf (optional)

1 onion, peeled and cut into thin rings

1 tsp brown mustard seeds



Rinse the rice in cold water until it runs clear, then leave to soak in cold water for 30 minutes to eight hours. Take the peas out of the freezer and soak in cold water to defrost.

Roughly chop the chillies (remove the seeds if you’d prefer a very mild dish), garlic and ginger, then mash to a paste with a pinch of salt.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Crush the garlic, ginger and chillies to a paste ...

Heat the ghee (or oil) in a wide, lidded pan over a medium-high heat and add the cinnamon, cardamom, bay leaf (if using) and cloves. Fry until aromatic, then scoop out with a slotted spoon and transfer to a plate.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest ... and fry the spices in ghee until they release their aromas.

Add the onion to the pan and turn down the heat. Fry, stirring regularly, until golden brown, then scoop out on to the same plate, spreading it out to help the onion crisp up.

Drain the rice and boil a kettle of water. Turn the heat back up, add the mustard seeds to the pan and cook until they start to pop. Add the chilli-garlic paste and stir for a minute or so, then add the rice and salt, and stir to coat all the grains with oil.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Stir-fry the garlicky paste, then add the rice and fried onions. Add water and cook for five minutes.

Pour in 500ml boiling water, top with the reserved whole spices and onions, then bring to a simmer and cook uncovered for about five minutes, until almost all of the water has been absorbed. Meanwhile, thoroughly drain the peas.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Cover the pot first with a tea towel and then a tight-fitting lid, and leave to steam for five minutes more.

Cover the pan with a tight-fitting lid (put a tea towel or square of foil between the lid and the pan if yours is loose) and turn the heat right down. Cook for five minutes more, then take off the heat, quickly scatter the peas on top, then cover with a clean tea towel and replace the lid.

Fork through to fluff up the grains and serve hot.

• Muttar/matar/wattana pilau/pulao: however you spell it, are you a rice and peas fan? If so, how do you cook it? And what, if anything, do you serve it with?