Spicy Black-eyed Peas and Colorful Peppers

This spicy black-eyed peas with colorful peppers is a quick and easy side if the peas are cooked and ready to go. On and off, I soak 2 cups of  dry black-eyed peas and pressure cook them and freeze them in 1 cup portion, ready to thaw and use when needed.

The spice paste is a fairly standard one I use, but the proportions and herbs/spice powders can be varied as preferred. Sometimes I use cayenne pepper powder and paprika instead of cumin and dry red chilies, or even my red curry paste or green curry paste for the spice base.

Ingredients
for the spice paste:
2 Tbsp freshly grated ginger
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 Tbsp tomato paste
6 to 8 dry red chilies
½ tsp coriander powder
¼ tsp cumin powder
1 Tbsp plain white vinegar
1 tsp brown sugar

1½ cups cooked black-eyed peas
4 mini colorful peppers, cut into rings
½ medium yellow onion, chopped
optional: cremini mushrooms

salt to taste
1 Tbsp vegetable oil

water as needed
garnish: spring onions, cilantro

Preparation

Combine the spice paste ingredients in a blender and grind to a fine paste.

Heat oil in a pan, add the spice paste, onions, chopped peppers, and a pinch of salt, and sautée till rawness fades.

Add the cooked black-eyed peas, some water, cover and cook till flavors meld.

Garnish and serve warm as a side, or with rice or naan.

Turnip Greens and Black-Eyed Peas flavored with Cumin, Coconut, Chili

Black-eyed peas, much like other legumes of its kind, is full of protein and fiber, with health benefits that make it a friendly food to incorporate. My mom used to make chundal, koottu, even simple dal with it.

The title, Turnip Greens and Black-Eyed Peas flavored with Cumin, Coconut, Chili, says it all, basically. The recipe here uses turnip greens with black-eyed peas, but any other greens, or no greens at all will still work with this cumin-coconut-chili paste.

Serve with simple roti or naan or plain hot basmati rice with home-made flavored ghee. Or, enjoy is as-is.

Ingredients
2 cups fresh chopped turnip greens
2 cups cooked black-eyed peas
½ medium onion, finely diced
1 or 2 cloves of garlic finely minced
water as needed
salt to taste
1 Tbsp canola oil
4 Tbsp lemon juice (more or less)

for the cumin-coconut-chili paste:
1 Tbsp cumin seeds
4 Tbsp dry grated coconut
4 to 6 dry red chilies (fewer, if preferred)

for the tempering:
1 Tbsp canola oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp chana dal
1 tsp urad dal

Preparation

1. Paste: combine the paste ingredients with a little water and blend to a smooth paste, keep handy
2. Heat the oil in a pan, sauté the onions and garlic, add the turnip greens, some water cover and cook till it wilts a bit; then add the cooked black-eyed peas, the paste from the step above, more water if needed, some salt, and simmer till greens are done
3. Tempering: In a small pan, heat the oil, when it is quite hot, add the chana dal and urad dal, allow them to turn golden brown, then add the mustard seeds, let them pop, turn off heat
4. Taste and adjust flavors, stir in the lemon juice, top with the tempering and serve warm

Karadayan Nonbu Adai

Before I morphed into a blasé teenager with what's the point of it? i don't care to celebrate festivals attitude, I used to enthusiastically participate in many small-scale festivals my mom celebrated commemorating some symbolic event, like Arudra Dharshnam, Karadayan Nonbu and such, in addition to the large-scale ones like Diwali...

Each little festival had its own prescribed menu and associated ritual, some of which differ from family to family. Yummy Thiruvadarai Kali and Koorkan Kari for Arudra Dharshanam, Nonbu Adai for Karadayan Nonbu and so on...

Many of these events happen only once a year, and so, the special menu is made just once a year to celebrate that event. But then, with about a festival a week or every fortnight, there was always something good cooking:-)

Since I like a lot of the festival foods, and since I left my blasé teenager self way behind, I have come a full circle and have started celebrating the ones I can, just to introduce them to my wee one. Plus, I love to doll her up in the wonderful Indian clothes my mom makes for her.

About a fortnight ago was one such festive event: Karadayan Nonbu. The menu for this event is very simple - just a mildly sweetened and steamed rice flour patty. I like the simplicity of this dish. It is usually served with a dab of freshly churned butter. Without further ado, here's my version of the karadayan nonbu adai recipe I learnt from my mom.



Ingredients:
1 cup fine rice flour
1½ cup brown sugar
1¼ cup water
¼ cup cooked black-eyed peas
optional: banana leaves for steaming
steaming apparatus

Preparation

combine the water, brown sugar and cooked black-eyed peas in a pan, and bring to a gentle boil

meanwhile, dry toast the rice flour in a pan till it turns light brown

add the toasted rice flour to the boiling brown sugar liquid, keep stirring and cooking till all the water is absorbed a smooth dough forms; off heat, allow the dough to cool a little

when cool enough to handle, shape the dough into small balls, about the size of a golf ball

if using banana leaves, cut small squares, one per ball of dough; place the dough ball on the leaf and flatten it into about ¼" patty, making a hole in the center of the patty (like for donut);

steam the patties in a steamer, in batches if needed; a large vessel with some boiling water and lid will work for steaming, or an idli cooker

Serve warm with butter on the side.

Achiote Potatoes and Black-eyed Peas

Achiote (ah-chee-OH-tay) is a tropical flowering tree. The fruits of achiote is not usually edible, but, its seeds (annatto ) are used as a flavoring and a natural dye.

It is traditionally used as seasoning in Yucatan and Central American dishes, and makes a nice marinade when combined with a few other spices to make a rub. The rich red color and a mild earthy flavor are its main attraction for me. The achiote red rub used in this recipe works well for chicken, but, i decided to use it for simple potatoes instead.

Achiote seeds (annatto) are usually sold in the form of small bricks of thick paste.


For the achiote red rub, combine the following ingredients into a fine paste:
2 Tbsp of annatto brick pictured above
1 Tbsp black pepper powder
1 Tbsp cayenne pepper powder
1 tsp ground corainder
1 tsp ground cumin
1 Tbsp lime juice
1 tsp all-spice powder
1 tsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp canola oil

Ingredients for black-eyed peas recipe:
1 cup cooked black eyed peas
1-2 ancho pasilla dry red chilies, soaked in hot water, chopped finely
1 Tbsp tomato paste
1 Tbsp coriander powder
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp grated ginger
1 Tbsp lime juice
1 Tbsp achiote red rub
salt to taste
some cilantro for garnish

For the potatoes:
1 large baking potato, peeled, cubed
salt to taste
oil as needed to panfry
2 Tbsp achiote red rub

Preparation

par-cook the potatoes in boiling water or microwave; drain, coat well with the achiote red rub, set aside for 15 to 20 minutes

meanwhile, combine the ingredients for the black-eyed peas recipe and simmer gently in a pan, stirring often; adjust salt to taste; off heat garnish with cilantro

heat oil in a pan, add the potatoes and pan fry till desired crispness on the outside; alternately, roast it in the oven at 400° for 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned

serve the potatoes and black-eyed peas with rice or warm tortillas

The achiote red rub lasts for about 5-7 days if refrigerated in an air-tight container.

Becky at Key Lime and Coconut is hosting this week's Weekend Herb Blogging (WHB), and this is my first entry for the WHB.

black-eyed peas chundal

Black-eyed peas, chick peas, lima beans, pinto beans, kidney beans, black beans seem like such an easy way to add nutrition to everyday foods.

This recipe here for "chundal" (sometimes, called "thoran") is a general method for preparing these beans as a snack or side - can substitute black-eyed peas with any of the other beans, while keeping the rest of the ingredients and method the same.

Also, sprouting the beans before using in this recipe seemed like a good idea, so, I started doing that for my wee tot lately, even though cooking the sprouts sort of diminishes the nutritional value a bit... every little bit counts when they are picky-eaters.


Ingredients
1½ cups dry black-eyed peas
1 small yellow onion, sliced
½ cup fresh or dry grated coconut
1-2 dry red chilies (or fresh green chilies)
1-2 cloves of garlic, peeled
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp cumin powder
½ tsp turmeric powder
1 Tbsp lemon juice
salt to taste
water as needed

tempering:
1 tsp urad dal
1 tsp chana dal
½ tsp mustard seeds
½ cumin seeds
1 Tbsp canola oil

chiffonade 4-5 curry leaves for garnish(optional)

Preparation:

1. soak the black-eyed peas overnight, or for about 4-6 hours; drain, rinse and cook in pressure cooker, or stove-top, till cooked but still firm and not mushy; set aside
   
2. grind the coconut, garlic and chilies into a coarse paste and set aside
3. heat oil in a pan, add the tempering: dals first and when they turn golden brown, mustard seeds and when they pop and die down, add the cumin seeds, turn the heat to medium-low
4. add the onions and sauté till it turns translucent
5. add the cooked black-eyed peas, coconut paste, turmeric, cumin, coriander and salt to taste; stir well
6. off heat, stir in lemon juice, garnish with curry leaves and serve warm as a snack or side, along with rice, rasam, sambar, or even roti