For the peas in coconut curry
Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Cook the mustard seeds in the hot oil until they begin to pop.
Chop the curry leaves, add to the skillet, and carefully mix together. Peel and finely chop the onion, mix well, and sauté for 6–8 minutes until golden brown.
Peel and finely chop the garlic. Then add the garlic, ground cumin, and cayenne pepper. Cook for about 1 minute, until the garlic becomes fragrant.
Shred the fresh coconut (or use shredded dried coconut). Add the coconut, finely chopped tomatoes, and salt. Simmer for 6–7 minutes (reduce), until the tomato is saucy.
You can add a splash of water if the tomatoes begin to stick. Mash any larger tomato pieces.
Add the peas, water, and coconut milk and let cook for 10 minutes.
Seasoning and serving
Season to taste with the salt and spices. Let cook uncovered 8–10 minutes or until the desired consistency is achieved. Serve hot.
You can also season the dish with fresh lemon juice.
Detailed Nutritional Information per Person for this Recipe
The majority of the nutritional information comes from the USDA (US Department of Agriculture). This means that the information for natural products is often incomplete or only given within broader categories, whereas in most cases products made from these have more complete information displayed.
If we take flaxseed, for example, the important essential amino acid ALA (omega-3) is only included in an overarching category whereas for flaxseed oil ALA is listed specifically. In time, we will be able to change this, but it will require a lot of work. An “i” appears behind ingredients that have been adjusted and an explanation appears when you hover over this symbol.
For Erb Muesli, the original calculations resulted in 48 % of the daily requirement of ALA — but with the correction, we see that the muesli actually covers >100 % of the necessary recommendation for the omega-3 fatty acid ALA. Our goal is to eventually be able to compare the nutritional value of our recipes with those that are used in conventional western lifestyles.
This coconut curry dish owes its intensive, typical Indian taste to the curry leaves, ground cumin, and black mustard seed.
Coconut:“South Indian dishes usually use fresh coconut. Fresh coconut can be found in Indian or Asian stores, but requires that you break it open, scrape the innards, and shred it. Fresh coconut in shredded form can be found in the freezer section in an Indian store. Dried coconut flakes work out well in almost all recipes. Cooking them with the liquid makes them moist and soft. Serve the peas by themselves or with yellow dals or curries with greens.” (Richa Hingle)
Curry leaves: The leaves of the curry tree native to Asia are called curry leaves. Curry leaves are used to season many vegetarian dishes, most notably in Sri Lankan and Indian cuisines. The flavor of curry leaves is fresh and slightly fruity to smoky. The thin leaves can be eaten and do not need to be removed from the dish. They are often used in combination with chili powder and black mustard seed for dals or with grated coconut and tamarind. The leaves are usually fried in hot oil before additional ingredients are added. In Ayurveda, traditional Indian medicine, curry leaves are used to help with stomach problems and indigestion and to treat eczema and diabetes. Studies have shown that they can help reduce blood sugar levels.
Cumin: As they have a similar name in many languages (e.g., in German: Kreuzkümmel and Kümmel), cumin and caraway are often confused. However, they actually aren’t closely related and have a very different flavor. Cumin is often used in Indian, Turkish, and Greek cuisine.
Black mustard: Black mustard is grown for both medicinal and culinary purposes. The ripe, dried seeds have an intense flavor and are commonly used in Indian cuisine. They are usually toasted in advance in either ghee or oil until they begin to pop. It is best to then remove them from the heat or cover with a lid so that the seeds don’t pop out of the skillet. Black mustard seeds give the dish a mild spicy flavor that is much different from creamy mustard. As do all cruciferous plants, the mustard seeds contain oil; black mustard, in particular, contains about 30 % oil and a high content of unsaturated fatty acids. The oil in the mustard seeds have an antioxidant effect and prevent a loss of quality in the form of a change in taste. Mustard seeds also stimulate digestion.
Tips
Tip from the author:“Serve the peas by themselves or with yellow dals or curries with greens.”
Alternate preparation
Lemon juice: Fresh lemon juice works well to bring out the flavor of this dish.
Onions and peas: If you don’t have any red onions available, you can also use yellow onions. And you can frozen peas instead of fresh peas,
Salt: The original recipe calls for ¾ tsp salt for a recipe that serves four. We have deliberately reduced the amount. The aim is to keep the salt content as low as possible, without having any loss in flavor. Since the salt needed varies according to taste, it is best to decide for yourself how much to use. For an interesting book on the subject, we would like to recommend you read the book Salt, Sugar, Fat.
