Black-eyed beans with mushrooms

Adapted from Madhur Jaffrey

Homemade Indian food, with its bursting colors and rich aroma is a natural way to keep my family warm and comfy during the winter months. It is also a great tool to fight winter depression, which is so common, here in Scandinavia.  

It is a lovely, hearty, comforting food. It taste great eaten with simple basmati rice, naan bread or just alone. This time I’ve served it together with moong dal with browned onion, which is by far my most favorite quick Indian meal (I will post the recipe later). 

Ingredients: (serves  4-6)

225 g black-eyed beans
1.2 liters water
300 g fresh mushrooms
4 tbsp ghee

1 teaspoon whole cumin seeds 

1 teaspoon ground cumin seeds (I like to roast my cumin seeds, which immensely intensify their aroma, than ground them in the mortar, all procedure takes no longer than 2 minutes and I think it’s worth this time)
2 teaspoons ground coriander seeds

1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/4 teaspoon cayenne

2.5 cm cinnamon stick 

1 large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 medium tomatoes, peeled and chopped (you can use canned tomatoes but it taste much better with fresh ones)
2 teaspoons salt 

freshly ground black pepper
3-4 tablespoons chopped cilantro

Method:

1. Put the beans and water in a heavy pot and bring to the boil. Cover, turn heat to low, and simmer gently for 2 minutes. Turn off the heat, and leave covered for an hour.

2. Cut the mushrooms through their stems into 3-4 mm slices. 

3. Put the ghee in a sauté pan or a wok over medium-high heat. When hot, put in the whole cumin and the cinnamon stick. Sizzle for a few seconds. Add the onion and garlic. Stir and fry until the onion pieces starts to brown at the edges. Put in the mushrooms. Stir and fry until they start to wilt.  

4. Now put in tomatoes, ground coriander, ground cumin, turmeric and cayenne. Stir and cook for a minute. Cover, turn heat to low, and let this mixture cook in its own juices for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat.

5. Bring the beans to the boil again. Cover and simmer for about 30 minutes until the beans are tender. 

6. Pour the beans together with the water they've been cooked in into the mushroom mixture. Add salt, pepper and cilantro. Stir and bring to boil. Simmer uncovered on a low heat for another 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove cinnamon stick before serving.