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    Home » Recipes » Protein Dish

    Instant Pot Indian Black Eyed Peas Curry

    Modified: Mar 20, 2025 Published: May 11, 2021 by Sravanthi Chanda. Leave a Comment

    218 shares
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    5 from 7 votes
    Detailed Steps Jump to Recipe

    Looking for a quick and wholesome meal? Make this Instant Pot Indian Black Eyed Peas Curry with basic staples and enjoy a home-cooked meal even on busy days.

    While you cook this curry in the Instant Pot, make basmati rice in a rice cooker for a simple and satisfying dinner.

    Indian black eyed peas curry in a bowl.

    This black-eyed peas curry is a hearty and flavorful one-pot meal. The pressure cooking method allows the black-eyed peas to soak up warm Indian spices, creating a rich and comforting dish. It’s a simple, satisfying meal that pairs well with rice or roti.

    If you’re short on time and need quick Instant Pot curries, try my Instant Pot Lentil Curry or Instant Pot Adzuki Bean Curry. With the Instant Pot, making wholesome meals becomes effortless, even on busy days.

    Jump to:
    • Detailed Steps
    • Pressure cooker instructions:
    • Serving suggestions:
    • Recipe Notes and variations:
    • Recipe
    • PIN the recipe for later use

    Detailed Steps

    • Soak the dried black-eyed peas for at least 6 hours. You can soak them overnight as well. 
    • Start the Instant pot in saute mode and add oil to it.
    • Once it is hot enough, add bay leaf, cloves, cardamom, chopped ginger.
    • Now add finely chopped onions and cook them till they turn translucent. It will take around 3 to 4 minutes.
    • To these fried onions, add finely chopped tomatoes. You can use canned tomatoes or tomato paste as well. If you are in a hurry, you can finely puree the fresh tomatoes instead of chopping them.
    • Cook the tomatoes for around 5 minutes and add the spice powders - cumin powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder, red chili powder, garam masala powder, and salt. Mix this well.
    • Drain the water from soaked black-eyed peas and wash them in clean water a couple of times. Then, drain the water completely and add these washed peas to the instant pot.
    • Mix it well so that the tomato mixture is coated well with these black-eyed peas.
    • Add water to the Instant pot and deglaze the pan to avoid a burn signal.
    • Cancel the saute mode and close the Instant pot with its lid. Next, seal the vent and select manual or pressure cook mode, and cook it for 8 minutes on HIGH pressure.
    • Once the Instant pot finishes cooking, wait for 10 minutes and do a pressure release carefully. If you have time, you can wait for a natural pressure release.
    • Now start the Instant pot again in saute mode, add chopped spinach leaves, and cook for 3 to 4 minutes. If you are using baby spinach leaves, you can skip cooking again and close the lid for 5 minutes or so. 
    • Indian black-eyed peas curry (lobia masala) is ready to serve!

    Pressure cooker instructions:

    Don't have Instant pot? You can make this black-eyed pea curry using a stovetop pressure cooker as well. All the steps remain the same except the cooking time.

    For a regular pressure cooker, cook it on a medium flame for about 3 to 4 whistles, and perfectly cooked curried black-eyed peas will be ready.

    Serving suggestions:

    • Serve this curry as a side for rice or any Indian flatbread like roti, naan, millet bhakri. 
    • This curry will be a good side dish for dosa (Indian fermented flatbread).
    • To make this a meal for a busy day, add a cup of potatoes, and you can have this as a soup or stew.
    black eyed peas curry along with rice in a bowl.

    Recipe Notes and variations:

    • I used red black-eyed peas in this recipe, but you can use white or red black-eyed peas to make this delicious curry.
    • Don't have spinach? You can use green leafy veggies like amaranth greens, fenugreek leaves, kale, collard greens, moringa leaves. 
    • If using fenugreek leaves, use ½ cup as they will be bitter in taste.
    • As pressure cook time for this recipe is 8 minutes, I’m not adding veggies to avoid overcooked veggies. 
    • Do you want to use canned black-eyed peas to make this curry? In this case, you need not pressure cook it, and simmering everything for 5 to 10 minutes will be good. Or, if you want hands-free cooking, you can pressure cook for 1 minute.
    • If you use pre-cooked black-eyed peas to make this recipe, you can add veggies of your choice like carrot, beans, mushroom, cauliflower, broccoli. 
    • Want to make a dump-and-go recipe? You can use my tomato curry sauce and make it in no time. Add 1 cup of tomato curry sauce, soaked blackeyed peas, water, red chili powder, salt to the Instant pot, and cook it for 8 minutes on high pressure.
    • And instead of tomato curry sauce, you can use the marinara sauce to make this cowpeas curry. It will be a different flavor but very tasty.
    • To make this curry less spicy, you can reduce the chili powder.

    Have you tried this recipe? Provide your feedback by giving a star rating and/or leaving comments. And don't forget to share the recipe with others on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, or Twitter.

    Recipe

    black eyed peas curry in a bowl

    Indian black eyed peas recipe (Easy and vegetarian curry)

    By: Sravanthi Chanda
    Are you looking for quick high protein vegetarian meals? Make this Indian black-eyed peas recipe today and enjoy this along with rice or any flatbread or as a taco filling or as a sandwich filling.

    Rate this recipe by clicking the stars!

    5 from 7 votes
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe
    Prep Time 10 minutes mins
    Cook Time 30 minutes mins
    Course Main Course
    Cuisine Indian
    Servings 4
    Calories 199 kcal

    Equipment

    • Instant Pot
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    Ingredients
      

    • 1 cup black-eyed peas dried
    • 2 cups water
    • 1 cup spinach chopped
    • ¾ cup onions chopped
    • 1 cup tomatoes chopped
    • 1 teaspoon ginger chopped
    • 2 cloves optional
    • 2 cardamom optional
    • 1 bay leaf
    • ½ teaspoon garam masala powder
    • ½ teaspoon red chili powder
    • ½ teaspoon cumin powder
    • ½ teaspoon coriander powder
    • ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
    • 1 tablespoon oil
    • Salt to taste

    Instructions
     

    • Soak the dried black-eyed peas for at least 6 hours. You can soak them overnight as well. 
    • Start the Instant pot in saute mode and add oil to it.
    • Once it is hot enough, add bay leaf, cloves, cardamom, chopped ginger.
    • Now add finely chopped onions and cook them till they turn translucent. It will take around 3 to 4 minutes.
    • To these fried onions, add finely chopped tomatoes. You can use canned tomatoes or tomato paste as well. If you are in a hurry, you can finely puree the fresh tomatoes instead of chopping them.
    • Cook the tomatoes for around 5 minutes and add the spice powders - cumin powder, turmeric powder, coriander seeds powder, red chili powder, garam masala powder, and salt. Mix this well.
    • Drain the water from soaked black-eyed peas and wash them in clean water a couple of times. Drain the water completely and add these washed cowpeas to the instant pot.
    • Mix it well so that the tomato mixture is coated well with these black-eyed peas.
    • Add water to the Instant pot and deglaze the pan to avoid a burn signal.
    • Cancel the saute mode and close the Instant pot with its lid. Seal the vent and select manual or pressure cook mode, and cook it for 8 minutes on HIGH pressure.
    • Once the Instant pot finishes cooking, wait for 10 minutes and do a pressure release carefully.
    • Now start the Instant pot again in saute mode, add chopped spinach leaves, and cook for 3 to 4 minutes. If you are using baby spinach leaves, you can skip cooking again and close the lid for 5 minutes or so. 
    • Indian black-eyed peas curry is ready to serve! Check the post for recipe variations and substitutions.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 199kcalCarbohydrates: 31gProtein: 11gFat: 4gSaturated Fat: 0.5gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0.01gSodium: 27mgPotassium: 668mgFiber: 6gSugar: 5gVitamin A: 1114IUVitamin C: 10mgCalcium: 77mgIron: 4mg
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    black eyed peas curry and rice in a bowl.

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    Sravanthi Chanda author of everydaynourishingfoods

    I'm Sravanthi Chanda and I share Indian lunch and dinner recipes on my blog. These easy-to-follow recipes are made from scratch using fresh ingredients and come with step-by-step photos, perfect for family meals.

    More about me →

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