I made a winter vegetable curry for dinner the other day. It was good, but lacking in protein, so I made this simple legume curry to round out the meal.

The original recipe calls for making the sauce with a combination of yogurt and bean cooking water. Normally I would have made it that way, but I still had rather a lot of leftover kibbeh sauce and no kibbeh left to eat it with, so I actually ended up using a whole cup of kibbeh sauce and omitting both the yogurt and the bean water. I figured that since the sauce is basically just yogurt and chicken stock (with an added egg), that it would work well as a stand-in and allow me to use up some leftovers from the fridge. I think it worked out quite well!

I found both curries a bit lacking in punch, but that was easily remidied with a generous dollop of Laoganma (老干妈/spicy chili crisp) at the table. That said, stirring in some extra chilies, spices, and/or fish sauce during cooking would accomplish a similar goal.

Black-Eyed Peas with Tomato-Yogurt Sauce

Slightly adapted from Healthy Dish of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 1 c. dried black-eyed peas¹
• 3 c. water
• 1 tsp. Better Than Bouillon
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2 onions, chopped
• 5 Tbsp. ginger paste
• 6-7 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp. coriander seeds, ground
• 3/4 tsp. cumin seeds, ground
• 1/4 tsp. cardamom seeds, ground
• 1 small (400mL) can diced tomatoes
• 1/2 c. plain yogurt
• 1/4 tsp. ground cayenne
• salt, to taste
• 1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Place the black-eyed peas, water, and Better Than Bouillon (or other stock concentrate) in an InstantPot/pressure cooker and cook on high pressure for 10 minutes. Allow a 15-minute natural release before releasing any residual pressure. Set aside.
2. Heat oil over medium-low heat.
3. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes.
4. Add the ginger, garlic, coriander, cumin, and cardamom and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
5. Increase heat to medium and begin adding yogurt, 1 Tbsp. at a time, stirring well between each addition.
6. Stir in 1/2 c. of cooking water from the beans.
7. Drain the beans, discarding the remaining cooking water.
8. Add the cooked beans to the sauce along with the cayenne.
9. Season to taste with salt.
10. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
11. Uncover and cook until thickened (~5 minutes).
12. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve.

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¹ The original recipe calls for 1 1/2 c. beans, but I chose to scale it back to 1 c. for my rendition. I also halved the oil. But I left all other quantities the same. ^Back