Vegan Indian Palak Matar Recipe

Indian palak matar (or matar palak, if you prefer) is a flavorful vegetarian and vegan indian vegetable dish of spinach and peas in a spicy tomato-based sauce. In this recipe, the palak (spinach) and matar (peas) are spiced with a heavy blend of indian spices including cumin seeds, coriander, chili, turmeric and a bit of tamarind. You can leave the tamarind out, if you don't have a source for it, without changing the authenticity of the dish too much. Because this palak matar recipe uses vegetable oil instead of ghee, it is vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free (just be sure your spices are gluten-free). For a spicier dish, add some sliced green chilies in along with the cumin seeds in the first step, or for a non-vegan dish, you can pan-fry a bit of indian paneer cheese (or a vegan tofu paneer substitute) to make a palak matar paneer.