Malvani Black Peas (Kala Vatana) Curry.

"Malvani Black Peas (Kala Vatana) Curry" ... a very spicy delicious curry that tastes awesome served with simple flavored rice/ Mumbai pav/ roti/ parathas/ panpolo ... Yummilicious ...

** Here is a delicious dish I prepared using black peas/ kala vatana on my own mix and match combinations of ingredients. This is one of my hubby’s favorite curry and he loves to have it with Pav/ Mumbai bread which is easily and cheaply available in every nook and corner of the city. Everybody worldwide who is a foodie knows about pav and the famous combos are pav bhaji, missal pav, usal pav etc. The dish tastes delicious when prepared very spicy and somehow loses on tastes if not prepared so though you may cut down on spice level if you have intolerance to spicy food.

** Again, the malvani masala I used is store bought and not homemade. Here I must mention that we get good masala powders in stores and I find it unnecessary exercise to prepare them at home when our consumption of the same is very less. Being a Konkani, I am more into our own traditional foods though we love anything prepared tastily. Garam Masala dishes are prepared occasionally hence, I prefer buying small stocks of freshly prepared powders from stores which retains both quality and aroma when done so. You may use any that is available in your vicinity or these days almost everything is available online.

** Here is my own recipe of "Malvani Black Peas (Kala Vatana) Curry" …. My Style …

** Wash and soak 2 cups of black peas/ kala vatana overnight or for 8 hours. Wash well once again and then add in pressure cooker along with water about an inch above the level of peas and pressure cook on medium heat to 5 whistles.

** If the pressure is too much, then you can keep the heat on low level allow it to cook on low and then raise the heat to medium and take 5-7 whistles too. When the pressure falls down, open the lid, check out if the peas are cooked if not take another few whistles.

** Note : black peas/ kala vatana does not cook fast or easily so soaking is a must and pressure cooking it to more whistles too. So, you need time to prepare this one.

** To be ground : Peel out the skin of one large onion (piyavu/ kanda), 8-10 garlic (losun/ lehesun) and an inch of ginger (adrak/ alle'). Cut them into pieces and put it in mixer grinder and grind to a fine paste without adding water. Remove and keep it aside ready.

** Heat a thick bottomed kadai, when hot add in 1 cup of khopra/ khobre/ dry coconut and roast on medium heat till the color changes slightly remove from fire add in 1 cup of freshly grated coconut, mix well, fry for 2 minutes, remove and keep it aside ready.

** Add 1 tblsp oil/ tel in the same above kadai, when hot, lower the heat and add 1 tsp of cus cus and fry for a minute, then add in 1 tsp of jeera (cumin) powder, 2 tsp of dhania (coriander/ kothimbir) powder, ½ tsp of fennel (badishep/saunf) powder, 1 tsp of goda masala or garam masala, 1 tsp of red kashmiri chilly powder and fry for few seconds.

** To this add the prepared and kept aside coconut mixture and then fry them all together for a minute or two and remove from fire. Add this into mixer grinder along with a small lemon sized ball tamarind and grind to a smooth paste with little bit of water. The masala should be ground thick but fine. When done, remove and keep this ready aside.

** Heat 3-4 tblsp of oil/ tel and 1 tblsp of toop/ ghee in a thick bottomed kadai, when hot add just a pinch of mustard seeds (rai/ sasam) which is optional and when it just splutters add in one finely chopped onion (piyavu/ kanda) and fry till translucent. Now add in 8-10 fresh curry leaves (kadipatta/ karbevu) and fry for another minute or so.

** To the above when fried add in the prepared and kept ginger garlic onion paste and further fry till the rawness goes and the color changes slightly on low to medium heat. Be careful, it may get stuck to bottom, to avoid getting burnt add in ½ tsp of salt/ namak/ meeta this helps in releasing the water in onion and helps in frying well, this trick I learnt watching Sanjeev Kapoor the famous chef’s TV shows 3 decades back and trust me it works.

** Add 3-4 tblsp of malvani masala powder (I used ready made) and fry for a minute and then add in the ground masala, mix well and further fry on medium to low heat, stirring often till well fried, say about 5 minutes. The frying steps are always necessary and the very reason for bringing out the taste in dishes. If you find it sticking to the vessel you can add in some oil, you can use a non stick pan for cooking if you want to cut down oil.

** When the masala is done well, it will give out a wonderful aroma, at that time add in the cooked black peas along with the water in which it is cooked, if any and another 2 cups of hot water, salt (namak/ meeta) to taste, mix well and bring to a rolling boil on medium heat. Be careful with addition of salt as we had already added some at various stages, otherwise it may turn out salty in taste towards the end. 

** Once the curry boils well, lower the heat to minimum and let it simmer for 10-12 minutes. Keep stirring in between to avoid it being burnt and add in extra water if needed using your judgment. The curry turns out into a lovely reddish tinge as it simmers giving out a splendid aroma. Remember to simmer the curry well and not take short cuts, the malvani masala added to the curry needs to be cooked well for the curry to attain the taste well.

** Now add in one half a cup of cleaned, washed and finely chopped coriander leaves (kothambari pallo/ dhania) and mix well. Once again cover the curry and cook for another 5 minutes on minimum heat, mixing well in between. Lastly add in 2 tblsp of homemade loni/ butter on top of the curry (Optional), remove from fire, cover with tight lid and let it rest for 15-20 minutes for the flavors to seep in well before you serve it to your family or guests.

** Note : For all of those who follow my blog must have come across the addition of butter/ loni in most of my spicy based garam masala curries. This step may be skipped if not desired or ghee replaced in place of butter too. I have been doing so for over 3 decades now and it has never harmed us, I find that the addition of butter at this step enhances the flavor, texture, glaze and taste of the curry and it is just simply awesome, do check it out yourself.

** "Malvani Black Peas (Kala Vatana) Curry" is done and ready to be served. Check out the thickness of the curry just before serving and if you find that the curry is thick, as this curry is slightly thinner based like missal/ usal, you may add in hot boiling water if necessary to bring to desired consistency. This curry tastes best served with Pav/ Mumbai Bread and we love to have it that way as my hubby insists he be served with pav only like a true mumbaikar and will not touch any other dishes when served.

** But then in our Konkani Saraswat Community, rice is a must and somehow it always rules over everything else, so I am slightly habituated to having a little bit of the same which if not done, I somehow do not feel satisfied. So I prepared just a little bit of jeera rice and insist everybody eat a little bit of the same to get lunch satisfaction, though if served for dinner, I skip rice out. You may prepare the same and serve too or you can serve with roti/ parathas or panpolo too, all of which tastes wonderful with this spicy curry.