Black eyed Beans Curry (Chora nu shak)

Black eyed  beans  are full of protein, are easy to cook and taste really great.  They are available ready boiled in cans or as dried beans which need to be soaked for at least 2 hours in cold water before cooking.  The best way to boil them is in a pressure cooker as it is quicker.  I tend to soak a huge batch overnight  and cook them all in a pressure cooker with plenty of water.  Add a couple of drops of oil in the pressure cooking before shutting the lid and this helps to cook the beans and stops the pressure cooker from over flowing. Drain off all the water once the beans are cooked and allow the beans to cool.  Freeze the extra beans in zip lock bags to use when needed. 

I have always been very fond of black eyed  beans and love them best cooked as a curry with a slightly sweet and sour taste.  This is a dish I make at least once a month so I was surprised that I had not included this recipe in my blog under the Mirage series. (Mirage series contains recipes which are a favourite with my son and his young friends).  There are lots of different ways of making this curry but I feel that my style is quick and easy to make. 

Ingredients (serves 2):

2 cups of boiled black eyed  beans. If using dry black eyed beans  remember you need to soak them overnight and then boil them until soft preferably in a pressure cooker.

I cup of crushed tomatoes ( you can used fresh tomatoes too or  Passata too. Passata is made from ripe tomatoes that have been puried and sieved to remove the skin and seeds.  It's sauce is a lot thicker and helps make the gravy in curry look richer and thicker. Passata is sold in bottles or cartons in most supermarkets and comes in various flavours such as garlic, basil etc.

2 tablespoons of oil (I used sunflower oil)

2 teaspoons of tempering mix (it’s a mixture of cumin seeds, whole peppercorns , cloves, cinnamon, whole coriander )

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon chilly powder

1 teaspoon crushed garlic

1  tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoons jaggery or brown sugar (optional)

1 small bunch of coriander and some curry leaves.

2 fresh green chillies sliced into 4

Method:

1.  Add all the spices -salt, turmeric,chilly powder, crushed garlic, lemon juice, green chillies, curry leaves, coriander and jaggery to the tomato mixture and mix it all together. If using fresh tomatoes, I suggest that you boil them in hot water to soften them first .

2.  Add the 2 tablespoons cooking oil to this, add the tempering mix and allow them to cook until the cumin looks dark brown.

3.  Add the tomato and spices mixture to this hot oil and cook until the tomatoes go soft and homogenous.  

4.  Add the boiled black eyed beans to the tomato mixture and allow to cook for 5-7 minutes.   
 

5.  The sauce should all be nicely soaked up by the black eyed beans.
Tip:Some people like their gravy to be runny in which case you can add half a cup of water to the mixture.

6.  Serve the curry with rice and chappatis.

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