A hearty dish filled with flavour of authentic spices. A great no-meat alternative.

Black-eyed beans make a delicious and satisfying curry to be eaten with rice or roti and makes for a perfect mid-week meal. I make two versions of this bean, and particular this recipe is inspired from the North part of India – Punjab. A typical north Indian diet consists of a bunch of different types of whole beans and lentils cooked in a sauce of onion or tomato, called masala, with different spice combinations and served with whole grain flat breads like Roti/chapati or with hot Basmati Rice.

This particular bean is very nutty and earthy in flavor and absorbs the spices of the curry so well that the end result is an absolutely delightful and hearty curry.

This is one of our family favorites and made regularly on no meat days to supplement for the protein. This bean is packed with proteins and micronutrients, is low in saturated fat and is a good source of dietary fiber.

I served this curry with a bowl of boiled basmati rice and onion raita and it makes a nutritious and well-balanced meal for the family.

Prep time: 15 minutes (soaking time of 2 hours or longer if possible)

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

1 cup dry black eye peas soaked for 2 hours at least

1 tablespoon oil

1 medium onion chopped

1-teaspoon cumin powder

1-teaspoon coriander powder

½ teaspoon turmeric powder

Pinch of asafetida (hing)

2 medium tomatoes

1-inch ginger chopped

4-5 cloves of garlic peeled and chopped

1 green chili, chopped or slit lengthwise (to taste)

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon Garam masala

Salt to taste

Directions:

Add the beans in a pressure cooker along with 3 cups of water and a teaspoon of salt. Pressure-cook the beans for 15-20 minutes. Once the pressure drops, open the cooker and check if the beans are soft and mushy. If not, return the cooker to medium heat and cook for another 10 minutes. The cooking time of beans vary depending on the quality of the beans.

In a blender, add 2 chopped tomatoes, ginger, garlic, chili, lemon juice. Blend into a paste and keep aside.

In a heavy bottom pan heat oil, add onions. Cook until onions are translucent. Now add the blended tomatoes into the pan and cook on medium heat. Keep stirring occasionally. Cook until the paste thickens and starts to leave oil. This should take about 15 minutes.

Now add in the spices, asafetida, and garam masala and mix well.

Add in the salt, and the boiled beans along with the water they are boiled in. Let the beans boil for about 10 minutes with the masala. Mash a few beans while they are cooking to release the nutty flavor of the beans into the curry and also to thicken the curry a bit.

Serve hot topped with coriander, lemon juice and hot rotis or rice.

Cooking without a Pressure cooker: Soak the black-eyed beans overnight. Next day, drain the beans; add 2 cups water, salt, soaked black-eyed peas to the tomato onion mixture in a deep pan. Cover and cook on low medium for about an hour. Stir a few times in between. Mash some black-eyed peas and adjust the water if needed. Serve hot.