Recipe to share: Curried Black-Eyed Peas with Eggplant

[KathrynY]

Let me preface this review by saying that neither black-eyed peas nor eggplant are anywhere near the top of my list of favorite veggies :rolleyes:. It’s been years since either of us has even tried either one! However, DH is doing the cooking on nights when I have school, and we agreed that the cook gets to choose his/her menu. Loving all things curry, this was his choice this week.

The black-eyed peas give this dish a wonderfully smoky flavor, and the rich spicy gravy kept the peas from being too overpowering. The eggplant virtually dissolved in the cooking process so if you have eggplant texture issues, please do give this a try.

We served it over some leftover Garlicky Brown Rice, and it made a very satisfying vegetarian main dish (although I would say closer to 4 main-dish servings instead of the 6 suggested). This recipe really surprised us – very rich and flavorful. Hope you enjoy it! :)

Curried Black-Eyed Peas with Eggplant
from The Curry Book by Nancie McDermott

Serves 6

1 medium eggplant (about 1 pound)
1 medium onion
¼ cup vegetable oil (*we reduced to 3 Tbsp.)
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
2 tablespoons mild Indian-style curry paste or 1 tablespoon red curry paste (*we used Thai red curry paste)
1 teaspoon garam masala, divided
¼ cup dry red wine
1 can (15 ounce) black-eyed peas, rinsed and drained
1 cup canned diced tomatoes, including juice
1 cup vegetable broth

Prepare the eggplant by trimming and discarding the ends and quartering it length-wise. Cut each piece crosswise into ¼-inch slices and set aside. Halve the onion lengthwise, slice lengthwise into thin strips and set aside.

In a large, heavy saucepan or Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium-high heat for 1 minute. Add the eggplant and cook, tossing, for 1 to 2 minutes to coat it evenly with the oil. Sprinkle with the salt and cook 10 minutes, stirring often, until the eggplant is soft. Reduce the heat to medium, add the onion, garlic, curry paste and ½ teaspoon garam masala and stir well. Cook 10 minutes, stirring often, until the onion is shiny, fragrant and tender.

Increase the heat to medium-high, add the wine and simmer, stirring often, until the mixture softens into a thick stew, about 5 minutes. Add the black-eyed peas, tomatoes and broth and bring to a gentle boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the black-eyed peas are heated through and the liquid is reduced.

Remove from the heat, transfer to a serving dish and sprinkle with the remaining ½ teaspoon garam masala. Let it stand a few minutes and serve hot or warm.

[valchemist]

this sounds good (even though I have never tried black eyed peas). thanks for sharing. I hope someone bumps this thread up later because I don't have time to copy it into my mastercook now. :)

thanks for sharing!

[aggie94]

Thanks for sharing this recipe, Kathryn - it looks great! I've printed it out and am planning to add it to next week's menu. :)

[valchemist]

Ok, I copied it! Thanks again for the recipe. :)

[lisas3575]

Thought I'd add my thumbs-up. I wasn't overly fond of it the night I made it, but the leftovers really grew on me. Not sure if it needed time to marry the flavors, if I just wasn't in the mood for it the first night or if I needed time to get used to it.

I found it really tomato-y that first night but in the end it didn't bother me. I served it over basmati rice.

I also bought some garam masala, and it made my house smell soooooo good while it was cooking. :)

[MiMo]

I love black-eyed peas, but I'm not so sure about the eggplant. I know I've eaten eggplant before, but I don't remember what the texture is like after it is cooked. Another (dumb) question...do you cut the outside "skin" off of the eggplant or do you keep it on? Heck, I don't even know if you can "skin" an eggplant. LOL. Anyway, I really want to try this, but before I do, please fill me in on what the eggplant does for this dish and what the texture was like after it was cooked (chewy, mushy, etc.). Thanks!

[lisas3575]

It's hard to describe eggplant. It's not like anything else really. It's not firm cooked, but I'm not sure I'd call it mushy.... maybe like mushrooms get. Soft but stays in one piece.

I prefer eggplant skinned (the skin can be kind of tough), and I just use my vegetable peeler. It's really easy to peel.

[MiMo]

Thanks, Lisa!!! :D

[gaja]

I made this recipe last night and it was fabulous and so easy! I had some small organic eggplants, so I decided to leave the skin on. Thank you for posting this, Kathryn!
Gaja :)

[valchemist]

Gotta add my glowing review on this recipe. It has been on my list to try for almost a year! What took me so long?? This is restaurant quality stuff. And I mean good Indian restaurant quality. I am a big Indian food freak and this recipe really hit the spot.

I doubled the recipe and am glad I did. I am looking forward to the leftovers. When I doubled the recipe, I actually used about a 1 1/2 pound eggplant and one 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes. So it wasn't exactly doubled. I used 2 tbsp of hot red curry paste and that made it very spicy (but not too spicy for me).

I agree with Kathryn's excellent description of the dish -- the eggplant did kind of melt down. but it certainly was there in a good way (I love eggplant). the beans weren't overpowering at all (if anything, I wouldn't have minded a few more beans in there). and "rich, spicy gravy" is a great way to describe the yummy sauce.

Thanks for posting this recipe, Kathryn!!

[aggie94]

Excellent recipe! I had this on my list for almost a year as well, and I finally got around to making it last weekend. My changes: I used a whole can of Muir Glen fire-roasted tomatoes with green chiles, reduced the oil to 3 tbsp, added the entire tsp of garam masala with the onion and garlic, and used Penzey's chicken soup base with water instead of veggie broth. I don't normally find green chiles very hot, but maybe these were particularly spicy, or maybe my Thai red curry paste was extra potent. I used a heaping teaspoon of curry paste, and we found the result VERY spicy, almost too hot to be edible (and I like really spicy food). Still, the flavors were delicious and like Lisa, I liked the leftovers today even better. I served this with basmati rice and sauteed okra.

Thanks, Kathryn!

[KathrynY]

I am so glad you guys are enjoying the recipe! :) I love hearing your changes and side dishes too - gives me ideas for next time.

[wallycat]

I made this too and loved it!
I used the regular powdered curry and added a few crushed red peppers. I also cooked my black-eyed peas from scratch.
Very good.
Thanks again :)

[newcook]

I made the Curried Black-Eyed Peas with Eggplant for supper tonight. Boy was that good! It amazes me when vegetarian recipes are so delicious, this is a definite keeper for me.

Thank you so much for posting that recipe.

Daniele

[biondetta]

I made this the other night and used the red curry paste. Waaaaaay too hot for me. But otherwise I really liked it and can imagine it's even better the next day. I'll definitely make it again, but use regular curry powder instead. I might also throw in some extra black eye peas, because I was expecting more beans before I started to actually make it. I also used chicken broth instead of vegetable broth, just because that's what I had on hand. I wasn't aware of any particular chicken flavor, so I'm not concerned about that switch.

[dlaboriel]

Can't wait to try this one. Black eye peas and eggplant sound like a strange concoction that may connect very well. Thanks for sharing.

[newcook]

Well, I just wanted to add an aside to my earlier post. I made it with Patak's mild curry paste and it was not hot at all.

Two friends were supposed to drop in after supper and we were going to have dessert together. When they came in they both exclaimed <Did you make curry? I love curry. Are there any left-overs?>.

So I prepared more rice, reheated the leftovers and all 3 of us had supper for the second time that night. They thought it was delicious. One of my friends added cayenne pepper because she found the curry too mild.


Daniele

[gaja]

I had to pull up this old thread because I made this recipe again last night and it is just so simple, fast, and delicious. Served it with rice and roasted cauliflower - a perfect dinner for a rainy fall evening :)

[helios7]

I had this on my to try list when it was originally posted. Thanks for the reminder -I'll put this on next week's menu!

:) It sounds awesome. Thanks again for sharing Kathryn... two years ago... !

[veschke]

This sounds really intriguing, so thanks for pulling the thread back up! I have had a can of black eyed peas in my pantry for heaven knows how long with no idea what to do with it. Eggplant is one of our favorite things, but the season is pretty much over up here, so it might have to wait for next summer... still, I'll know where to find it!

[beckms]

I made this yummy recipe last night in the crockpot. I dumped everything in and cooked it on low for about 8 hours. It was easy and good!

[helios7]

I made this tonight. It was surprisingly quick and easy, and I loved how I could prep as I go. So while there was 40 minutes of cooking time, I'd say start to finish the recipe took 45 minutes to prepare. I did slightly overdo the chili paste though - I will tone it back next time, as it was almost too much for us! But a definite repeater - thanks for sharing!

[KathrynY]

Thanks, everyone for your reviews and comments. They are always helpful the next go-round! And I am so glad to hear that others are still enjoying this recipe. :)

beckms, I am really happy to hear that you successfully made this in the crockpot! With a young baby in the house now, we are short on time to prepare our evening meal and I am looking toward crockpot meals in the near future so that we can start to have family dinners.

gaja, that roasted cauliflower sounds great as a side dish! Will have to try it soon..

If only there were a way to add an extra hour or two to the day, we'd be all set! ;) Thanks again for your comments, and please keep 'em coming if anyone else has more to share.

[aggie94]

I am bumping this up again because it's been years since the first time I made this recipe and had forgotten how great it is! I had eggplant, fresh black-eyed peas, and an onion from my CSA this week, and this recipe was perfect. I love the fresh black-eyed peas, even though they were a PITA to shell.

I didn't have any red wine open so I skipped it and just added the whole 15 ounce can of diced tomatoes with juice. I also reduced the oil to 2 tbsp and served with steamed short-grain brown rice. This is a very WW-friendly and filling meal!

[Deechef]

Thanks for bumping this recipe up. I t looks wonderful and I can't wait to try it.

[GoneHiking]

I finally made this recipe as well and LOVED it, despite not being too keen on eggplant usually. I liked that it cooked down past the point of being firm and chewy, but not quite mush either (I left the skin on and it just blends right in, as tender as the rest). I really enjoyed the blend of textures between the eggplant, peas, and onions. Yum.

I used the teaspoon of red curry paste as recommended and that was just the right amount of hot for me, but I like things really spicy and can see how it might be too hot for some.

I used only 2 T. of olive oil but otherwise made it as written. It really hit the spot and was so easy - thanks!

[cherylopal]

I am so glad that you and aggie94 also gave this good reviews and brought it back to our attention- I have leftover black beans and some opened red wine, and a fresh batch of veggie broth. Just figured out what I'll make Monday!

[emily]

I've just made some black-eyed peas and want to make this with them, however, for me all the fractions in the recipe are showing up as question marks. Can some one repost the recipe or tell me what all the fractions are??

TIA,

Emily

[cherylopal]

I've just made some black-eyed peas and want to make this with them, however, for me all the fractions in the recipe are showing up as question marks. Can some one repost the recipe or tell me what all the fractions are??

TIA,

Emily

the three that are showing up as boxes for me and are the only fractions are

1/4 cup veggie oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup dry red wine

[LakeMartinGal]

Spam reported

[emily]

Cheryl - thanks for the measurements! LakeMartinGal, thanks for reporting. I was going to do that too... just as soon as I figured out how!

[cherylopal]

you're welcome :)

[golden1225]

We made this tonight for supper and loved it! DH went back for a secondWbowl. He had it over basmati rice; I had mine plain. We'll definitely make this again! The only change I made is that I cubed the eggplant. :D

[emily]

Funny, in seeing this old thread come back up, my first thought was "oh! I've always wanted to try this one!" And then in reading the posts, it appears that maybe I did and have forgotten about it? :o

I think I'll put it back on the list of "to try" and make it for some friends who I have dinner with on Mondays and our general theme is healthy and yummy!