Ingredients and method to make curried black eyed peas
1 1/2 cups of dried black eyed peas (chawli/lobia/karamani) to be soaked overnight
1 heaped tsp of mustard seeds (sarson/rai/kadagu)
2 tbsp oil
salt to taste (namak/uppu)
3 small Thai or Indian variety green chillies cut fine (or according to taste)
1/2 tsp cumin powder (jeera powder/jeeragam podi)
1/2 tsp coriander powder (dhania powder)
1/4 tsp turmeric (haldi/manjal podi)
1/8 tsp asafoetida (hing/perungayam)
2 large tomatoes (tamatar/thakkali)(cut into small pieces)
7-8 curry leaves (kadi patha/ karvapillai ) broken into small pieces
1/2 tsp chilli powder (or according to taste) (optional)
handful of cilantro (coriander leaves/hara dhania/kothamalli) cut fine
Soak the black eyed peas in a large container overnight in sufficient water. Drain the water and rinse once.
Place
the peas in a heavy bottomed pan in fresh water and bring to a boil,
then lower the heat and simmer until the peas are cooked. Skim off the
froth from the surface when it initially forms. (or pressure cook the chawli with sufficient water until soft, this usually takes about 2 to 3 whistles in my pressure cooker)
Keep
the cooked peas aside. Heat oil in the same pan, add the mustard seeds
to it, when the mustard seeds start spluttering add green chillies to
it.
When
the green chillies turn a little whiter, add all the dry spices and the
curry leaves. Stir a couple of times and add cut tomatoes to it and
saute until the tomatoes become soft and mushy.
Add the cooked black eyed peas, salt to taste and cook for another ten or so minutes.Garnish with cilantro just before serving.
Serve hot with roti's, plain basmati rice or cumin/ jeera rice .
Serves about 4
Notes
I
wanted my curry to have some gravy so I retained the water the peas
were cooked in and added that to the curry to give me the consistency I
was looking for, in case you like to have your curry drier you could
drain the water after the peas are cooked, then add the peas to the
curry.
