Black-eyed peas simmered creamy in a roasted onion-tomato masala with a coconut finish, mopped up with pale, puffed jowar bhakri.

Ingredients

From the TrooFoodz pantry

• Sprouted Jowar Flour 2 cups

Fresh

• Lobia (black-eyed peas), soaked 4 hours 1 1/2 cups
• Onions, roughly chopped 2
• Tomatoes, chopped 3
• Fresh coconut, grated 1/4 cup
• Garlic cloves 7
• Ginger, chopped 1 tbsp
• Dried red chillies 3
• Coriander seeds 1 tbsp
• Cumin seeds 1 1/2 tsp
• Turmeric 1/2 tsp
• Goda or garam masala 1 1/2 tsp
• Groundnut oil 4 tbsp
• Salt 1 3/4 tsp
• Warm water 1 1/4 cups (for the dough)
• Coriander leaves, chopped 1/4 cup

Method

1. Dry-roast the masala

   Roast the coriander seeds, half the cumin, dried chillies and grated coconut in a dry pan until the coconut turns nut-brown and smells toasted, then grind fine.

2. Char the onion

   Sear the chopped onion in 2 tbsp oil on high until the edges blacken in patches, then grind with the garlic and ginger. The char is where the smoky depth comes from.

3. Boil the lobia

   Cook the soaked peas with turmeric and salt for three whistles. Black-eyed peas go from firm to collapsed quickly, so stop while they still hold shape.

4. Fry the pastes

   Crackle the remaining cumin in the rest of the oil, add the onion paste and fry six minutes, then the tomatoes, and cook until the mixture is thick and the oil pools at the edges.

5. Add the ground masala

   Stir in the roasted coconut masala and goda masala and fry for two minutes so the coconut oil in the paste releases its aroma.

6. Simmer to creamy

   Add the lobia with its liquor and simmer uncovered 12 minutes, mashing a spoonful against the pot so the gravy thickens naturally.

7. Pat the bhakri

   Bind the Sprouted Jowar Flour with warm water, knead soft, pat 18 cm bhakris by hand and cook on a hot tawa, finishing over a flame until they puff. Scatter coriander over the lobia and serve.

Why this works

Roasted coconut and whole spices ground together give a masala with far more depth than powders stirred into a pan, and charring the onion before grinding adds a smokiness you cannot get from slow browning. Mashing a portion of the peas thickens the gravy with their own starch.

Make it your own

• Lobia → Whole moth beans Smaller and firmer; add five minutes to the boil.
• Fresh coconut → Desiccated coconut Use 3 tbsp and roast gently — it catches fast.
• Goda masala → Garam masala with a pinch of cinnamon Less sweet-spiced, more warming.