Curried Black Eyed Peas/beans (Chora) in the Instant pot

Making  curried Black eyed peas/ or as some people call them -black eyed beans (Lobia) (and Chora in Gujarati)   is very similar to cooking other lentils in the Instant Pot.   Black eyed  beans  are full of protein and easy to cook and taste really great.  They are available ready boiled in cans or as dried beans which need to be soaked for at least 2 hours in cold water before cooking.   Before I got the Instant pot ( The Instant Pot (IP) is a pressure cooker but can also be used as a slow cooker. rice cooker, sauté/browning, yoghurt maker and steamer), I used to soak a huge batch of the black eyed peas/beans  overnight  and cook them all in a pressure cooker with plenty of water.  Once cooked I used to freeze them in zip lock bags to use when needed.  Now with the Instant pot, making them is a lot easier. You can cook them unsoaked if you wish. I find that soaking them does quicken the cooking time.

Ingredients (serves 2):

• 1 cups of  uncooked black eyed beans – soaked for 20-30 minutes or longer.
• I cup of crushed tomatoes, fresh tomatoes or Passata.
• 2 tbls of oil (I used sunflower oil)
• 1  tsp of cumin seeds
• 1 piece of cinnamon
• 2-3 cloves
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp chilly powder
• 1 tsp crushed garlic
• 1 tbls lemon juice
• 1 tbles jaggery or brown sugar (optional)
• 1 small bunch of coriander and some curry leaves.
• 2 fresh green chilies sliced into 4

Method

1. Heat the Instant Pot in the  Saute mode and add 2 tablespoons of oil to it.  Ald the cumin, cinnamon and cloves to the oil.
2. Once the cumin goes dark, add in the tomatoes and spices  such as salt, turmeric, chili powder, crushed garlic, lemon juice, green chilies, curry leaves, coriander and jaggery to the tomato mixture and mix it all together. Cook until the tomatoes go soft and homogenous.

3.  Add the soaked black eyed beans to the tomato mixture.  Add 3 cups of warm water and switch off the saute mode of the IP and close the lid.  Using the manual button use the + button and set the black eyed beans to  cook for 15 minutes.  If you like very soft black eyed peas, you can cook them for 17  minutes.

4. Once the cooking time is finished switch off the IP and allow it to cool down. Once the pressure is released your Black eyed peas should be cooked. If not, give them 5-6 minutes more depending on how soft you want them. Often the cooking time is slightly different depending on how much water you had used or how long they had been soaking.  We like to have some gravy in our black eyed peas curry as we have it with rice.  If you don’t like too much gravy, you could use the saute mode to thicken it slightly.

5.  Serve the curry hot with rice and chappatis.

Another Dish cooked in the Instant Pot.

If you do not have the Instant Pot follow this recipe

Other recipes using Black eyed peas are as follows:

• Stuffed peppers
• salad

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