Lucky Curried Cabbage and Black-eyed Peas

Ingredients:
1/2 head of cabbage, shredded
1 cup black-eyed peas (frozen or canned)
1 small onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 inch piece of ginger, peeled
1 small chili pepper, dried or fresh
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons shredded coconut
2 teaspoons of dried split mung daal*
1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 teaspoon Asafoetida powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup water

Directions:
Puree onion, garlic, chili pepper, and ginger in a food processor**. In a large pan with a lid, saute mustard seeds, mung daal, cumin seeds, and asofotida in oil for 5-10 minutes until mustard seeds start to pop. Carefully add the onion mixture to the pan. Cook for 10-15 minutes or until the onion is golden and has a pleasant aroma. Add cabbage and stir to coat. Cover and cook for 15 minutes on high. Add water, coconut, salt, garam masala, turmeric and black-eyed peas. Bring to a boil then cover and cook on low heat for 30 minutes or until tender.
Serving suggestion: serve with white rice.

*available at an Indian grocery.
**Or chop them very finely by hand.

My thoughts:
Black-eyed peas are said to be lucky if eaten on the first of a new year. Rather than make the more traditional hoppin’ john, my Indian food loving husband came up with this curry. It is really, really good-the cabbage takes on an almost creamy texture and flavor and the beans make it hardy enough for a main dish. We were lucky enough to find frozen black-eyed peas, but I bet canned would work just as well.

9 Comments

  1. That looks fab and so yummy!!! Wish I had some right now 🙂

  2. my mom always makes hoppin’ john for new year’s, this looks like an interesting alternative

  3. Yum, this looks really good. Love the combo of cabbage and coconut.

  4. I’ve seen this all over the place… looks like we are going to have a lot of lucky and rich food blogging friends this year!
    This looks like a great variation…

  5. I’ve become a big fan o’ cabbage lately as I’ve seen so many better uses than just some summer slaw!

  6. Cool! I did black-eyed peas in hoppin’ john for new year’s. I love your creativity with this new year’s tradition.

  7. Mmmmmm…that sounds so freakin good!

  8. Lisa Fain (Homesick Texan)

    What a terrific recipe. I made chana masala with black-eyed peas (instead of garbanzos) a few weeks ago and this reminds me of that. Indian spices mesh so well with the black eyeds, no?

  9. this looks FANTASTIC. I can’t wait to try it. I {heart} cabbages…