Punjabi Lobi Masala (Black Eyed Bean Curry) Recipe

Our community reporter David Jacobs has sent us in a tasty recipe of Black Eyed Bean Curry for our recipe section of the website!  It’s not a recipe for a quick dish – you need time and patience for this one, but the end result is delicious!!

David was inspired by a recipe taken from here.


Ingredients

  • 1 cup lobia (black eyed beans, cow peas)
  • ½ inch ginger (adrak), finely chopped
  • 2 to 3 medium garlic cloves (lahsun), finely chopped
  • 1 medium sized onion finely chopped
  • 2 medium tomatoes finely chopped
  • 1 or 2 green chilies chopped
  • ½ teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera)
  • ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder (haldi)
  • ½ teaspoon red chilli powder (lal mirch powder)
  • ½ teaspoon punjabi garam masala powder or garam masala powder
  • 1 teaspoon coriander powder (dhania powder)
  • 3 cups water
  • 2 tablespoons oil
  • 1 to 2 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves (dhania patta)
  • salt as required

Method

1. Soak the lobia overnight or for a few hours. Drain and rinse the lobia with water. Again drain and keep aside

2.  In a pressure cooker or pressure pan, heat oil

3. Add the cumin seeds and let them sizzle.

4. Then add the chopped onions.

5.  Stir and saute till the onions become translucent.

6. Add the chopped ginger, garlic and green chilies. saute till the raw aroma of the ginger and garlic goes away.

7. Then add the chopped tomatoes and stir.

8. Next add the all the dry spices – turmeric powder, red chili powder, coriander powder and garam masala.

9. Stir and saute the masala on a low flame, till the tomatoes become soft and the entire tomato-onion mixture starts to leave the sides of the pan or cooker and you see the oil leaving from the sides. This cooking method is called as bhunao in punjabi and takes some time.

10. Now add the lobia or black eyed beans. Stir well.

11. Then add 3 cups water. Add salt.

12. Stir pressure cook till the lobia is cooked completely. I cooked it for 8-9 whistles as I had soaked it for only half an hour. if you have soaked it overnight or for 2-3 hours, it will take less time to cook. The lobia should be soft enough and when pressed with your fingers, it should get mashed easily. Check the lobia once its done.

13. Once the lobia beans are cooked, simmer the gravy without the lid so that it gets thickened.

14. You can also mash a few cooked beans to thicken the gravy.

15. The consistency of the lobia masala gravy is neither thin nor thick.

16. Lastly add 2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves and give a final stir. You could also garnish lobia masala with chopped coriander leaves.

17. Serve Punjabi Lobia Masala with Chappati’s (rotis) or steamed rice.

Pictures sent in by David Jacobs.


Be sure to leave a comment below if you try this recipe for yourself!

If you would like to send us a recipe, get in touch on digitalsentinel@whalearts.co.uk or 0131 458 3267. You could also come along to one our IT sessions on Thursdays 10.30am – 12.30pm at either Clovenstone Community Centre or the WHALE Arts centre.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
One comment on “Punjabi Lobi Masala (Black Eyed Bean Curry) Recipe

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.