Black-eyed peas vadas (Black-eyed peas fritters)

I love navrathri. It is one of my favorite festivals.  My mom did not keep golu (a display of dolls), but several people in our neighborhood did.  We used to walk from house to house, admiring their beautiful displays, singing bhajans (if you can imagine me singing!), and collecting packets of sundal (lentil/bean salads).

 Golu is handed down from the husband’s side of the family.  So when I got married, my mother-in-law helped me set me up my own golu.  My kids were much younger when I first started.  And being in the U.S., I did not have access to the huge variety of dolls available in Chennai.  We made do with a lot of Legos and Harry Potter figures.  No one seemed to mind and it was a lot of fun.

Blacy-eyed peas vadas

In the south, navrathri is mainly a women’s festival.  But with two boys in the house, I decided early on to include whole families in the celebration.  If navrathri spans two weekends, I have multiple parties, but if it includes only one weekend, then I have one massive party.

This year, navrathri starts on a Saturday and ends the following Sunday.  We also have the Monday after Saraswati Pooja off (teacher in service).  So I have decided to have multiple parties.   I have been looking for recipes that I can make for my various get-togethers.  This is one time of the year, that I don’t do potlucks. 

I saw this recipe for an African appetizer using black-eyed peas, called Accara.  It looked interesting.  Since I had found a big packet of these while cleaning my pantry, I decided to try it out.  I made some modifications to the original recipe, to make it more Indian.

The original recipe asks that you peel away all the skin from the black-eyed peas, but I did not.   After soaking for a while, I squished the black-eyed peas till some of them popped out of their skin.  So by the time I was done, maybe half of them had popped out. 

Here is what you need:

(To make about 20 - 25 fritters/vadas)

• 1 cup black-eyed peas, soaked for at least 8 hours
• ½ cup chopped onions
• 3 – 4 green chilies, chopped
• 1 – 2” piece ginger, minced
• ½ cup chopped cilantro
• ¼ cup besan (chickpea flour)
• salt to taste
• 1 tsp. hing (asafetida)
• oil for deep frying

Here is how I made it:

1. Heat oil in a kadai/saucepan on medium heat.
2. Wash the black-eyed peas, and try to get the skin off about half of them, by squeezing them till they pop.
3. Drain the peas and put them in a food processor.
4. Pulse them into a coarse paste without adding water.
5. Add the chopped onions, green chilies, ginger, cilantro, salt, and hing.  Mix well.
6. If you are not able to shape these into balls (or if they disintegrate in the oil), add the besan and mix.
7. Shape into balls and deep fry in hot oil on medium heat.  Let this cook slowly so that the outside is nice and crispy and it is cooked well on the inside.
8. Repeat till all the batter is done.

Serve hot with chutney/spicy chili sauce

I am thinking of making these ahead of time for the party and warming them up in the oven just before people arrive.

Black-eyed Peas Curry (Lobia/Karamani)

I recently made black-eyed peas for a colleague who had just had a baby, along with some jeera pulav, baby potatoes and bell peppers, cauliflower curry, and kachumber (Indian-style salad).  She kept raving about how wholesome the meal was and how if she had vegetarian food like this, she won’t even miss eating meat.

Black-eyed Peas Curry

While cleaning my pantry this past weekend, I found a big packet of black-eyed peas along with other beans. So, when my friend asked me to post a recipe with black-eyed peas, I had no problems.  I don’t make these as often as I make cholé or rajma – mainly because it is not a staple in my pantry.  I have to remember to buy it (and looks like after I remember to buy it, I forget that I have it in my pantry!). 

I make some kind of dal (lentil) or beans at least once a week.  My younger son likes it when I make dals/beans that hold their shape.  So if I say I have made dal for dinner, he will want to know if it is the mushy kind or the beany kind :)

Here is what you need:

(serves four easily)

• 1½ cups black-eyed peas, soaked for at least 4 hours (see note)
• salt to taste
• ½ tsp. hing (asafetida)
• ¼ tsp. turmeric
• 2 tsp. oil
• ½ tsp. mustard seeds
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds
• ½ of a medium onion, chopped
• few curry leaves
• 3 cloves garlic, sliced
• 1” piece ginger, slivered
• 3 green chilies, slit lengthwise
• 1 roma tomato, chopped
• 1 tsp. rasam powder
• generous amount of cilantro (maybe about 1/3 cup)

Here is how I made it:

1. Drain the water from the soaked peas, add more water to cover it and cook with salt, hing, and turmeric in a pressure cooker, until done.  Since these beans cook very quickly, I cook it on low for about five minutes after the first whistle, and then turn it off.
2. Heat oil in a frying pan and add mustard and cumin seeds.
3. When the mustard seeds sputter, add the onions and curry leaves. Sauté for a few minutes.
4. Add garlic and ginger.  Sauté for a few more minutes.
5. Add the tomatoes.  If your tomatoes are juicy, just cover the pan and cook on low heat for a bit, if they are not, sprinkle some water and then cover and cook till the whole thing gets pulpy, and the tomatoes have lost their shape.
6. Add rasam powder and fry for a couple of minutes.  If you don’t have rasam powder, add ½ teaspoon each of chili powder, cumin powder, coriander powder, and crushed pepper.
7. Add the cooked peas with enough water to this pan.  Check the seasoning, and let this whole thing simmer for about 10 minutes till the peas have absorbed all the flavors.
8. Add the cilantro and turn off the stove.

Serve with rice or rotis.  I like to eat this more like a soup.  I take a tiny bit of rice in a big bowl, ladle a generous portion of the black-eyed peas on top, and garnish with slivered green chilies and onions and eat it like a soup.  It tastes delicious.

Note:  This is a great crock-pot recipe.  If you like, you can place the dry black-eyed peas in a crock pot with enough water and cook it on low for about 4 – 6 hours, till the peas are tender.  Then follow the steps to make the masala.  Add the tomato masala to the peas, and let it simmer in the crock pot for at least an hour.