This Coconutty Black Eyed Pea stew with Cauliflower and Potatoes is hearty and delicious. Instant Pot Black Eyed Pea Curry with vegetables. Saucepan Option. Gobi Aloo Lobia Vegetarian Black Eyed Peas Recipe. Vegan Gluten-free Soy-free Nut-free Jump to Recipe
This simple Black eyed pea curry is perfect for a weekday dinner. Black Eyed Peas often get overlooked with the popularity of chickpeas. But these humble beans are smooth, delicious and cook much faster (and also cause less gaseous issues).
This curry has simple spices and some coconut. Add vegetables of choice and put it in an Instant Pot, pressure cooker or saucepan and enjoy a hot flavorful curry over Naan, flatbread, or rice/grains. If you have sambhar masala blend, that goes really well in this stew. The dish is finished with a tempering of toasted cumin and curry leaves. You can leave the curry leaves out if you cannot find them and use cilantro instead. This Gobi Aloo Lobhia ( Chawli/Raungi) curry is easy, has a different flavor profile from the North Indian Black eyed Peas curry and is versatile.
The toasty cumin and curry leaf tempering adds a fabulous finishing flavor to the dish. You can make the tempering in the IP itself and reserve some to use as garnish later. For variation use mustard seeds, Make it with other beans or chickpeas and play with the spices.
More Instant Pot Meals from the blog
- Lentil Veggie Dhansak – Lentil Veggie Stew in IP. GF Different from the regular dals.
- Kohlapuri Veggies – Veggies in sesame coconut sauce GF Use up the veggies
- Aloo Palak Dal – Instant Pot Potato Spinach Lentil Curry GF
- IP Masala Baingain – Spiced Eggplant Curry GF Summery
- Brown Chickpea Coconut curry – Kadala Curry. GF A favorite
If you make this curry, do let me know how it turned out!
Recipe Card
Instant Pot Black Eyed Pea Curry with Potato and Cauliflower
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup (129 g) black eyed peas soaked for atleast half an hour in warm water
- 1 tsp oil
- ½ (0.5) a medium onion chopped
- 5 cloves of garlic chopped
- ½ inch (0.5 inch) ginger finely chopped
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) garam masala or 1 tsp sambhar masala, or use ½ tsp cumin + ½ tsp coriander
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) ground coriander
- 1 tsp turmeric use less if you are sensitive to the flavor
- ¼ to ½ tsp (1/4 to 1/2 tsp) cayenne
- 2 tbsp shredded coconut dried or fresh
- 2 juicy tomatoes pureed or 1¼ cup
- 1.5 cups (273 g) or more veggies chopped small I use small cauliflower florets and cubed potato or sweet potato
- ¾ tsp (0.75 tsp) or more salt
- 2 cups (500 ml) water
- lemon for garnish
Tempering:
- 1 tsp oil
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) cumin seeds
- 10 curry leaves fresh are best
Instructions
- Press Saute on Instant Pot and let it get hot. Add oil and spread using a spatula. Add onion, garlic, ginger and cook for 5 mins.
- Add the spices and coconut and mix in. Cook for a minute.
- Add pureed tomato. Mix and bring to a good boil. Add the veggies and mix in.
- Add drained black eyed peas, water and salt and mix in. Close the lid and cook on Manual for 12 to 15 minutes.
- Let the pressure release naturally. Open the lid, add a dash of lemon. Taste and adjust salt, spice and heat.
- Make the tempering. Heat oil in a small skillet. When hot, add cumin seeds and let them change color. Add curry leaves carefully, (they will splutter) then take off heat. Add the tempering over the curry. Serve as a soup in a bowl or over rice or other grains of choice, or with flatbread, Naan or pita bread.
Notes
At Step 1, after the oil is hot Add cumin seeds and let them start to change color. Add the curry leaves carefully, if using and mix. then add the onion and continue. Saucepan:
Make sure to soak the black eyed peas for an hour. Follow steps 1 to 3 in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the drained black eyed peas, salt and 3 cups of water. Partially cover and cook for 40 to 45 minutes or until black eyed peas are tender to preference. (add veggies half way through to reduce chances of overcooking). Garnish with tempering and serve.
Variation: Use other beans or chickpeas and other spices.
Use cilantro to sub curry leaves in the tempering. Nutritional values based on one serving
Nutrition
Heather
This was really good. I didn’t have curry leaves so I toasted the cumin seeds in oil in step one. We have an overcast and cooler summer day today so it was perfect. Warming but not too heavy. In the winter I think adding a bit of coconut milk would give it a lovely richness. Great recipe. Thank you! I will make it again!
Richa
Awesome! Yes add some coconut milk. Everyday Indian curries and Dals don’t have any coconut milk or any rich cream element. But are easily adjustable to be creamy if you like
Lisa
I made this and it was delicious. I used pav bhaji masala instead of garam masala, and since I didn’t have coconut, I used half coconut milk and half water as you suggested to another commenter. So the gravy was creamier—but that was a feature, not a bug! Thanks for another great recipe that I can do in the IP.
Divya
Just made this with yellow eye beans. So delicious, as expected for a recipe by you! I followed it as written otherwise, and couldn’t believe the cauliflower and potatoes were not mush! I trusted your directions. Thank you!
Richa
Thanks! They turn mush when it’s just veggies or mostly veggies. With beans and tomato etc there’s enough volume to distribute the heat. Doesn’t work with all beans though which need really long cooking times
Kathy W
Easy, satisfying, tasty. Thank you for this recipe! I’m not experienced with the Instant Pot yet. Cooked on high pressure for 10min and manually released. I was worried about adding the veggie (in my case Yukon potatoes and cauliflower) to the pot before pressure cooking and find the veggies disintegrated (cauliflower cooks too quickly in my pressure cooker and it becomes sludge on the shortest cook setting) so I added the potatoes as instructed but added small cauliflower pieces after pressure was released and let it sit with the lid on. This worked for me. It was such a satisfying dish I almost think if I had followed directions 100% it would’ve worked out just fine too.
Jessica Marie Shepherd
How important is the tempering of the spices in this recipe? Will it really not turn out if I try to make this oil-free? Can I just sautee in the first step with broth and add the spices at that time?
Richa
you can dry roast the spices and add during simmering. the flavor will develop more in some hours,, is you are refrigerating for later. Oil is the carrier of the toasted flavor, so the tempering adds a stronger flavor. Its a delicious curry even without.
Jessica Marie Shepherd
Wonderful, thank you! This is very helpful.
Jessica
I made this without oil on the stovetop, potatoes, carrots, and mushrooms for the veg, doubling the amount, and it turned out amazing. Served it with one of your dals and basmati rice with lemon juice on top…perfect. My fiancé and future mother in law were very satisfied. Fiancé said it was the best thing I’ve made to date, and that’s saying a lot since usually I’m the one who likes Indian cuisine, while he tends to prefer Italian. Definitely making this again! It’s going in my favorites folder.
Richa
thats so cool!!
Haley
This was SO good. I used 1c of coconut milk instead of the shredded coconut as you suggested to another commenter and 1/2 the suggested turmeric as my kids aren’t huge fans. I didn’t have the curry leaves so I left out the tempering and instead added some dried cilantro in before cooking. It turned out amazing and my whole family enjoyed it. We very recently have gone plant based and this was the first recipe that was a success with everyone. It gave me hope that we can do this!! I have been checking out your other recipes tonight and am so excited to try a few this week. Thank you for your creativity, excellently laid out blog and beautiful photos. You have brought so much encouragement to this busy mom trying to make a huge shift in the way we cook and eat.
Richa
Awesome! If they liked this then there are many many options! Just adjust the spices/flavors to preference whenever needed. So glad everyone loved it! Happy Cooking
Lucy
Another winner. Wonderfully delicate flavour. I love your recipes!
Have made two batches of the snickerdoodles this week too 😝👍🏼
Richa
yay
Maneesha
Such a great recipe! I shared some with my cousin, who doesn’t really like Indian food (but he is Indian!) , And he totally loved it!
Richa
thats awsome!
Morgan
This recipe is a favorite. The combination of black eyed peas and spinach appeals to me, and the spices are so good in this. I typically use coconut milk instead of shredded coconut, and I make this all on the stovetop rather than the pressure cooker. We all love it!
Richa
thats awesome!
Gabriela Macsim
This recipe sounds great, but I was wondering if maybe I should do something different since I want to use black eyed peas from a can( can’t find them dry in my country, maybe only by ordering online). Maybe not use the Instant Pot? Sorry for the stupid question, I`m not that much of a great cook, but I try. Thank you! I love your recipes!
Richa
Yes you can use canned black eyed peas. Use the saucepan method from the Recipe Notes Section, Use 1 can or about 1.5 cups of black eyed peas, add only 1/2 cup water and simmer for only 15 minutes so the veggies are cooked through. Taste and adjust flavors and serve.
Mansi
I made this tonight and did a double batch – it was good but was too tomatoey – maybe because I used a can of pureed tomatoes? I ended up adding in more garam masala and some heavy cream and that helped. Overall was good and I’ll be making it again to perfect it!
Really like your site and your recipes…and I just got an IP so I’m looking forward to using more of these…I wonder if you could categorize in a way to find the IP ones easily? Thanks Richa!
Richa
Canned tomatoes are generally a much stronger flavor(ripe, more sweet and concentrated). some brands are stronger than the others. They usually will drown out the rest of the flavors in the dish depending on the amount used, so use less of the canned if replacing the fresh tomatoes. I would usually start with half the measurement.
Yes see the ip category here https://www.veganricha.com/category/instant-pot
Chantelle
Thank you for this recipe! I love love loveee your Instant Pot recipes – I make them weekly ever since getting my pressure cooker! Can’t wait to try this one! 🙂 I love trying out your Indian recipes especially – thank you for expanding my knowledge on Indian cooking.
Richa
Thank you Chantelle. Happy cooking!
Hilary
Thanks for including the saucepan instructions too! Would coconut milk work as a sub for the shredded coconut, or does the recipe need it for the texture?
Richa
coconut milk will work fine. use half coconut milk and half water at the step where you add water.
Susan
This looks wonderful, Richa. I just bought a pressure cooker from Spain. This would be the perfect recipe to try it.
If I use the 1/2 tsp cumin+1/2 tsp coriander substitute for the sambar masala, do I also add an additional 1/2 tsp coriander?
Thank you.
Richa
yes, total 1 tsp coriander
Natasha
I love your pressure cooker recipes!! This looks comforting and healthy with easy-to-find ingredients. Richa all your recipes I’ve tried have been fantastic. Thank you for your creative dishes bursting with flavor!