Black Peas Curry

Kalya Vatanyachi Amti in Marathi

Ingredients:
1 cup dried Black peas (Kala Vatana)
Onion-Coconut Paste: 1/4 cup fresh coconut, (scraped), 1/2 cup Onion, sliced lengthwise, 1 tbsp Oil
For Tempering
2 tbsp Oil, 1/4 tsp Mustard seeds, 1/2 tsp Cumin Seeds, 1/8 tsp Asafoetida, 1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder, 1 tsp Red chili Powder, 4 Curry leaves
1/2 cup Onion, finely chopped
1 tsp Coriander Powder
1 tsp Cumin Powder
3 Kokum
1 tsp Jaggery
1 tbsp Goda Masala
salt to taste

Method:
1) Soak dry Vatana in warm water for 8 to 10 hours. They get swollen after 8 hours. Drain and remove water completely. Transfer drained Peas to a clean cotton cloth place in the center. Hold all the edges together, twist and tie tightly. Place it to warm place for atleast 10 to 12 hours for sprouting.
2) Heat a nonstick pan. Add 1 tbsp Oil. Add Onion (thinly sliced), saute till translucent. Add scraped Coconut (Note). saute for a minute and turn off heat. Let this mixture cool down and grind to fine paste.
3) In a small pressure cooker (Note), heat 2 tbsp oil. temper with Mustard Seeds, Cumin Seeds, Asafoetida powder, Turmeric Powder, red chili powder and Curry leaves. Now add sprouted black Peas and saute for a minute. Add cumin and coriander powder, add enough water to pressure cook (approx 1 to 1 1/2 cup). Add salt to taste, Goda Masala, and Kokum. Give a nice stir and close pressure cooker with lid. Pressure cook peas curry to 5-7 whistles or till peas get cooked nice and tender.
4) Let the pressure cooker cools down. Open the lid. Turn the heat on. Once the curry starts boiling, add coconut-onion paste, little jaggery. Stir nicely. Also add little water, if needed, to adjust the consistency. Taste the curry and add salt or chili powder to your taste.
Serve Black peas curry with steamy white rice.

Note:
1) If you are using grated 'dry' coconut, saute coconut first in Oil till brown and then saute Onion.
2) Some people don't like to pressure cook curry, after tempering and adding spices. In that case, pressure cook only soaked peas with little salt and water until soft and tender. And then in a deep pan proceed with tempering (step 3), add cooked Peas, coconut-onion paste and other dry ingredients. Boil for few minutes to get nice aromatic flavor.

Labels:
Kala Vatana Amati, Vatanyachi Amti, Maharashtrian Amti, Kalya vatanyache sambhar