Lobia recipe or lobia masala - Black eyed peas cooked in punjabi style creamy tomato gravy. This goes perfect with roti or paratha.
Lobia is the Hindi name of black eyed pea or black eyed bean. This bean has prominent black spot hence the name is black eyed pea. It is also known as Chawli in Marathi language and chovli in Gujarati.
This Punjabi style lobia curry has gravy made from tomatoes with few basic spices. At the end touch of butter is added which add rich flavor to the curry. Also heavy cream is added which makes it typical punjabi creamy gravy. Also julienne ginger is added at the end which gives the unique flavor to it, I just loved it.
When it comes to lobia recipe, I always make gujarati style chawali curry which has gravy made from besan. With that I also make gujarati kadhi and plain rice. This is hubby’s favorite meal. But recently I have tried making it Punjabi style lobia masala. We also liked this version as well.
Black eyed peas is one of the beans which does not require overnight soaking. I have soaked them for 1 hour only and then pressure cooked for 15-20 minutes. It was perfectly cooked. You can soak them for longer period of time (e.g. 4-5 hours) then reduce the pressure cooking time accordingly. Adjust the soaking and cooking time as per your convenience of time. Or if you forget to soak them entirely, still you can make this, just pressure cook it for 25-30 minutes.
Check out other beans curry recipes
Amritsari chole // Rajma recipe // Whole green moong
Step By Step Photo Instructions:
1) Wash black eyed peas or lobia under running cold water till water runs clear.
2) Soak them in enough water for 1 hour.
3) After soaking time discard the water. Take lobia in a pressure cooker, add black cardamom, cinnamon stick, cloves and slit green chili. Also add 2 cups of water. Cover with lid, put the weight on. Turn the heat on high.
4) Pressure cook it for 1 whistle on high and then lower the heat to medium and cook for 15 minutes. Then turn off the stove. Let the pressure go down by itself. Then open the lid. It should be soft and not mushy. Discard the whole spices.
5) Heat the ghee in a pan on medium heat. Once hot add dried red chili. Saute for a minute.
6) Then add grated ginger and garlic (or paste). Saute for 30 seconds.
7) Add chopped tomatoes and salt.
8) Saute till tomatoes get soft.
9) Add turmeric powder, red chili powder and coriander powder.
10) Mix well and cook for a minute.
11) Then add cooked lobia with its water.
12) Stir well.
13) Bring to a simmer.
14) Simmer it for 7-8 minutes or till the gravy thickens.
15) Now add butter.
16) Stir well so it gets melted.
17) Then add garam masala and kasoori methi.
18) Mix well.
19) Now add heavy cream.
20) Stir well and simmer for a minute only. Turn off the stove.
21) Add julienned ginger. Cover the pan with lid.
22) Let it sit for 5 minutes. Then open the lid. Lobia masala is ready to serve.
Remove it to a serving bowl and garnish with more ginger. It is optional though.
Serving suggestion: Serve lobia masala curry with roti, paratha or naan. you can serve onion lachcha or kachumber salad and salted lassi or masala chaas on side.
Did you try this punjabi lobia recipe? I’d love to hear about it! Leave a review in the comment section below.
Lobia Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup Black eyed peas (Lobia)
- 2 cups Water
- 2 Black cardamom
- 1 inch Cinnamon stick
- 2 Cloves
- 1 Green chili slit
- 1 tablespoon Ghee (clarified butter) or Oil
- 1 Dried red chilies broken, seeds and stems removed
- 1 ½ teaspoons Ginger paste or freshly grated or crushed
- 1 ½ teaspoons Garlic paste or freshly grated
- 2 medium or 1 ¼ cups Tomato chopped
- Salt to taste
- 1 teaspoon Coriander powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons Red chili powder
- ½ teaspoon Turmeric powder
- 1 tablespoon Butter
- ½ to 1 teaspoon Garam masala
- 1 teaspoon kasoori methi (Dried fenugreek leaves) lightly crushed
- 2 tablespoons Heavy whipping cream or fresh cream or malai
- 1 teaspoon Ginger julienned
Instructions
- Wash black eyed peas or lobia under running cold water till water runs clear.
- Soak them in enough water for 1 hour.
- After soaking time discard the water.
- Take lobia in a pressure cooker, add black cardamom, cinnamon stick, cloves and slit green chili. Also add 2 cups of water.
- Cover with lid, put the weight on. Turn the heat on high.
- Pressure cook it for 1 whistle on high and then lower the heat to medium and cook for 15 minutes. Then turn off the stove.
- Let the pressure go down by itself. Then open the lid. It should be soft and not mushy.
- Heat the ghee in a pan on medium heat.
- Once hot add dried red chili. Saute for a minute.
- Then add grated ginger and garlic. Saute for 30 seconds.
- Add chopped tomatoes and salt. Saute till tomatoes get soft.
- Add turmeric powder, red chili powder and coriander powder. Mix well and cook for a minute.
- Then add cooked lobia with its water. Stir well.
- Bring to a simmer. Simmer it for 7-8 minutes or till the gravy thickens.
- Now add butter. Stir well so it gets melted.
- Then add garam masala and kasoori methi. Mix well.
- Now add heavy cream. Stir well and simmer for a minute only.
- Turn off the stove.
- Add julienned ginger. Cover the pan with lid.
- Let it sit for 5 minutes. Then open the lid. Lobia masala is ready to serve.
Mirandamom
This is so good. Even my husband, who doesn’t love black eyed peas, loved this. On a side note, I didn’t have any heavy cream on hand, so I stirred in about a tablespoon of sour cream and I thought that worked well. Thank you for another recipe I can use without tweaks!
Kanan Patel
Very glad to know that you both liked it.
Good to know that sour cream worked in this recipe.
Janhavi Kalati
Can we omit the cream completely? Or add milk instead ?
Kanan
yes, you can skip the cream.
I would not add milk.