BLACK-EYED BEANS CURRY

BLACK-EYED BEANS CURRY

LOBHIYA CURRY

In the 80's when I was in Kenya, I stayed in a remote area for a year, where there was only one boarding school together with 50 teachers’ houses and very few shops and a post office outside the school, where we could buy some basic essentials and nothing else around for many kilometers. One day my neighbour, who was a very sweet African lady, informed me, that every Wednesday there is a market (farmer's market) outside the school campus, where farmers (mostly ladies) come from nearby villages and sell their products. She asked me if I am interested in shopping for a few things from them.

I enquired about what they were selling, then agreed and told her that I will accompany her because I didn't know the local language of that area. Next Wednesday when I went with her to the market, I was surprised to see that those women were not using the weighing scale and measuring their small sized fruits and vegetables with cups, like one full cup of berries is one shilling and big fruits and vegetables they were counting and selling like a pile of 4 tomatoes is one shilling. Initially, I thought why so, but later I realised that they are subsistence farmers who cannot afford the weighing scales.

The other thing which really surprised me was, to see them selling red kidney beans and black-eyed beans in those cups. Until that time I had no idea that Africans also grow and eat those beans. Let me remind my readers that, at that time there was no internet and Google and that was my first overseas trip to Africa. I asked my neighbour lady, whether they also grow and eat these beans and informed her that we Indians also like them. I was really glad to see those beans, which they were selling at a very reasonable price, and bought them along with other vegetables and fruits from that small village market.

Black-eyed beans stew or curry is a famous dish of the state of Punjab in India and it is regularly made in our house. This is one of my favourite dishes and my elder grandson always enjoys and appreciates his grandma whenever I make this dish. Last week when I made this curry, he really enjoyed with rice and told me, “You are the best grandma in the whole world”. I love hearing such compliments from my grandchildren, they make my day! This recipe is very simple, healthy and tasty; this stew can be enjoyed with rice, naan, and roti or dinner bun with some fresh green vegetable salad.

RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup black-eyed beans
• 1 medium onion
• 2 tbs tomato puree or one big tomato, finely chopped
• 1tsp ginger and garlic paste
• 2tbs butter or oil
• 1tsp cumin seeds
• 1tsp coriander powder
• 1tsp garam masala (optional)
• salt and chilli powder to taste
• ½ tsp turmeric powder

METHOD

• Rinse black-eyed beans two/three times in water and soak them overnight in three cups of water.
• Add salt and turmeric powder and boil in the pressure cooker for 10 minutes after the whistle or boil in a pot for 30 minutes till they are done.
• For garnishing (tadka) heat the butter in a frying pan, add cumin seeds, then garlic/ginger paste, saute for 2 minutes, add onion and fry them until golden brown. Add tomato puree and mix well.
• Add garnishing (tadka) and garam masala in boiled black eyed beans.
• Serve hot with naan, roti or white rice.

A slow cooker can be used instead of a pressure cooker to cook this curry, in that case, you will have to cook for 7-8 hours on high. This can be served to three/four people.


I am sharing this recipe for the following blog parties Cook once and eat Twice and Meatless Monday
and  Hearth and Soul blog party and with Fiesta Friday, and Cook blog share and My Legume Love affairs with Lisa and Susan, and with Full plate Thursday

ROUND-UP FOR MY LEGUME LOVE AFFAIR 112 - FOR THE MONTH OF OCTOBER 2017

ROUND-UP FOR MY LEGUME LOVE AFFAIR 112 - FOR THE MONTH OF OCTOBER 2017

I am delighted to present the round-up of MLLA, which I hosted for the third time in the month of October 2017. Special thanks to Susan of 'The well-seasoned cook' who conceived this idea in 2008, and later to Lisa of Lisa's Kitchen for taking care of Susan's baby for a long period of time. Because of them, this event is still on, and I got the chance to host it again, thank you!

I would also like to thank all the bloggers who shared their recipes in this MLLA event for October 2017. And now onto some delicious recipe entries of this month: This month MLLA received seven recipes in all. All the recipes shared were amazing and it was difficult to choose which one is the best.

The first entry I got is a very interesting recipe of Sun-dried tomato Hummus, which was shared by Soul Nutrition. In this hummus recipe, she used chickpeas as the legume for this recipe. In her post, she explained some health benefits of lentils and she also added some titbits of nutritional knowledge about this particular recipe.

The second recipe I received is of black bean, corn and red pepper Tacos by Making Healthy Choices. I love tacos with corn and black beans, so I bookmarked this recipe to try soon. In her post, she also explained legumes as a nutrition-powerhouse and the health benefits of black beans.

The third recipe, I got is of Chutney chana pilaf by Recipe Grab Bag, this is a nice green coloured recipe which is also a healthy and delicious way to enjoy rice with boondi and with the flavour of green cilantro, mint chutney.

The fourth recipe is a very interesting, healthy and awesome looking recipe of Zucchini pasta with Italian lentil sauce by Taylor Life. In this recipe, you can enjoy pasta with very little carbohydrate in it because the pasta is made with zucchini ribbons. I would love to try this recipe soon.

The fifth recipe is made under the theme of Caribbean recipes and is by Mayuri Zikoni's, which looks like channa bhature from Indian cuisine. This recipe is called “Doubles”, it is a sandwich made with two baras stuffed with chickpeas curry and served with chutney. This is a famous street food from Trinidad and Tobago. Please visit her website to see this amazingly tasty recipe. I feel like grabbing a plate through my laptop!

The sixth recipe is a hummus again, by “Just tea for two” which is made with roasted beet and the legume she used is chickpeas. I can imagine the taste of roasted beetroot, with garlic, chickpeas and tahini, actually, I want to taste it now with some fresh vegetables like carrots or cucumber, as she mentions in the post that this hummus can be enjoyed with fresh vegetables.

The last recipe which is the seventh one is of peanut butter and jelly thumbprint cookies by “The mad scientist Kitchen”. This is such a lovely looking recipe of cookies, they are healthy, delicious and protein rich. I like the idea of serving with jelly on top. In her post, she also explained the difference between cookies and biscuits.

Thank you all again for participating, looking forward to more events like this in future.

CHICKPEAS (GARBANZO BEANS) FLOUR CREPE

CHICKPEAS (GARBANZO BEANS) FLOUR CREPE

BESAN KA CHILLA

 

Chickpeas are also known as garbanzo beans or Egyptian beans. India is the largest producer and user of chickpeas. Throughout India, in almost all states and in their cuisines, many snacks, appetisers, burgers, curries, stews, soups, savoury snacks, salads, chats and many sweet items are made with either chickpea or with chickpeas flour.

Though they are a prominent feature in Indian cuisine, chickpeas are getting their popularity and used by many people and in many cuisines throughout the world. In middle Eastern cuisine hummus and falafel are very famous in which the main ingredient is chickpea. In Morocco, they are cooked with couscous. In Greek cuisine, salad is served with chickpeas and feta. Chickpea is also famous in Ethiopian, Caribbean, Portuguese, Mexican, Spanish cuisines and many Asian countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh cuisines as well.

Recently vegan people have started using chickpea as an egg-white replacement to make aquafaba which is used to make many items like vegan meringue. I already posted the recipe of aquafaba and vegan meringue on my blog. Check here-http://herbsspicesandtradition.blogspot.ca/2016/05/vegan-meringue-and-how-to-make-aquafaba.html

Chickpeas are the most versatile ingredient in Indian kitchen and not only are they one of the best sources of vegetarian protein but also have a lot of health benefits. It is also so versatile that every time we make something savoury or sweet, the results are so different that one cannot recognise that the same ingredient (chickpea flour) is used. I wrote a very interesting story about an Emperor of India who survived on only one grain that is chickpeas flour for many years. Read the story here.http://herbsspicesandtradition.blogspot.ca/2015/11/besan-ke-laddoo-sweet-balls-with.html

It is advised that breakfast being the first meal of the day, should include some protein with a small amount of carbohydrate. So this recipe can be a perfect healthy recipe for vegetarians as it is full of protein with a few vegetables. This recipe can be called as vegetarian omelette which can be enjoyed with a slice of toast and any chutney or ketchup of your taste.

This is my mother-in-law's recipe, I have added onion to her recipe. She was not eating onion or garlic.

RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup chickpeas flour
• one small tomato (100 grams)
• one small onion ( 100 grams)
• Small piece of English cucumber (100grams)
• A small piece of ginger
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• Pinch soda-bi-carbonate
• One tablespoon oil for each crepe
• Water to make thick paste

METHOD

• Finely chop all the vegetables
• Mix salt, black pepper in chickpeas flour and make a thick paste.
• Heat the frying pan or a flat skillet pan.
• Mix soda-bi-carbonate and all the vegetables in a thick paste.
• Grease the frying pan with a little oil
• Take batter in a serving spoon and spread on a pan in a round shape.
• With a spoon, put some drops of oil on all sides of the crepe, once golden brown, turn it and roast the other side.
• Fold and cut into two pieces and serve hot with any chutney or ketchup of your taste.

I am sending this recipe as my blog post entry to Cook blog share and Hearth and Soul blog hop and with Sunday Fitness and Food party. and with MLLA for the month of April, hosted by Ali, together with Lisa and Susan. and with eat your greens and with Sugar spice and healthy life and Sweet Inspiration link party, and with I am pinnable and with meatless Monday

BLACK-EYED BEANS STUFFED BELL PEPPER

BLACK EYED BEANS STUFFED BELL PEPPER

 EDITED: 1. This post was featured at Real Food Friday on 19th January link party, check here
 2. This post was also featured ar Heart and Soul blog hop on 28th Jan 2017, check here 
3.  This recipe was also featured at Sunday food and Fitness party on 29th January 2017, Chek here

Lentils play an important role in Indian vegetarian cuisine because they are the main source of protein for vegetarians. Being vegetarian, I also use them a lot and make sure that at least, I serve them in one meal to my family. Though we also get protein from other sources like milk, yoghurt, cheese etc, but the amount of protein which we get from the lentils is much greater that other sources.

In my kitchen, around 20 types of these lentils and beans are used. On top of that, I also mix and matched them to give variety in food and taste. To make curries and stews, in some lentils, vegetables are also added, in this way I get more than 20 types of lentil preparations. These lentil curries and stews we as a family enjoy either with rice or Indian flat bread or naan etc. 

 

Apart from curries and stews, in Indian cuisine, many varieties of snacks and traditional sweet items are also made with some particular type of lentils or lentil powder, in which chickpeas flour is the most common one.

In my blog, you will find many lentil based recipes, in which the main ingredient is either lentil itself of lentil powder or paste. In this journey of blogging, I found a blog hop/party, called "My Legume Love Affair", based on the main ingredient lentil, which was started by Susan of “The well seasoned cook” in 2008, and later taken care by Lisa of “Lisa’s Kitchen”, which had already completed 100 months, amazing isn’t it. I took part in this blog hop many times whenever I had prepared the recipe accordingly. And luckily I had hosted the even twice, one in November 2015 and the other one in May 2016.

Black eyed beans are used in many cuisines of the world. When I was in Botswana I have seen my African colleagues were growing these beans in their gardens and selling them. I gave the recipe of beans-curry to many of my colleagues to try a new version of these beans.

Coming to the recipe, I have also added whole green mung beans in it, which are also very healthy. This is a whole meal recipe because it is quite filling, with a lot of protein in it, as beans and cheese are used in it. This can be served with toasted/ garlic bread with a salad of your choice.

 

RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

• 4 red/orange or green bell pepper of medium size
• 1/2 cup whole black eyed beans
• 1/2 cup whole green mung
• 200 grams potatoes (2 medium size)
• salt and black pepper to taste
• 2 teaspoon coriander powder
• 2 tablespoon oil for coating the bell pepper
• 200 grams grated mozzarella/ Cheddar cheese

METHOD

• Rinse, remove the stem of the pepper, cut half way through, put it aside.
• Wash and rinse both the lentils together 3-4 times in clean water. Put in pressure cooker with 2 cups of water, add salt and boil for 5-7 minutes after the whistle on a medium flame. Leave it to cool.
• Boil the potatoes, chop finely or grate the boiled potatoes.
• In a big bowl, add potatoes and boiled lentils, salt, black pepper, dry coriander powder and mix thoroughly. The filling is ready.
• Take all the bell peppers and coat the outer skin with oil. Stuff this filling in all the peppers. Heat the oven on 200 degrees C.
• Arrange them standing in a tray. Cook the pepper for 20 -25 minutes till the pepper is tender from outside.
• Individually on each pepper sprinkle the cheese on top leave it for another 5 minutes so that cheese can melt and change the colour.

Serve hot as soon as it is out of the oven. This is a full meal, can be served with toasted/garlic bread or dinner bun, with any drink of your choice.  This can be served to 4-6 people.

I am sending this recipe as my blog post entry with Real Food Friday and Fiesta Friday and
The Sweet inspiration party and Meatless Monday and with Hearth and Soul blog hop and Cook blog share and with My legume love affair with Lisa's kitchen and this month hosted by Rafeeda
and with Way wow link party.  and  Sunday food and fitness party and Brag about it link party, 
and Healthy Living link party .