Garlicky, spicy and creamy curry with Spinach, Black Eyed Peas Curry and Coconut. It is so good and comforting that you can just slurp spoonsful of it from the bowl!
Inspirations. They are everywhere. You just need to act on them, that’s all.
I have this bad habit of scrolling though other food blogs or foodie Instagram accounts just before I go to bed. All the gorgeous and delicious food photographs I see makes me hungry and invariably I ended up strutting downstairs to get / make a quick snack for me.
This recipe is inspired by an Instagram account that I follow – @namrathakumar29, a foodie who posts about what she cooks for herself and her family. I saw her post about this Spinach and Black Eyed Peas Curry on a particularly cold and rainy January day and all I wanted to eat that day was this! Of course, there was no recipe and I couldn’t wait till she would respond to me, if I asked her for the recipe. So, I set out to search on the interwebs for ingredients and directions to make this.
As with any recipe, especially an Indian regional recipe, I found 500 different ways to make this dish! Phew!!
Out of those, were a few blog that I knew of and trusted them for a good recipe but even then, they were all so very different. I read through them all and finally picked all the elements to this curry that called out to me and made my own version of it.
Now as I write about it, I want to make it again and relish every bit of it all over again. Let me tell you this much – those fried smashed garlic pieces!! Oh my!! To die for! Seriously.
If you love cooking with spinach, here are some of our favorite curries with spinach
And some more recipes with other greens!
📖 Recipe
Mangalorean Spinach and Black Eyed Peas Curry
Ingredients
To dry roast and grind to a powder
- 5 dried red chillies
- 1 tablespoon coriander seeds
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
- ½ teaspoon black mustard seeds
- 4-5 black peppercorns
Other ingredients
- ½ cup grated coconut
- 2-3 garlic cloves
- 1 small / medium red onion , chopped
- 1 marble sized ball of tamarind
- 3 cups packed baby spinach , roughly chopped
- ½ cup black eyed peas
- salt , to taste
- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
For tempered seasoning:
- 2 tablespoon grapeseed oil
- 3-4 garlic cloves , peeled and smashed
- 3-4 pearl onions , sliced
Don't forget to check out Step-by-step instructions with photos in the body of the post above
Instructions
- Cook the black eyed peas with enough water, till it is soft and cooked through.
- Dry roast the ingredients under “dry roast and grind to a powder” over low to medium heat, constantly stirring them, for 2-3 minutes. Let them cool down. Grind them to a coarse powder in a food processor.
- In the same pan, add the coconut, garlic and chopped onions and sauté till the coconut turns color ever so slightly and leaves out all the moisture and the onions have become translucent. Remove from heat. Once cool, add it to the food processor with the powdered spice, add tamarind a a few tablespoons of water and grind to a coarse paste.
- Bring this paste back to the pan and add a little more water to make it a thick sauce of sorts. Over medium high heat, add the spinach and the cooked black eyed peas along with the water. Add salt and turmeric powder and some more water if needed and bring it to a boil.
- Meanwhile in a “tadka pan” heat the oil for tempered seasoning and add the garlic and pearl onions to it. Once they are nice and golden in color, add this on top of the curry. Mix well and serve with rice or rotis.
Notes
Nutrition
Ashley @ Big Flavors from a Tiny Kitchen says
This looks like such a hearty, warming soup!
Manju says
Thank you Ashley ?
Christine says
Love curries - This looks SO good!
Manju says
Thank you Christine! ??
Anrods says
Thanks..this curry was a saviour ...as I had nothing much at home...and all the necessary ingredients were easily available at the grocery
Manju says
Thank you! ???? glad you liked it!
Sheetal Sarang says
This turned completely awesome soul satisfying wholesome. A new twist to otherwise boring black eyed bean.. my babies loved it too. Thank you
Manju says
Aww, thank you! We love it here too. So glad your family loved it! ????????????
Trisha @ Salty Side Dish says
Being from the south, I love black-eyed peas. I make them ever New Years. I think I am going to try this version this year. It sounds delicious.
Manju says
Yay! Let me know how you like it! Ive gotta check out your black eyed peas version, assuming its on your blog?
Cindy says
Can’t wait to try! But can you please confirm you only use 1/2 cup of black eyed beans in a recipe for four people? Sounds very low in terms of quantity. I have another recipe for black eyed beans that calls for 600g dried or tinned beans.
Manju says
Hi Cindy, Sorry for getting back so late to your comment. It was stuck in spam and I just got around to seeing it.
The serving size is about 1 cup, the small bowl size that we usually use for curries that are sides to rice or rotis. So it makes about 4-5 cups in total - which typically if everyone takes 1 small bowl as their side, it will serve 4 people or so. It won't serve 4 people as a meal.But, I can totally see how this can be confusing.
Marian says
Excellent flavor!! I didn't get a chance to do the tempered seasoning at the end but it was still fabulous! Thank you so much for your receipe. 🙂
Manju says
Thank you Marian! 🙂
Moulikta shah says
Awesome taste!
Moulikta
Manju says
Thank you Moulikta.
Steve Grund says
Yum! I added a few black cardamons and some curry leaves, and since I had some fresh turmeric, I used that. It came out very good; I will make it again!
Manju says
That sounds delicious to me! 🙂
Priya Andrade says
I came across this recipe on Pinterest. I decided to try and it was a big hit in my family. We all loved it. My father-in-law is originally from Udipi. nice to get Mangalorean recipes.
Manju says
This comment made my day! I am so glad you and your family loved this recipe.
Priya Andrade says
I came across this recipe on Pinterest and when I tried it my family loved it. Now I make it all the time,
Thank you for sharing it.