Black eyed peas curry with fresh ground masala

Black eyed peas curry with fresh ground masala

Posted by admin on Sunday, February 5, 2012

Do you follow the Tambrahmrage Blog? If not, check it out now so you are not deprived of the laughs we have been having over the last few months. I am happy to announce that Saffrontrail along with the Tambrahmrage blogger have started another blog called Tambrahmrage Cooks. It is traditional tamil brahmin cooking served with dollops of sambar humour and real audio files means that you literally hear the recipes from the Maamis' mouths.

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This post is hot off my kitchen counter. I made this for lunch today and one taste of it finally made me shake off my blogging lethargy. My generous self felt that this recipe MUST be shared with the world at large. And here it is for you...

You can use any beans for this curry. Some of them I can think of are dried peas (white / green), green moong, whole masoor, moth beans, rajma beans, fresh lablab (mocchai) or anything else. Simple rule to remember is, if the beans are dried, soak them overnight.

Red Chauli - Dry (click for a larger picture)

Fresh beans like mocchai can be pressure cooked without soaking. 4 hours should do for the smaller varieties like moong, masoor, moth, black eyed peas (white/red), while the bigger beans like rajma or dried peas do well with an overnight soak.

Black Eyed Peas Curry with fresh ground masala
Time taken - Under 30 minutes with a pressure cooker
Serves 3-4

Ingredients
3/4 cup black eyed peas (I used the red Chauli)
3 medium tomatoes

To be ground into a paste:
1 medium onion, peeled and chopped roughly
3 cloves garlic
1/4 cup fresh coconut
2 tsp coriander seeds
3 dried red chillies
1/2 tsp grated ginger
1 medium cinnamon stick
3-4 cloves

1 tbsp oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
asafoetida
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp garam masala powder or 1 tsp rasam/sambar powder

Lots of finely chopped fresh coriander

Directions
Use a pressure cooker with separators. In one compartment, place the rehydrated peas with just enough water to cover.
Halve the tomatoes and place in another compartment. No water required in this.
You can cook rice in the third compartment if you want to serve this curry with rice. Pressure cook for 2 whistles and keep on sim for 5-7 minutes and remove from flame. Open when cool enough.
The peas should be cooked to very soft but maintain their shape. Tug off the tomato skins, mash with fingers and keep aside.
In a large kadai, heat 1 tbsp oil, add 1 tsp cumin seeds, fat pinch of asafoetida. Once the cumin splutters, add the ground paste to the oil and fry on medium flame for around 5 minutes, until oil separates and the onion and garlic is cooked off.
To the cooked paste, add the cooked black eyed peas and the mashed tomatoes. Add turmeric, salt and garam masala powder. Bring to a simmer. Add some water if it is too dry. Let this simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from flame and add fresh coriander.

If you don't have / use / like a pressure cooker-
Boil the soaked beans in plenty of water for around 45 minutes (until really soft) and blanche the tomatoes in boiling water, peel and mash them with fingers-proceed with recipe.

Serve with steamed rice or rotis.

The fresh mocchai beans are still in season. You must give this recipe a try with them. No soaking required, directly pressure cook as directed above.