Lobia (Black eyed beans) curry recipe
Black eyed beans curry (Lobia curry) recipe indian -Creamy black eyed beans indian curry ,slowly simmered in onion tomato paste and rich Indian spices.
Black eyed beans commonly known as lobia in hindi or rongi in punjabi makes one of the most delightful curry recipes.
Lobia, rongi or black eyed beans is one of the most healthy and nutritious variety of legumes.These tiny beans are packed full of nutrition, but somehow these beans are the most underrated and under utilised variety in our kitchens.
What are the health benefits of eating Black eyed beans (peas) or Lobia?
- Black eyed beans or lobia are extremely nutritious , healthy and filling beans
- These beans are a power pack of protein
- They are full of fiber
- These are loaded with iron, copper, and potassium
- Black eyed beans are one of the low fat and low calorie food groups.
Healthy ways to add Black eyed beans or Lobia to your diet
These can be added to our daily diet in a variety of ways- salads, soups, stews ,snacks, filling for toasts and wraps and curries.
Black eyed beans are really easy to cook.
This one variety of beans, does not necessarily requires to be soaked overnight unlike the other variety of beans, and takes much less time to cook.
In India this dish is usually cooked in the form of curry.
Though some households make a sauteed version of black eyed beans or Lobia, with a tempering of onions, tomatoes and chillies , and that tastes amazing too.
Back home in Amritsar, Black eyed beans curry with rice is a regular dish. My mum cooks it almost every fortnight. I remember her in vain attempts to try to feed us lobia curry during dinner times.In spite of her attempts to encourage us to have these, I was never much inclined to eat them.
However i developed a taste for these as i grew up.
Ingredients required to cook Black eyed beans indian curry recipe
For this black eyed beans (lobia) curry, the main ingredient is of course the nutritious black eyed peas/beans.
Other than this you need- onions, tomatoes, ginger, garlic, green chillies, coriander, dry spices- cumin seeds, coriander seeds, hing powder(asafoetida), salt, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, degi mirchi, coriander powder, garam masala and kasoori methi (dried fenugreek leaves).
I always add degi mirchi powder, in addition to the red chilli powder in my recipes, as this is a unique, age old blend, processed from special varieties of colourful Indian red chillies, and adds a glowing, natural, beautiful red colour to your dishes. It is mild-hot and not very spicy.
Another word on chillies, in my recipes, I mostly use slit green chillies instead of chopped chillies as that adds the flavour of chillies without making the dish too spicy.
Green chillies impart a beautiful taste and aroma to the Indian dishes. Adding green chillies, always adds flavour to your food. So if you do not prefer spicy food,you can add slit or whole green chillies.
However if you prefer spicy food, go ahead and use chopped green chillies.
Do you need to soak Black eyed beans or Lobia before cooking?
Black eyed beans do not need be soaked in water for long hours. This is one of the quickest legumes to cook. I usually do not soak them overnight.
This is one variety of beans that I cook, when I have not pre planned the dinner menu.
However if i plan ahead to make these, then I wash them and soak in enough water, for half an hour and then cook it.
Soaking reduces the cooking time by almost 10-15 minutes.
For this recipe, I soaked these for half hour in plain water.
Black eyed peas
black eyed beans
Black eyed peas after boiling
Cooking Black eyed peas/ beans recipe indian style (Lobia recipe )
Pressure cook the black eyed beans with a little salt for 15-20 minutes.
Incase you have not pre soaked the beans, thoroughly rinse the beans in cold water and pressure cook with a little salt for about 30 minutes.
The beans once cooked should be soft and tender.
Once done, heat oil/ ghee in a pan, and add cumin seeds, hing(asafoetida) and let it splutter.
Add finely chopped ginger and garlic(you can substitute the fresh chopped ginger garlic with ginger garlic paste as well) and sauté till the raw aroma of ginger and garlic goes away.
Next roughly grind the onions and add onion paste(I do not make a very smooth paste for this recipe, just roughly grind it so that it has little texture and is not very smooth and creamy ). Saute the masala till onions are golden brown.
Black eyed beans
Black eyed beans
Add Tomato puree. Cook and sauté till water evaporates and the puree starts to get deeper ,darker , and you see oil leaving the sides.
This means that tomatoes are cooked.
Add salt, red chilli powder, rest of the dry spices- turmeric powder, degi mirchi powder, coriander powder, garam masala and kasoori methi (dried and crushed fenugreek leaves)
Black eyed beans
Add slit green chillies and sauté the tempering (tadka ) for another 2-3 minutes.
Now add the tempering to the boiled Black eyed peas .Mix well.
black eyed beans
Cover these and simmer it for another 10 minutes or pressure cook for one whistle.
Once ready, garnish it with chopped coriander , and slit green chillies. Sprinkle a little garam masala and serve.
Best ways to serve Black eyed beans curry
Serve the Indian Black eyed beans curry / Lobia curry with steamed rice and salad.
These also go well with hot chapatis and parantha’s.
Add some chutney/pickle , some salad and chilled yoghurt or raita as accompaniments.
Storing Black eyed beans curry
This curry can be stored in the fridge for a good 3-4 days.
Just ensure to heat is properly while serving.
Can you freeze the Black eyed beans curry (Lobia curry) ?
Yes , these can be frozen for upto a month in the freezer. Freeze it the day you cook.
Once cooked, let the beans reach the room temperature, and store in either a glass container or a foil container and freeze it.You can find the link to these containers in my Amazon shop.
Thaw it in the fridge on the day you plan to use. Heat it thoroughly again and serve.
Shop my amazon shop
Here is a link to my amazon shop, where you can find some spice and products that i love to use in my recipes, kitchen and home.
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black eyed peas
Black eyed peas curry (Lobia curry) recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup Black eyed peas/lobia /raungi beans
- 4-5 cups water
- 2-3 tsp ghee/oil
- 1 medium onion roughly ground
- 1 tsp ginger crushed/ grated/finely chopped
- 1 tsp garlic crushed/grated/finely chopped
- 2 small tomatoes roughly pureed
- 2-3 slit green chillies or use finely chopped chillies
- 1 tsp cumin seeds whole
- a pinch of hing(asafoetida powder)
- 1/2 tsp freshly crushed coriander seeds crushed
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- 1/2 tsp garam masala
- salt as per taste
- 1/2 tsp red chilli powder can adjust qty as per your taste
- 1 tsp degi mirchi powder
- 1 tsp kasoori methi (crushed dried fenugreek leaves) hand crush these
- few sprigs fresh coriander for garnish
- 1-2 slit green chillies for garnish
Instructions
- Wash and soak the beans in enough water for approximately half an hour. If you do not soak these, wash these thoroughly and use them for cooking.
- Boil the beans in pressure cooker with a tsp of salt. For one cup beans use 4-5 cups of water.If you are using soaked beans, pressure cook these for about 15-20 minutes. If you have not soaked these, pressure cook these for about 30-35 minutes. After 2-3 whistles, lower the flame and let these cook on the cooker for rest of the time.
- In a separate pan, heat oil/ ghee in a pan, and add cumin seeds, hing(asafoetida),freshly crushed coriander seeds and let these splutter for a few seconds.
- Add finely chopped ginger and garlic(you can substitute the fresh chopped ginger garlic with ginger garlic paste as well)- Use 2 tsps of ginger garlic paste. Saute these till the raw aroma of ginger and garlic is gone.
- Add onion paste(I do not make a very smooth paste for this recipe, I just roughly grind it so that it is not like a creamy texture), saute these, till onion is golden brown.
- Now add Tomato puree, and saute till water evaporates and the puree starts to get deeper and darker , and you see oil leaving the sides.This means that tomatoes are now cooked.
- Add salt (remember that you added some salt while boiling the peas, so adjust salt qty accordingly now), red chilli powder, rest of the dry spices- turmeric powder,degi mirchi powder,coriander powder, garam masala and kasoori methi (dried and crushed fenugreek leaves).
- Add slit green chillies, saute the tempering (tadka ) for another 2-3 minutes, and then add the tempering to the boiled peas.Mix well.
- Now cover and let the cooked beans simmer and take in the aroma of the tempering for 10-15 minutes, or simply pressure cook it for another 10 minutes or one whistle.
- Once ready, garnish it with chopped coriander and slit green chillies. Serve this curry hot with steamed rice, or with chapatis,or even parantha’s.
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