A Curry Sunday!

Its been almost a month since my parents returned home. I have been completely lazy and hardly cooking since they left, had got used to the luxury of steaming home cooked food and after they left I was back to sandwiches, soups and salads :-) Not that these things are bad, but don't form a square meal that we are used to. Sunday is the day I feel refreshed and trying something new and make the lunch count and memorable for the rest of the week. Not to forget, this big lunch goes a long way during the week, I tend to make a big batch and refrigerate it, that way it helps me get through the week with little tweaks. So here we go want to know what I have been upto this Sunday?? A curry with black eyed peas!! If you are a bean lover like me you will be excited to know what happens next :) but if you are not, I would urge you to try this out, I assure you this curry will not disappoint you. So I got into an Indian mama mode, gearing up to cook up a square meal with Curry, Phulka (slim rotis), rice and some lovely salad. My kitchen was full of chopping and clattering sounds with the radio humming in the background playing all my favourite songs, a bright sunny morning and a cup of coffee on the side, I was ready to go :-) This was one of those beautiful mornings where I get my me time and indulge in slow cooking. This curry does not need a long shopping list, can accommodate anything you might have in the larder. The idea is to use up all the tiny bits of vegetables left in the refrigerator and convert them in a delicious curry. Here is what went into my curry:

1. A can of black eye peas or a bowl of raw beans boiled with a ping of salt.
2. 1 Green Pepper
3. 1 Red Pepper
4. 1 onion
5. an inch long ginger root, 1 big clove of garlic
6. Curry leaves, I had only dried left, if you have fresh ones, nothing like it
7. Torn basil leaves, you could alternate with a healthy bunch of coriander if you have some or spinach / mint leaves. Anything that can get some greens in.
8. 1 large tomato
9. a table spoon of tomato paste, to enhance the tomato flavour
10. Spices - Garam Masala (I used the masala I made from the recipe I had published in my earlier blog :), Cumin powder, Coriander Powder, a pinch of hing (asafoetida), Salt and Pepper to taste, 1 tsp of Turmeric and Chilli powder, 1 tsp Mustard seeds, 1tsp cumin seeds.
11. Tamarind paste (or soaked tamaring mashed into a pulp) - optional
12. Fenugreek Seeds - put only if you put tamarind in. Tamarind and Fenugreek seeds are best friends!
13. A piece of jaggery or a table spoon of light brown sugar.

Once you have your ingredients ready, here how we get cooking:

1. Chop the ginger and garlic as finely as possible, cut ginger like fine match sticks.
2. Finely Chopped Onion, Tomatoes, basil.
3. Slice the green and red peppers finely
4. Keep the can of beans or boiled beans ready.
5. Get the greens ready.
6. Heat up 2 tbl spoons of vegetable / Sunflower oil.
7. Tip the mustards and cumin seeds and wait back till they sputter.
8. Tip the curry leaves - Stand back if you are using fresh curry leaves, they tend to splatter hot oil quite a bit.
9. Add the julienne ginger and garlic let them fry for a bit, make sure they dont turn bros, over cooking garlic makes it bitter.
10. Tip the onion and let it sweat for a while. Add all the spices and salt and fry till the whole mixture goes dry.
11. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, tamarind paste, fenugreek seeds (only a pinch, do not overdo, else the curry will taste bitter), salt and pepper.
12. Fry all of it for some time, until all the spices get fried nicely and you see the oil starting to ooze out of the mixture, that's when they are nicely fried.
13. Add the beans, pour in a cup of boiling water and let the curry simmer for 15 mins.
14. Make sure all the vegetables and beans retain a bite to them, else they will turn into a big mash.

You are ready to serve up :-) Garnish the curry with some coriander and squeeze some lemon just before eating to accentuate the tang of the curry. This curry goes well with Nan bread, rotis, paratha or even some plain bolied rice with a trickle of ghee, pickle and pappadoms. Hope you have a lovely curry Sunday!! Stop by and tell me your stories if you enjoyed sharing this curry with your friends and family :-0)

Bon appétit !!