Methi Lobhia (Black-Eyed Peas with Fenugreek)

TF has been having some digestive issues lately, so we're trying to eliminated a few things from her diet to see if we can find the culprit. Right now, she's trying to eliminate soy and gluten to see if that helps. It does seem to be working. (Either that, or she's getting better on her own.) So, in a couple weeks, we can try adding one or the other back in to see what effect that has.

The upshot of all of this is that I had to do a bit of last-minute re-working of the meal plan for this week. So, instead of pumpkin soup (which would've involved a commerical soup stock concentrate with soy in it), I opted for this black-eyed pea dal.

It looked quick and easy to make. We had all the bits readily to hand. And it even used up a half tin of tomatoes I had sitting in the fridge. So, winner-winner-dried-legume-dinner!

Photo goes here.

Methi Lobhia

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1 c. dried black-eyed peas
• 3 c. water
• 2 Tbsp. ghee
• 1 onion, minced
• 6-7 cloves garlic, minced
• 2-4 fresh green Thai or finger chilies
• 425mL diced tomatoes
• 1 c. chopped fresh or frozen fenugreek leaves
• 2 tsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric

Directions

1. Rinse the peas well and place in pressure cooker with the water.
2. Pressure cook on high for 20 minutes with a 15-minute natural release.
3. Meanwhile, melt ghee over medium-low heat.
4. Add onion, garlic, and chilies and cook, stirring occasionally, until nicely browned (10-15 minutes).
5. Add tomato, fenugreek, sugar, salt, and turmeric and cook, stirring occasionally, for ~5 minutes.
6. Once the peas are ready, release the residual pressure and add the sauce.
7. Simmer over medium heat for ~5 minutes.
8. Serve with rice and/or flatbreads.

A nice quick, easy, meal that produces very satisfying results. There's not much to it, but I found the sweetness of the onions and bell peppers really came through.

I didn't have quite as much sausage as the recipe called for, but I think it was still okay with the lesser amount. I also opted to toss a bouillon cube into the polenta in place of the salt called for in the original recipe. And, as usual, I cooked my polenta with a little more water than Cook's Country recommends. They advise a 4:1 ratio of water:polenta, but I usually do 5:1.

The only other change I made was to reduce the quantity of butter called for. I've been trying to eat a little healthier and I know just eating the same things with slightly less butter/fat won't make much difference, but hopefully it'll help a little.

Oh, and I was using Beyond Meat sausages, so this was actually a vegetarian meal for us as well.

Polenta with Sausage, Peppers, and Olives

Slightly adapted from Cook's Country February/March 2017

Ingredients

• 5 c. water + 1 bouillon cube (or 2 c. water + 3 c. stock of your choice)
• 1 c. cornmeal
• 450g Italian sausages
• 1 red bell pepper, sliced thin
• 1 onion, halved and sliced thin
• 425mL crushed tomatoes
• 1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
• 3/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground, divided
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 c. pitted kalamata olives, halved
• 1 Tbsp. unsalted butter

Directions

1. Combine the water and cornmeal and bring to a boil over medium heat, whisking occasionally.
2. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook until very thick.
3. Meanwhile, cook the sausages over medium heat until browned on all sides (5-6 minutes).
4. Increase heat to medium-high and add the bell pepper and onion.
5. Cook until vegetables are softened (4-5 minutes).
6. Add the tomato, red pepper flakes, salt, and 1/4 tsp. of the butter and cook until slightly thickened (3-4 minutes). Break the sausages up a bit if you'd like.
7. Remove from heat and stir in olives.
8. When the polenta is done, remove from heat and stir in butter and remaining 1/2 tsp. of pepper.
9. Serve polenta topped with sauce.