Michigan is warming up, kinda. Well, we seem to have one day that feels almost like Summer, then the next a bit of frost. Tony says Mother Nature got April and May mixed up this year. I agree. Things are moving along around here. Tony is starting work on a documentary project. He has been working with Mark Ostach on preserving your mental health in this digital world. I wish I could let my phone go during the day, however, my job doesn’t allow me to do that. For the same reasons that doctors, EMS, firefighters, police officer and other emergency personnel cannot leave their phones alone. I don’t have a problem with leaving my phone alone. I would if it were possible. The house is coming along too. Tiles are up in the showers and working towards painting the walls.

This week I wanted to make an Indian recipe, mostly because I found a bunch of Indian recipes and I wanted to try one. I am starting with Yellow Peas Instant Pot Curry Chili – Pattani Kozhumbu from Cookilitious. I chose this recipe because it uses an instant pot and it uses some of the beans I have stored for these types of recipes. This recipe uses vatana, which are whole yellow peas. These can be purchased online or at an ethnic grocery store. It’s also a very simple recipe, with most of the ingredient being available at your local grocery store.

Here are the original stats:

Here’s what I changed:

• I replaced the tomatoes with red bell pepper, pumpkin puree, tamarind and umeboshi paste to increase the vitamin A and C.
• I increased the servings from 5 to 9 to reduce the calories.
• I added rice to bulk out the dish.
• I added a carrot to increase the vitamin A.

Here are the final stats:

Here is the final recipe:

Yellow Peas Instant Pot Curry Chili – Pattani Kozhumbu

Serves 9

• 2 cups dried yellow peas (white vatana)
• 1 tsp oil
• 1 onion finely chopped
• 2-3 green chilies or jalapenos
• 2 tbsp cilantro chopped
• 1/2 tbsp paprika
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/2 tbsp cumin powder
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 tbsp garam masala
• 4-5 cups water or vegetable stock

White Paste

• 1/2 cup dried coconut
• 1 tbsp fennel seeds
• 1 tbsp Daliya/Split Roasted Chickpeas (pottu kadalai)

Red Paste

• 3 red bell peppers, chopped
• 1 15oz can of pure pumpkin puree
• 1 tsp umeboshi paste
• 1 tsp tamarind paste
• 2 cloves
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 cardamon
• 2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste

To make the white paste

To make the red paste

• Grind in a food processer bell pepper, pumpkin puree, umeboshi and tamarind paste, ginger, garlic, cloves, cinnamon, and cardamom along with little water.
• Set aside