Black Eyed Beans Curry a.k.a. Lobia / Chawli Sabzi

Comfort foods come in many tastes and textures; it is one of those dishes that we crave for on those days that we need a little cosseting. Hot rice mixed with black eyed beans or chawli curry on a cold day is one such food for me. But I don't necessarily need a cold day to enjoy a plateful of chawli and rice. We normally avoid making basmati rice unless making biryani, but for this once I made basmati rice because it pairs off well with the black eyed beans / chawli curry.

At our home, like with upma which my husband loves and I don't, the chawli curry is liked by me and hated by my husband. So whenever I cook this, the portion size is reduced further to only a one person size!  But what also happens is I don't make it often enough. Knowing how I enjoy Tomato Pachadi (find my recipe here) and this chawli sabzi, my mom had made this for lunch on one of the days on my last visit. There's nothing more comforting than mom's cooking, whatever the food!

Ingredients
Black eyed beans / Lobia / Chawli - 1/2 cup
Onion - 1
Tomato - 1
Garlic - 2 cloves
Coriander pwd - 1 tsp
Turmeric pwd - 1/2 tsp
Red chilli pwd - 1 tsp
Coriander leaves - 1 tbsp
Salt as per taste
Oil - 1.5 tbsp
Wash the black eyed beans in water and pressure cook it with a cup of water for 2 whistles. Open and take the cooked beans out once the pressure is released.
Chop onions, tomatoes and garlic separately and keep aside.

Heat oil in a saucepan and add the chopped onions. Sauté the onions for a few minutes and then add the garlic. Sauté both of them till the onions are light golden then add the chopped tomatoes. Continue sautéing till the tomatoes start softening then add the turmeric powder, coriander powder, salt and red chilli powder and sauté. Add the boiled black eyed beans to this masala mix. Add water as required if you like it with gravy. Give it a couple of boils so the beans and the masala mixes well and the tastes intermingle.

Black eyed beans can also be made without gravy as a side dish to rice and curry or it can be paired off with chapati. In which case don't add additional water when adding the boiled beans and let some of the liquid evaporate. It thickens a little if kept for some time before serving.

This recipe goes to 'Side Dish Mela' hosted by Cooking4allseasons.blogspot.in