250 grams dried black eyed beans, washed and soaked overnight
2 medium onions, peeled and roughly chopped
1 small onion, finely chopped
75 grams fresh grated coconut or defrosted if frozen
3 tablespoons coconut oil
1 teaspoon Kashmiri chilli powder
2 tablespoons cumin seeds toasted and ground in a mortar and pestle
¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
4-6 green chillies depending on your taste
3-4 centimetre ginger roughly chopped
3 garlic chopped
1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
Fried curry leaves to garnish
Salt to taste
METHOD
Drain the beans, put them into a pan with 1 litre water and bring to the boil. Skim off the froth, then partially cover, lower heat and simmer gently for 45- 60 minutes until the peas are tender. You can pressure cook them to save some time.
While beans are cooking, put the roughly chopped onions in boiling water and cook them for three to four minutes. Strain the onions and place in a blender with the coconut, green chillies, ginger and garlic and grind until you have a fine paste.
Put the coconut oil in a clean pan and set over a medium high heat. When hot, add the finely chopped onion and fry until the onions are golden brown about 5 minutes. Add the turmeric, chilli and cumin seed powder, and soy sauce continue frying until the oil shows at the edges.
Tip the paste from the blender. Fry over a medium heat for 10 minutes making sure to scrape whatever is sticking to the sides or bottom of pan. Add a tablespoon of water as needed. Add all the cooked beans and their liquid – you may need to add a few more spoons of water, depending on how thick you want the beans to be. Stir in salt and cook uncovered for 10-15 minutes. Garnish with fried curry leaves or fried green chillies.
Serve hot with rice and other vegetable side dishes.