I love eating healthy, but there are days when we all want to eat something fun, that isn’t a compromise for taste and is equally appealing. That’s the kind of day we had yesterday. Karan loves Indian food, and he loves black eyed peas even more. There is a spark in his eyes when he smells the spices and I have to agree that I love to cook for this guy! So, I decided to spin it up a bit. Typically black eyed peas is cooked as a tomato-based curry in northern part of India, however, in the recipe below I replaced tomato with some mint leaves to make it tangy, and exciting!
INGREDIENTS
2 cups black eyed peas (commonly known as lobia in India)
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 tbsp olive oil
3 green chillies chopped
½ inch piece ginger
8 cloves of garlic
½ cup mint leaves
½ tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
salt – to taste
3 cups water
6-8 lettuce leaves
1/3 cup tamarind chutney
1/3 cup chopped cilantro
1-2 lemons cut into 4 blocks
LETS GROOVE
- Soak the black eyed peas in water for about 1-2 hours before cooking.
- Transfer the black eyed peas into a pressure cooker and add the water and let it heat for about 3-4 whistles.
- Heat the pan with olive oil, and saute chopped garlic until they are light brown. (I love garlic in my dishes, so I add it ahead to flavor my food, you can totally avoid it if you don’t like it)
- Add the onions and fry them until they are caramelized.
- Meanwhile, grind the green chillies, ginger and mint leaves into a smooth paste.
- Add the black eyes peas to the pan, along with turmeric and coriander powder and mix it with onion-garlic for about 2 minutes.
- Pour the mint paste, and the water (used for pressure cooking the black eyed peas) into it and let it simmer for about 10min.
- Wash the lettuce cups, and spoon in some cooked black eyed peas masala.
- Sprinkle it with some chopped onions, tamarind chutney and lemon juice.
- Garnish it with chopped cilantro and it’s ready to gobble!!
The Tasty Shenanigans 