Lobia curry or black eyed beans curry is a nutritious and quick dish made with black eyed beans and cooked in onion-tomato gravy.  Black eyed peas or cow peas is also known as ‘Lobia’ or ‘Chawli’ in Hindi, Bobbarlu or Alasandalu in Telugu, ‘Karamani’ in Tamil, Chavli in Marathi and Alasande in Kannada.  It contains almost all essential vitamins and minerals and it has a number of important health benefits. Additionally, cowpeas are beneficial for our skin and hair too.  Do try this delicious and protein rich recipe made with cow peas and serve it with rotis, naans, parathas or jeera rice or any flavoured rice dishes.

Other yummy side dish for rotis :

Palak chole

Dal makhani

Chana masala

Aloo baingan

HOW TO MAKE OR PREPARE LOBIA CURRY RECIPE

Wash the black eyed beans and then soak them with sufficient water overnight or 6-7 hours.  Next day, drain the water and add salt, turmeric powder and little fresh water.  Pressure cook  for upto 6 to 7 whistles till they are well cooked.

Grind the onions, tomatoes, garlic cloves, ginger and green chillies with little water to make a smooth paste.  Keep it aside.

Heat oil in a pan or kadai on medium flame.  Once the oil becomes hot, add cumin seeds.  Once the seeds starts spluttering, add the ground paste and cook on a low flame for 2-3 minutes.  Add salt, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, coriander powder and garam masala and mix well.

Add the cooked lobia and combine together.  Add 1 cup of water and mix well.  Simmer the gravy for 2-3 minutes or till it reaches a thick or medium consistency.  Lastly add coconut milk and  mix well.  Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.  Switch off the flame.

Serve black eyed beans or lobia curry hot with rotis, naans, puris or plain rice.

NOTES/TIPS

Add just enough water to cover the black eyed beans before pressure cooking.  Do not pressure cook too mushy.

You can mash the cooked black eyed beans to thicken the gravy.

Coconut milk gives good taste as well as richness to the gravy.  If you do not have coconut milk, you can skip it or add 2 tablespoons of grated coconut along with the other ingredients to make the ground paste.