Lobia Curry Kerala Recipe: A Kerala Style Lobia or Black Eyed Beans Recipe

I had some Lobia or Rongi as they are known in Punjabi left with me. After making the spicy Punjabi Masala Lobia Curry, this time I decided to make a Kerala Styled South Indian Lobia Curry.

This recipe is of my dad and he usually makes this recipe with mutton or chicken. I took the same ingredients and made it with black eyed beans. It was great.

Long before I became a vegetarian, I have tasted this recipe with chicken in it, both made by him and also in the Kerala restaurants in Mumbai. I have an aversion for eating any kind of meat since my childhood and I would be fed meat forcefully by my mother. I absolutely hated it.

Even later when I had given up eating meat, I just used to take the gravy or curry……. only to please my mother. Later as time passed by…….. my mom started to make separate dal or veggie dishes for me.

My dad is a great cook. His recipes turn out better than my mom. He would make this recipe with so much of gusto for all of us……. that it would be difficult for me to say no to him. Just to keep him happy, I would taste the gravy without eating the mutton and chicken. And I followed this trend for many years…….as my mom would sometimes argue with me for not eating meat.

Finally, they had to give up as I was very persistent. Luckily for me my husband and in-laws are vegetarians.

First….. as a kid I gave up mutton……. I just could not eat it. Then in college, I gave up chicken…….. Later, I stopped eating fish and sea food. I will give up eggs also soon………. and I am slowly slowly trying to become a vegan.

People in my office would mock me for being a vegetarian. But I am very stubborn……… and if I think of something very strongly………. i do it and do not get affected by people’s judgements, attitudes or reactions.

I do not know what this recipe is called in Malayalam. My mom makes this recipe for making fish too. Only in the fish curry, she would add tamarind paste.

Ingredients to make the Kerala Styled Lobia Curry for 3 servings:

For the gravy (pic is above):

• 1 onion chopped or sliced
• 2 tomatoes chopped
• 10-12  fresh coconut slices ( i used dry coconut slices…… that to 2 slices as I do not like the coconut slices popping in my mouth. Just to give a little flavor, i added 2 slices. )
• 10-12 curry leaves
• 1 inch ginger finely chopped
• 5-6 garlic flakes finely chopped
• 1 green chili chopped
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tsp cumin seeds

The ingredients that bring out the flavors in this recipe: (pic is above)

• 1 dried red chilli
• half inch piece of cinnamon
• 4 peppercorns
• 1 small cardamom
• 2 cloves
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 2 tsp coriander powder
• 1/2 tsp red chili powder
• asafoetida (optional)
• 2 tbsp coconut oil
• salt as per taste

And finally the main ingredient:

• 3/4 cup black eyed beans or lobia, presoaked for 4 hours or overnight and then boiled with 3 cups of water with 1 tsp of salt till soft and well cooked. You could cook the lobia or chawli/chavli in a pressure cooker as its quicker and saves time. Reserve the water of the cooked lobia as we will be including it in our curry.

Making the Lobia Curry Kerala Style:

• In a kadhai, heat the coconut oil. When the oil becomes hot and you get the beautiful aroma of coconut coming from the oil, then add the mustard seeds.
• When they pop, add the cinnamon, cardamom, peppercorns, cloves. Fry for a few seconds. Now add the cumin seeds. Fry for a few seconds again. May be 5-6 seconds. Also add the coconut slices. Fry for  1 minute. Add the red chilli. All the frying of the spices should be done on a low flame.
• Alternatively, instead of adding the coconut slices, you could also fry them separately in oil till they become brown and crisp and garnish the dish with these fried coconut slices.
• Now add the onions. Fry till the onions become transparent. Add the ginger, garlic, green chili and curry leaves. Fry for a couple of  minutes.

• Now add the tomatoes. Fry the tomatoes till they become pulpy. Add the asafoetida.
• When frying the tomatoes, you could add a 1 or 2 tbsp of the beans broth if the frying mixture dries up.

• I actually wanted a smooth paste of the tomatoes. My dad just cooks the tomatoes till they become soft and then adds water.
• Once the tomatoes mixture is smooth and the mixture starts to release oil, then add 1 and half cup broth or water. I added more broth as my hubby likes too much of watery gravy and also this would make the recipe less spicy. He does not like spicy food…… so just to reduce the spiciness, i added 3 cups of water. Add the beans and season with salt.

• Make sure you add the required amount of salt. We have added the beans broth also to the curry and the broth also had salt in it.
• Simmer for 5 mins or till you want the desired amount of gravy.
• Serve with boiled rice and pappadums.