This black eyed bean and chickpea curry is my ultimate curry in a hurry, and features mainly on those week nights that I have 30 – 35 minutes to fix a meal. This really is another staple dish in my home that is packed with protein, nutrients and oodles of aromatic flavour.
I grew up with black-eyed beans. It was on the weekly menu rota at my high school which was a boarding school and it is easy to see why. Black-eyed beans are a cheap source of protein, and are highly nutritious. Little wonder, the geeks who ran my high school kitchen thought it a great addition to the weekly menu of voraciously hungry teenagers that we were at the time.
In making my version of this curry, I went for ultra-modern, high-convenience method of using canned chickpeas – blame it on my assertion that I am a modern 21st century woman with tons of conflicting demands on the meagre allowance of only 24 hours per day that I have. I make no apologies for resorting to canned chickpeas – in fact, i will shamelessly admit to that fact. However, if you are a purist, absolutely feel free to substitute the chickpeas for dried chickpeas which you can easily find, soak and cook these et voila!
On the flip side, I used dried black-eyed beans – as I had some in the pantry – which I pre-cooked, so I guess this makes up somewhat for my use of canned chickpeas? whatever right? Anyway, black-eyed beans need no pre-soaking, so if you fancy using dried beans, just pop them in water and cook for about 45 minutes or until they soften up. If you are making this on a week night, either pre-cook the beans, to keep your cooking time down to a minimum, or just resort to canned black-eyed beans. I promise it will be just as nice!
The great thing about this curry is that you can enjoy it as a vegetarian meal, or not. It is really versatile and lends itself well to be eaten with or without meat. I added some marinated beef to this recipe but feel free to experiment and go with whatever catches your fancy. Enjoy!
- 400 g beef
- 240 g canned chickpeas
- 100 g black-eyed peas or 240g canned black-eyed peas
- 70 g curry paste
- 200 ml tomato passata
- 250 ml coconut milk
- 1 scotch bonnet pepper de-seeded
- 1 tbsp natural yoghurt
- 2 tsp fish sauce
- 1 tbsp cane sugar
- 0.5 vegetable stock cube
- Make the curry paste
- Lightly rinse the beans, and add them to a pot of cold water. Bring to boil and let it cook for 40 - 45 minutes until the beans are soft. DO NOT ADD SALT. Drain and set aside.
- Prepare the marinade for the beef while the beans are cooking. Mix soy sauce, garlic and paprika, and pour over the beef. Mix properly using fingers and allow meat the marinade for 10 minutes in the refrigerator.
- Heat 1 teaspoon of olive oil and fry the beef for 5 - 7 minutes in total, turning frequently to avoid burning or sticking to the pan. Remove from pan and set aside.
- Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the pan and when hot, fry the curry paste for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add coconut milk, tomato passata and half a stock cube. Reduce the heat to low/medium and simmer covered for 20 - 25 minutes. Add the brown sugar, fish sauce and natural yoghurt. Stir in properly. Then add the chickpeas and black-eyed beans and beef to the pan. Allow to simmer for 10 minutes.
Make the curry paste following the CURRY PASTE RECIPE or VIDEO instructions
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