This is my final recipe for June supporting the ‘Curry for Change‘ – Find Your Feet campaign. I hope you have enjoyed my journey through the hamper of goodies kindly supplied to me by Natco Foods as part of the ‘Blogger’s Challenge‘. I have enjoyed experimenting with some ingredients that were new to me and as a consequence will be incorporating them as part of my diet going forward.
Out of the four recipes I posted I’m curious as to which YOU liked the look of most. Was it the Indian Powa Fuel, or my Lotus Seed/Phool Makhana Curry, my Dried Ginger and Lentil Spiced Chicken Balti or the one that I have posted today? Don’t be shy now…be brave and leave a little comment below.
I hope that I may have encouraged you to host a curry evening of your own to support the wonderful charity Find Your Feet – see details on the Curry for Change site. If you do I would love to hear how it went.
Over the next few weeks I will be tempting you with some refreshing, fragrant and tasty summer salads that you can pull together for a BBQ, summer picnic or a leisured lunch at home.
Now I must return to watching Wimbledon. The summer season has begun.
Spiced Black Eye Bean Curry
250g black eye beans
275g/3 medium sized red onion, roughly chopped
250g/3 medium tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 tsp garlic paste
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
3 bay leaves
1 3inch stick of cinnamon
4 cloves
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp mango powder (also known as amchoor powder)
1 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
1 tsp garam masala
salt to taste
500ml of cold water
1. Soak the black eye beans in a bowl of cold water overnight. Rinse them the following day and place in a saucepan along with boiling water to cover them. Simmer on a medium heat for around 30 minutes, or until the black eye beans have softened. Drain and place to one side.
2. In a blender add the onions and blend to a smooth paste. You may need to add a little water to help it become more paste like in consistency. Remove from the blender and place in a bowl to one side.
3. Rinse the blender and then add the tomatoes and blend so that a smooth paste forms. Remove from the blender and place in a bowl to one side.
4. In a deep pan or karahi add the vegetable oil and when it is hot add the cumin seeds, bay leaves, cinnamon stick and cloves. Stir them around the pan for 30 seconds.
5. Add the onion paste and a little salt to the pan and lower the heat so that the onion cooks through and begins to bronze slightly. This will take around 10 minutes.
6. Add the garlic paste, followed by the turmeric powder, coriander powder, mango powder, Kashmiri chilli powder and garam masala. Stir in thoroughly to the onion, garlic paste. Cook for a further 3 minutes.
7. Now add the tomato paste along with 50 ml water and simmer gently for a further 5 minutes.
8. Place the black eye beans into the curry and cover them in the sauce along with up to 450 ml of water, depending on how thick you like your sauce to be.
9. Simmer for a further 5 minutes and add more salt if necessary and serve.
Serve with a squeeze of lemon and a dollop of natural yogurt on the side. I like to make homemade chapatis to go alongside this curry. I realise I need to post a recipe on how to make them so watch this space….they are ridiculously easy and great fun for all the family to make.
