The proverb says, “morning shows the day.” But, we all know foodies practice and preach that breakfast shows the day. If the morning breakfast platter is served alright on the table, one can tolerate anything. So, what can be a better breakfast than a plate of aloo ke paratha accompanied with a delicious black eyes peas curry. But, those of you who have a knack for cooking won’t wait for their parents to cook this meal for them. You would instead take up the job yourself and treat yourself this delight. For that, you need to have a quick look at the black eyed peas recipe.
Before dipping your fingers in the deliciously soft, moist curry of black eyed peas, won’t you like to have an intimacy with the food? Being a foodie, making a bond with your food is one of the pre-requisites of loving the food. We don’t see eating as a requirement for surviving life; we don’t eat to live. Instead, we live to eat.
So, bonds become stronger with knowledge. Knowledge about your friends or partner or the food you adore the most creates a special bond.
Table of Contents
Where does this black eyed peas recipe come from?
Primarily, it is Punjabi food. Black eyed peas derive their name from the black-colored spots marked on the whitish creamy curved surface of the peas. This is a kind of legume that is high in protein, this is glutton-free, obviously vegan, and you can also store this well in a refrigerator.
It is also extremely rich in essential vitamins like Vitamin B1, vitamin B3, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin B5, and Vitamin B6. It is also rich in minerals and other elements like zinc, phosphorus, copper, folic acid, folate, calcium, manganese, iron, thiamine, etc.
This bean is versatile. You put it in any vegetarian recipe you want. The meal will take a different flavor of its own. Credits go to our very own black eyed peas.
It has different names across different Indian states. While it is known by the name ‘Lobia’ in Punjab, in Maharashtra, it is called chawli. In Tamil Nadu, it is called Karamani. The preparation will also differ from place to place, but the prominent tinge of the taste remains identical.
How to make black eyed peas recipe?
Before you cook the curry, you should first soak the beans well.
Many complex sugar components are hard to digest in these beans. They result in gas and eventually cause flatulence and bloating, which isn’t desirable from such a delightful meal.
If you soak the beans well and help in its sprouting, all these complexities go away, making this dish becomes all the more healthy and easy to digest.
Remember, if the meal you are eating provides you discomfort, no matter how much delicious the meal is, you will never acknowledge its beauty and keep on cursing it whatsoever.
Also, with beans already soaked in water, it gets easy to be cooked. Try to soak the beans well before the cooking begins.
Procedure
The materials required to cook this dish are an instant pot pressure cooker, stainless steel pot, and a tall trivet.
Ingredients
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If you want to make this meal for your lunch, you can have this with the beautiful aromatic hot basmati rice. For that, you will need the following things:
- one cup of basmati rice or any rice you like
- one and a half cups of water
- one teaspoon of Kosher salt
Cooking the curry
Here comes the most anticipated part and the most tiresome one also if you are a lazy foody. But if you love cooking, this part of the blog is going to excite you the most. Come on in, let’s take the ride together in exploring this lip-smacking dish.
In the very beginning, as was said earlier, wash the beans and soak them. Get up in the morning. Brush your teeth. Have your tea, and then soak the bean. The beans will get enough time of about 4-5 hours and will be prepared to get cooked.
Direction
- When you begin cooking, drain all the water, and then you make a puree of two tomatoes.
- Keep your instant pot in saute mode. Then add the oil and cumin seeds when it’s hot. Let it get fried there.
- Then add the paste of ginger and garlic followed by green chilies and onions. These are like the fundamentals of any Indian food.
- Continue to saute this for five to six minutes.
- After this, add the tomato puree and stir the mixture in the heat for two to three minutes.
- Then add the queen component, the beans!
- Here come your black eyed peas accompanied with turmeric powder, red chili powder, salt, along coriander powder. Mix all of these well.
- Stir the whole mixture after pouring water into it.
- Now, close the pot’s lid. Set it in high flame. Then set the pot’s timer for 14 minutes for firmness and soften the beans.
Additional tips
If you want to add rice, stir it well with the mixture after adding the black eyes peas. Keep in mind nothing should get stuck to your pot bottom. After that, place a trivet inside your pot. It will be used to hold your rice bowl. After that, close your pot lid and put the pressure valve in sealing. Then set the pot on high pressure—Cook for eight minutes.
After that, do the NPR or natural pressure release. Allow it to happen for around 10 minutes. Then remove your trivet and your rice bowl.
You can also make a paratha if you want. Then take curry and stir it well. Add chopped cilantro on the top of it for garnishing. The deliciously aromatic meal is ready and waiting for your hands to serve it.
Accompaniments
You can make cumin rice. The fresh black eyed peas recipe goes the best with a plate of hot steamy jeera (cumin) rice. Along with this, you can have a bowl of onion raita to accompany your tongue.
Sanjeev Kapoor’s black eyed peas recipe
Sanjeev Kapoor, in his book “Accompaniments,” wrote a great deal about his famous lobia rassedar. Black eyed peas recipe Indian Sanjeev Kapoor is famous for the finger-licking taste and aroma that this food executes. Normally, it is also served well with hot parathas; maybe add mango pickle to magnify the taste.
You can also make this dish in a pressure cooker.
Here is the fresh black eyed peas recipe cooked in a pressure cooker on the stove. Here also you need to soak and drain the peas.
Direction
- Add the puree of tomato. Instead of an instant pot, take a pan and add oil there.
- After that, follow it with jeera seeds, and they will splutter. Add the Indian cooking fundamentals of garlic-ginger and onions and then sauté it well. The onions will cook until it turns light brown.
- Cook it for five to six minutes.
- Then cook for two to three minutes after adding the tomato puree.
- Then add the peas, chili powder, coriander powder, garlic powder, salt, and mix well.
- Stir the mixture after adding water
- Closing the lid, let it give a whistle, put it to medium flame, and give three to four whistles.
- Then carefully turn out the flame. Make a pressure release.
- After opening the lid, add lime juice and garam masala. Then use cilantro for garnishing. Then mix it well!
Tada! The meal is ready. Bon Appetit!
Tips to make the recipe yummier
Here are some additional tips to make your dish seem more spontaneous and yummilicious.
If you are not happy with the density of the curry, click cancel and then keep it in sauté and cook it. Then stir it till your desired density is achieved. Also, mash some peas and add them to the dish to make your curry more creamy. But if you do not like the aroma of the raw mashed pea, then avoid it.
Kale, collard greens, or spinach are more to add if you find that suitable enough to make your dish a bit more hearty.
Also, you might run out of fresh tomato in your kitchen; crushed tomato in cans is also a perfect replacement for it.
How to fridge the curry?
Well, as I said earlier, the whole preparation is very much fridge-friendly. You don’t really have to worry if you can’t have it whole or your guests have their stomach full of it. You can store the leftovers in your fridge for a time period of five days. But make sure to store it in an airtight container.
You can also freeze raw black eyed peas in a refrigerator for a time span as long as six months.
Also, if you want to move away from the desi Punjabi or North Indian style black eyed peas recipe, try this Greek style.
The main ingredients remain the same. But add cumin, paprika oregano, and bay leaves to your tomato puree.
Also, you can use this entire method in a slow cooker as well. That will take a bit longer time than usual, though. You have to chop all the ingredients such as garlic, carrots, onions, bell peppers and put all of them in your slow cooker.
Then you add olive oil, bay leaf, water, tomatoes, oregano, chili flakes, paprika, black eyed peas, black pepper, and kosher salt.
Now you have to cover your slow cooker and simmer it for a period of 8 hours.
If you use dry beans, then soak the beans overnight. Otherwise, it will be hard to cook them and digest them. Moreover, black eyed peas, if not soft enough, do not taste good. So, that is one thing where you should pay a lot of attention.
Final thoughts
In fact, there are many other styles of cooking black eyed peas. There is some southern style of cooking it where the vegan chicken broth is also used. Well, this term is a tantalizing oxymoron.
Also, you have a creole style cooking of black eyed peas. This is also purely vegetarian in nature. This needs around two and a half hours to get prepared and cooked. This is a little less spicy but also worth trying. What is not worth trying in the food world, even as bitter a vegetable as bitter gourd, has heavenly recipes.
So, what are you waiting for? Get your utensils, spices, and veggies ready. Dive into this aromatic and delicious voyage.
