Easy Lentil Black Eyed Pea soup with Spinach. Masoor Raungi Palak Dal. Easy spiced protein filled soup. Vegan Gluten-free Soy-free Indian Recipe. Serves 3 to 4
The days I want to change up the usual one type of lentil or bean in a dal/soup, I add more than one. The resulting Dal packs a protein punch. Black Eyed Peas with Lentils or mung beans is a favorite combination. filling enough without feeling overly beany. You can make this soup with just lentils or just black eyed peas. Add veggies of choice. I added spinach and green beans.
Indian soups and Dals are generally over cooked. ie. the beans should disintegrate easily and lentils should generally get slightly mushy or porridge like. That is the preferred consistency. You can cook for a shorter time for preferred doneness and adjust water for thinner or thicker consistency to preference. Make it oil-free by omitting the oil.
Make this easy Lentil Black eyed Pea Soup. Serve hot with flatbread, rice, or in a bowl.
More Soups and Dals from the blog
- Kashmiri Dal – Split Pea & Yellow Lentil Soup…
- Chickpea Lentil Quinoa Spinach Stew.
- Dal Fry – Spiced Indian Lentil soup
- Oil free Lentil Soup. Spicy Garlic Dal
- Moroccan Lentil Soup
Reading for the day
James Cameron on why he eats vegan.
Reasons to watch Cowspiracy, now streaming on Netflix.
- Dairy. 1,000 gallons/liters of water are required to produce 1 gallon/liter of milk.
- Livestock and their byproducts account for at least 32,000 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year, or 51% of all worldwide greenhouse gas emissions.
- Growing feed crops for livestock consumes 56% of water in the US.
- Each day, a person who eats a vegan diet saves 1,100 gallons of water, 45 pounds of grain, 30 sq ft of forested land, 20 lbs CO2 equivalent, and one animal’s life.
- At least one acre of rainforest is cleared every second and the leading cause is to graze animals and grow their food crops. That is essentially an entire football field cleared every. single. second. find out a lot more in the documentary.
Lentil Black Eyed Pea Soup with Greens
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (86 g) black eyed peas/ cowpeas raungi/lobhia
- 1/2 cup (96 g) lentils brown lentils, Sabut Masoor
- 1 tsp oil
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) cumin seeds
- 1/2 cup (80 g) onions
- 5 cloves garlic
- 1 inch ginger chopped
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) turmeric
- 1/8 to 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 to 1/2 tsp cayenne/ red chili powder
- 2 (2 ) tomatoes 1 loaded cup tomatoes, finely chopped or blended into purree
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) lemon juice
- 3/4 to 1 tsp salt
- 2.5 cups (625 ml) water
- 1/2 cup (15 g) chopped spinach or baby greens of choice
- 1/2 cup (55 g) small chopped green beans or carrots or zucchini or other veggies
- cilantro and lemon juice for garnish
Instructions
- Soak the black eyed peas and lentils for half an hour if making in a saucepan. or soak at this step for 15 minutes if making in a pressure cooker. (time needed by steps 2 through 5).
- Meanwhile, heat oil in a saucepan or pressure cooker. Once hot, add cumin seeds and cook for a minute or until cumin seeds change color.
- Blend onion, garlic, ginger with a tbsp or so water until coarsely blended. Add to the pan. Cook for 5 minutes or until fragrant and golden.
- Add the spices, mix and cook for a minute.
- Add tomatoes and cook for 6 to 7 minutes.
- Drain the black eyed peas and lentils and add to the pan with salt, lemon juice, 2.5 cups water, greens and veggies. Mix in.
- Cook in a Pressure Cooker: Close the lid and pressure cook for 15 minutes after the pressure has reached. (Manual 15 minutes at high pressure in Instant Pot). Let the pressure release naturally.
- Cook in a Saucepan: In the saucepan, add 3 cups of water instead of 2.5 cups. Cover and cook over medium heat for 20 minutes. Reduce heat and continue to simmer over medium-low heat for another 20 to 25 minutes or until the lentils and black eyed peas are tender to preference.
- Garnish with cilantro and lemon juice and serve as a soup bowl, or with rice or flatbread
Notes
Nutrition
Samantha @ The Planted Vegan says
September 21, 2015 at 4:12 pmThis is going to be perfect for this weekend…perfect way to welcome Fall!
Richa says
September 25, 2015 at 8:56 pmAwesome!!
Angela says
September 22, 2015 at 3:07 amThis looks so good. I’ve never cooked with black-eyed beans before…what do they taste like?
Richa says
September 25, 2015 at 8:56 pmthey taste somewhat like kidney beans. try them. they cook quickly and taste fabulous!
Jennifer says
September 22, 2015 at 10:29 amLooks and sounds AMAZING! I could totally go for a huge bowl of this right now 🙂
Richa says
September 25, 2015 at 8:57 pmme too! i need to make another batch for the weekend.
Vivian says
September 22, 2015 at 1:43 pmReading this recipe and the photo have my mouth watering! Would red lentils be a good sub for the brown lentils, just as another way to make this dish?
By the way we recently watched Cowspiracy. What an incredible film! More people need to know the facts about the impact of consuming animal products. I couldn’t believe my meat-loving husband saying that he wanted to eat less meat and more plant-based after seeing it. That is a lot coming from him!
Love what you do. Thanks.
Richa says
September 22, 2015 at 1:55 pmRed lentils will disintegrate completely into the liquid (like creamy porridge) in the cooking time. Use 1 cup black eyed peas instead for a black eyed pea soup.
Indeed. Documentaries like these which cover a lot of different perspectives and stats were the ones that worked to get my husband on board as well!
MC says
January 23, 2016 at 8:54 pmthis soup was delicious. I had to adapt it a bit because I didn’t have black-eyed peas. I used a mixture of field peas (similar to black-eyed) and black beans. I also did use red lentils and I loved the way they became creamy in the soup. Finally I added some garam masala and brown mustard seed. So so good!
Richa says
January 23, 2016 at 10:17 pmAwesome!
Hilde Broeckx says
October 9, 2015 at 4:26 amIt doesn’t only look good, it tastes good. Yummy. Thx for sharing.
Richa says
October 9, 2015 at 9:56 amawesome!
Sarah says
October 12, 2015 at 10:08 amThis was superb Richa, I wasn’t sure it would need all that time to cook, but the flavours really develop with the cooking. Black eyed beans (peas) are one of my favourite beans, and lentils are another one!
With all these lovely recipes I have no more excuses not to go vegan, I’ve been thinking about it for ages. X Sarah
Richa says
October 12, 2015 at 11:01 amAwesome!!
Matilda says
November 1, 2015 at 12:26 pmGreat recipe. Can I use green lentils please ?
Richa says
November 1, 2015 at 3:35 pmsure, use green lentils. adjust cooking time if needed
Barbara says
March 7, 2018 at 4:26 pmI made this tonight. Super good. I did use red lentils and you are right, they did disintegrate, but it was still good. I found that even after soaking, the black eyed peas took about an hour to cook well and I added a can of coconut milk, which was great!
Richa says
March 8, 2018 at 10:19 amGreat! Yes red lentils cook in 10-11 mins in saucepan and 1 min in pressure cooker. The black eyed peas might be old. They should generally cook within 35 to 40 mins, but beans cooking time varies with age and batch etc. The fresh ones (soaked) will cook in 30 mins in saucepan
Jena says
April 16, 2018 at 9:35 amHi Richa. Thank you for this awesome recipe!
I used InstantPot version and followed your recipe to the dot, but unfortunately I put too much cayenne. I made a full pot (12 servings) and I put 2 tsp of cayenne where I should have only put 1.
Do you have any recommendations how I can fix it? I guess I could add a few potatoes or a yam to make the soup a little more blend, but I’ve never added raw veggies into an already cooked soup, especially the one cooked in Instant pot, so I would really appreciate an expert advise. 🙂
Also, do I need to add more of other spices to adjust for more volume?
Thank you in advance!
Richa says
April 16, 2018 at 10:27 amoooh. i would use 1/2 tsp cayenne. Yes potatoes will work. cook the potatoes separately and then add to the soup when reheating and simmer fora few minutes. Some non dairy milk or cream will work too. like some cashew cream. You can also make another batch of the soup without any heat and mix then in then freeze the servings.
When doubling savory recipes ingredients double except the water and heat. You want to use less of both, somewhere like 1.5 times. both can be adjusted later if needed.
Jena says
April 16, 2018 at 10:52 amThank you very much! I’ll try the potatoes route and if it’s still too spicy, I’ll try adding cashew milk (I have the non-vanilla one by “Pacific”). Would you add it while simmering or later while serving?
Jessica Dunkley says
December 31, 2018 at 9:59 amThis is my go to recipe for New Years Day: lentils (coin shaped), black eyed peas (for luck) and spinach (green leaves=money) 😀 I improvised a bit with what I had on hand: canned, drained black eyed peas ( I skipped soaking them and just soaked the lentils) diced my onion and some carrots sauteed in evoo added garlic, ginger and spices (skipped the cumin seed since I didn’t have any) and used a can of diced tomatoes (didn’t puree them), bumped up the veggie stock/water (personal preference) and it was still excellent! Also I’m not the best at following instructions so I did that a little differently too lol Thanks for sharing this yummy recipe!
Richa says
December 31, 2018 at 11:55 amawesome!
Anne says
January 4, 2019 at 11:52 amThank you for this delicious recipe! I used green lentils without adjusting the time and it was perfect.
Richa says
January 4, 2019 at 7:56 pmawesome
Morgan L says
November 4, 2019 at 2:02 pmThis is another of of my go-to Vegan Richa recipes. It’s so good. I add a little garam masala (again, your garam masala recipe) at the end of the cooking time to being out the warm flavors. It’s absolutely delicious doubling this recipe is easy for a crowd.
Morgan L says
November 4, 2019 at 2:03 pmThis is another of of my go-to Vegan Richa recipes. It’s so good. I add a little garam masala (again, your garam masala recipe) at the end of the cooking time to being out the warm flavors. It’s absolutely delicious and easy to double this recipe is easy for a crowd.
dal-icious says
February 16, 2020 at 10:35 amGreat recipe!
I used kale, squash and carrots for the veggies. Added some coriander seed with the cumin seed, and added one cherry pepper for a little excitement.
I subbed mung dal for the lentils, which turned out well with the black-eyed peas.
Richa says
February 16, 2020 at 11:52 amgreat!
Erin Holt says
November 1, 2020 at 5:55 pmI made this in a crock pot. It was so flavorful & hearty!