This curried vegetarian black-eyed peas recipe is an easy to prepare, lightly-spiced mild coconut curry that’s great for people who want a creamy curry without the hot spice usually found in Indian curries. Black-eyed peas are a quick cooking bean which means that you can have this dish on the table in less than an hour when cooking the beans from dry, or in about 20 minutes when using canned beans.
My love of hot and spicy foods is certainly no secret. I love, love, love spicy Thai coconut curries like this vegetable green curry and this vegan red curry, and I pretty much can’t eat fries without Tabasco sauce anymore.
But I’m not always in the mood to sweat it out at the dinner table, especially in the stiflingly humid Spanish summertime, and not everyone shares my love of spice.
So this curried vegetarian black-eyed peas recipe is for you, mild curry lovers! The coconut milk not only makes this curry super creamy, it also tones down the heat of the chili powder and compliments the mix of warming spices well.
The other great thing about this recipe is that you should be able to find all the spices and ingredients you need at your local supermarket. Nothing too exotic here.
Black-eyed peas are a great bean to cook up during the week or any day you’re short on time. I learned recently that contrary to popular belief they don’t need to be pre-soaked and can be cooked from dry much faster than other bean varieties.
I’ve used them before to make this amazing smoky Cajun-style black-eyed peas recipe (it’s really seriously smoky and flavourful!) and I love their earthy flavour that’s so different from other beans. Of course if you don’t have black-eyed peas you can use this coconut curry sauce recipe with any other kind of bean and it will be equally delicious! This curried vegetarian black-eyed peas recipe is an easy to prepare, lightly-spiced mild coconut curry that’s great for people who want a creamy curry without the hot spice usually found in Indian curries As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Curried Vegetarian Black-Eyed Peas Recipe
Ingredients
Instructions
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 4
Amount Per Serving:
Calories: 336Total Fat: 17gSaturated Fat: 11gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 215mgCarbohydrates: 38gFiber: 8gSugar: 7gProtein: 13g
Note: Packaged garam malasa mixes are often too spicy and full of cheap fillers rather than fragrant spices. I make my own garam masala, which is really easy and good to have on hand in your spice rack. I don’t put any chili powder in my garam masala so if yours has chili, your dish will be spicier than mine.
Karen White says
I share your love of hot and spicy food but this sounds equally yummy. Another one to try very soon.
Melissa says
Please do, this recipe is spectacular (if I do say so myself :P)!
chitra says
Tried this. It was amazing. Thanks!
Becky says
Any recommendations for vegetable side dishes that pair well with this curry?
Melissa says
This curry is so flavourful it's great with any steamed veggie of your choice. If you want more of an Indian vibe, try these spiced potatoes and zucchini.
Becky says
Thanks! I took inspiration from another one of your recipes and threw a bunch of chopped chard in with this one. It turned out quite well. Great recipe!
Anna says
Hi! What tomatoes did you use? Fresh or canned?
Melissa says
Fresh
Jacqueline says
Scrumptious! I used cardamom seeds as I didn't have cumin seeds and it still tasted delicious - non veggie husband loved it too! Best wishes from New Zealand
Jane says
Made this ! But instead mixed black beans, black eyes peas, and lentils up to the 2 &1/2 cups, with also some snow peas ! Was delicious !
Theresa says
I made this exactly as written and it was delicious. I love how the cumin seeds add another complexity of cumin flavor.
Melissa says
Just made this for New Year’s and it was great! I served it with sweet potatoes. Thank you!
sf says
I made this last night and it was spectacular... even though I got confused and this American used American chili powder,
which is a mix (not chile powder). From the comments, I see I should have used cayenne, hot paprika or maybe Kashmiri chile powder, but I thought it was delicious anyway! I'll make a note to use a hot chile powder on my copy of the recipe, because I'm definitely going to make this again. BTW: I added a handful of spinach to mine. Yum!
Karen Babyak says
This was sooo good. I made lettuce wraps with it because I made mine in the rice cooker so I couldn’t make rice. Umm, both of those decisions were perfect. Sooo good as a wrap!
Danielle says
Thank you for this recipe, it is so delicious! I added pumpkin, sweet potato, carrots that I bakes with some of the spices first and then some spinach at the end. I will definitely make this again 🙂
April says
Hi ,
What type of coconut milk did you use? regular unsweetened carton milk or canned coconut milk? Also, if canned, did you use lite or regular?
Melissa says
Regular canned coconut milk, not lite.
Lynn says
Hi, If I’m using fresh plum tomatoes (roughly a half cup each cut up), how many would I need? I made this recipe a few months ago and because winter tomatoes are tasteless at best, I ended up using canned diced tomatoes and it was absolutely delicious. Making this again for the family and will be doubling the recipe and will definitely be using fresh tomatoes.
Jessica says
Lynn, did you use just 1 can of diced tomatoes? This recipe sounds good and I have a bunch of black eyed peas (a bean I've never used before) and plenty of canned diced tomatoes
Lisa says
Hi - I just made this tonight and I used diced canned tomatoes with no additional salt added. I drained them and then put them in. They didn't cook down entirely as I would have liked, but the dish still tasted amazing.
I have a question when useing fresh tomatoes - my gut thinks you would want to either roast them or blanch them to remove the skins?
Ginger says
This recipe was a little bit more than wonderful!
I left out the coconut milk because I didn’t have it on hand and served it over rotini pasta. It tasted just like a chili recipe. I will continue to have this recipe often.
Thank you.
Rebone says
I love this recipe. I have made it quite a couple of times, which is rare for recipes I find online. I'm in fact, about to make it again. So just want to thank you for sharing this. 🙂
Leigh Anna G. says
This is a wonderful recipe, so grateful I stumbled on it- thank you for sharing!
Zaza says
I made this a few times now, and we love it. Always come back to this curry because it's simple but flavourful. Soul food 🙂
zak says
Hi what is an alternative to use instead of coconut milk? Thanks!
Janine Latus says
I don't see tomatoes on the ingredients list. What kind and what volume?
Angela Carrion-Jones says
Hi,
Do you drain the beans before adding them to the curry"
Lisa says
I tried this and loved it; but I would like to know what are the calorie counts? How would I go about trying to figure all of that out?
Melissa says
There are many online nutritional calculators. You can just copy and paste the ingredients in. I don't have a specific one to recommend since I'm not a nutritionist and I cannot assess if they're accurate or not.
Cheryl says
Made this last night for lunches this week. No Garam Masala and didn’t want to make so used some curry powder. Yum. Now I have another way to make black-eyed peas . Yeah!
Carol says
Just tried this dish and it was delicious! Thank you.
David says
I wish to make your recipe but i'd like to spice it up. What addition do you suggest to accomplish a warmer version of the recipe?
Rebone says
I've tried this with coconut milk and when I didn't have that, with cow's milk. Although it's tastier and more fragrant with coconut milk, it works well with either. I hardly ever have fresh coriander but it works well without it. I also add a bit of chutney for subtle sweetness. Great served with brown basmati rice, and even better served with mashed potato. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Bonnie says
Made these tonight—delicious! I was out of cumin and I used canned tomatoes, but followed everything else to a T. Even my daughter who is not a big fan of coconut curries gave me a compliment! Can’t wait to eat leftovers for lunch tomorrow.