I wanted to start off the new year with a great bean recipe. While eating beans are a superstition that are supposed to bring good luck, I wanted to do them more as a great healthy and comforting start. I also did Hoppin’ John and Black-Eyed Peas with Coconut Milk and Ethiopian Spices for the last two years and are also good dishes as well. It’s good to take a break from all of the treats from the holidays and get back on track. I went a little crazy myself and I want to get back to my healthy eating patterns.

This year I wanted to do another black-eyed pea dish from somewhere in the world. I wanted to choose a dish that you may not have heard of. In this case, I chose a curry because they are easy and delicious. This curry is a black-eyed pea curry called Lobia. I am using a recipe from Veg Recipes of India to start with. This is a flavorful recipe that uses a lot of spices and tomatoes for flavor. It’s missing some vitamin C, A and protein. Those can easily be fixed. Here are the original stats:

Here’s what I changed:

• I deleted the tomatoes and replaced with pumpkin puree.
• I added a red bell pepper and peas to increase the vitamin C.
• I reduced the servings to 6 to increase the protein.
• I will be serving this with brown rice to round out the calories

Here are the final stats:

Here is the final recipe:

Lobia

Serves 6

1. Place the black-eyed peas in a pot with enough water to cover and soak overnight.
2. Drain and rinse the peas and set them aside.
3. Heat the oil in the pot and add all of the spices and cook for 30 seconds.
4. Add in the chopped bell pepper, green chili, and onion and cook until the onion becomes soft.
5. Add in the soaked peas, pumpkin puree and water and bring to a boil.  Reduce to a simmer and cook for 40 minutes or until beans are cooked and the sauce is thick.
6. Add in the frozen peas and stir.
7. Stir in the chopped cilantro.
8. Serve with brown rice.