We hadn’t eaten black-eyed peas for a while, so the peas and rice did taste extra delicious. Anni commented how the taste of the black-eyed peas combine the sweetness of chickpeas and the flouryness of regular beans. I think that’s an apt description!

Here’s what I used:

• 2,5 dl dried black-eyed peas
• a piece of kombu
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• about 2 teaspoons of cumin
• about 1,5 teaspoons of coriander
• 2 chipotles in adobo sauce, finely chopped
• 2 dl tomato sauce, passata style
• 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste

About two hours before I started to cook, I quick soaked the peas: I rinsed them, put them in a bowl filled with boiling water, and covered the bowl. (Obviously, they could’ve been soaked overnight too, but since I forgot to do it, I had to quick soak them.) Then, two hours later, I began with boiling the black-eyed peas. I threw soaking water away, put the peas in a kettle over low heat, added the kombu and plenty of boiling water.

While the peas were simmering, I prepared the sauce. First, I put a frying pan over medium high heat, added the onion, and fried it until quite brownish. I kept stirring the onion a lot so that it wouldn’t burn. Then I added the garlic, cumin, coriander and the chipotle, and fried them about half a minute, stirring continuously. I poured the tomato sauce in the pan, stirred, lowered the heat, and waited until the black-eyed peas were done. I drained the peas, removed the kombu, and added the peas into the frying pan. I mixed the sauce and the beans, added the salt, and checked the taste.

This is what we used for the peas:

• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 2 onions, chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1 teaspoon vegetable stock powder
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander seeds
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2 teaspoons tomato purée
• 4 teaspoons chipotle paste (Santa Maria brand, 34% chipotle)
• 11 dl water
• 5 dl dried black-eyed peas
• ½ teaspoon barley starch mixed with ½ dl water
• 1 ½ teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 dl oat cream
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2-3 tablespoons chopped frozen cilantro (coriander leaves)

In the afternoon, Anni poured boiling water over the black-eyed peas, and let them soak for about 3 hours. If you’re not using a pressure cooker, just soak the peas overnight in cold water. Pre-soaking isn’t necessary when cooking with pressure, but it makes the pulses much easier to digest.

We started by chopping the bell pepper and onions, and crushed the garlic. We put the pressure cooker over medium high heat, and heated the olive oil in it. First, we added the onions and garlic, and fried them for a few minutes. Then we added the chopped bell pepper, and continued frying for a couple of minutes more. Now it was time to add the ground coriander, tomato purée and chipotle paste, and fry the mixture for two or three minutes, stirring all the time with a wooden spatula.

Next, we added the oregano, vegetable stock powder, and the water, which we had heated in the water cooker first. Now, we sealed the pressure cooker. We cooked the stew in low pressure for 11 minutes. (Our pressure cooker has only two pressure settings, high, and low – I don’t know if they are all like that.) Now, we lowered the pressure, opened the cooker, and added the salt, sugar, and oat cream, then closed the cooker, and brought the pressure up again, and cooked for 5 more minutes. Once more, it was time to lower the pressure, and open the cooker.

The last step was to thicken the stew by pouring in the barley starch mixed in water, stirring it in, and bringing the stew to boil for a few minutes. Before serving, Anni mixed in the frozen cilantro, and mashed a small portion of the peas with a fork. We ate the black-eyed pea stew with jasmine rice and a side of grated carrot, and squeezed some lime juice on top of the serving.

Since we’re slightly paranoid about not burning the food in the pressure cooker, we used plenty of water in the dish. To get a thicker consistency, one could use slightly less water, maybe 8-9 dl, but taste-wise the proportions were quite balanced: the delicate aroma of the peas was nicely contrasted by the earthy fieriness of the chipotle paste.

We served these cutlets with pan fried potatos and sherry onion sauce – an extremely yummy combination. This recipe makes 16 thin cutlets, which isn’t much at all, but the recipe could easily be halved to avoid leftovers. The list of ingredients is pretty long, but the cutlets only take about half an hour to prepare if everything’s on hand.

Here’s what I did to make the cutlets:

Phase 1:

• 200 g firm tofu
• 3 dl cooked black-eyed peas
• 1 dl water

I mixed these up with a hand held immersion blender until all the peas were mashed.

Phase 2:

• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 3 cloves garlic, pressed
• 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1 teaspoon dried tarragon
• 1 teaspoon dried marjoram
• 1/3 teaspoon smoked Spanish paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon basil
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 dl nutritional yeast
• 1 dl chick pea flour (gram)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Now, I added all of the above to the tofu-bean mixture, and mixed well until combined.

Phase 3:

• 2 dl gluten flour

I added the gluten flour in the mix, and kneaded for 7 minutes, until the dough was pretty stiff and could easily be formed into a big ball. It didn’t get very stringy like gluten does, and was still pretty easy to mold in shapes – unlike doughs that are only made of gluten flour.

Phase 4:

• canola oil for frying

I formed the dough into thin cutlets, about ½ cm thick. Our cutlets were about the size of the palm of Heikki’s hand, and we got 16 of them. Now, we fried them on medium-low heat on both sides until golden brown, which took about 5-7 minutes per side. The pan really shouldn’t get too hot, because then the cutlets will burn before they’re done inside.

Here’s what I used:

• 2 dl cooked black eyed peas
• 2 dl red cabbage, thinly sliced
• 2-3 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon dried dill (or 1 tablespoon fresh)
• 3 tablespoons frozen parsley
• 1 big garlic clove, pressed
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• freshly ground black pepper to taste

I mixed everything in bowl, and then refrigerated the salad for an hour or so to let the tastes develop.

I also drew a tutorial on how to cut cucumbers in triangular shapes.