Black-Eyed Peas Curry with Yogurt Gravy

This Punjabi-style black-eyed peas curry is a flavorful stew made with onion, garlic, ginger, spices, and tomato, in a rich and creamy yogurt gravy. 

Yes! You read right. We really are adding yogurt to hot curry! 

The yogurt makes your curry velvety-smooth, and just a tad tangy. I recommend that you use full-fat whole milk yogurt, which is a healthy and satisfying choice.

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The yogurt mellows the spices in this black-eyed peas curry. To savor this dish is to enjoy a brilliant symphony of flavor notes, with yogurt playing the role of conductor, bringing everything together. 

For a complete vegetarian supper, enjoy it with basmati rice and flatbread, along with a green salad. Top your rice and black-eyed peas curry with a dollop of ghee and you’ll be even happier. 

Black-eyed peas curry

I am really excited to share this novel recipe with you. Maybe some of you have tried this something like this, but I had never encountered the idea of cooking with yogurt until I discovered it in Indian cuisine.

Because I love it so much, this is the first of many recipes I intend to share with you that call for cooked yogurt. This black-eyed peas curry is your invitation to try this new cooking style. 

I choose black-eyed peas to introduce first, because they are popular in the United States, and easy to obtain at most grocery stores. 

I really think you will love how the yogurt adds to the flavor of this curry.

Especially for those of you who are new to spicy food, I think you will appreciate the yogurt’s mellowing effect. 

Moreover, this black-eyed peas curry tastes decadent, without being full of calories.

It is a dish you can return to week after week for a comforting, nourishing, meatless meal.  

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Black-eyed peas

I’d like to talk about black-eyed peas for a minute. 

I first purchased this pea, which is similar to a bean, at my local Indian grocery store. 

Not that it’s the first time I’ve encountered them though. 

Black-eyed peas are part of the food fabric of the American South's soul food tradition, in particular a dish called Hoppin’ John. 

Hoppin’ John is made with black-eyed peas, rice, onion, bacon, and salt. And sometimes green pepper, vinegar, and spices show up in the mix. Typically, it’s served with cooked greens and cornbread. 

Black-eyed peas are striking in appearance. Beige in color, each perfectly marked with a black spot that looks like a heart. 

Their diminutive size is also notable. Smaller pulses are easier to digest, and these guys are right in the middle in a spectrum between a lentil and a kidney bean. 

Although black-eyed peas look like beans, they are actually peas. 

This means you don’t have to soak them as long. After just one hour in soaking water, they will double in size. 

This is helpful for cooks who are facing dinner hour without having soaked their beans in the morning, or the night before. 

It also means that black-eyed peas don’t take as long to cook. 

They’ll cook in just over an hour in a saucepan, while it takes just 8 minutes in a pressure cooker, such as an Instant Pot. For Instant Pot instructions, see the recipe notes below.

Black-eyed peas around the world

Black-eyed peas were thought to have first been domesticated in West Africa, but today they grow throughout Asia and the Southern United States.

They also go by many names, such as black-eyed bean, goat pea, chowla, and lobia. 

The black-eyed pea is a subspecies of the cowpea, which is similar in size to the pea, except it tends to be wider and stubbier. You’ll find cowpeas in all sorts of colors, with red and brown being most common. 

You can definitely interchange the cowpea for the black-eyed pea in this black-eyed peas curry recipe. All you need to do is add to the soaking and cooking times. 

Black-eyed peas are integral to cuisines in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria, as well as Cyprus, Turkey, and Portugal, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the South American countries of Brazil, Columbia, Guyana, Trinidad, and Tobago.

It is amazing to consider how many ways people enjoy black-eyed peas. Here are just a few examples. 

COUNTRY	DISH	INGREDIENTS
Egypt	Lobia	With onions, garlic, meat, and tomato juice, and served with Egyptian rice.
West Africa	Akara	Deep-fried black-eyed peas, mashed with, onions, peppers, and salt.
Vietnam	Che dau trang	Black-eyed peas and sticky rice with coconut milk.
Turkey	Piyas	A salad with bell peppers, pickles, dill, mint, oil, salt, and lemon.
Columbia	Bunuelo	Peas with skinned removed, mashed with egg and deep-fried. Eaten as breakfast.

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