Black Eyed Peas are a a great addition to any diet. They are high in fiber and are also a great source of potassium. This simple dish is home-cooking, easy to make yet packed with flavor and nutritional value. The slow-cooker recipe makes it a breeze in the kitchen.
Soak Time: 8 hours
Prep Time: 10 min
Cook Time: 6 hours (Slow Cooker)
30 minutes (Stove-top)
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
Dried Black Eyed Peas – 1 cup, washed and soaked overnight
Onion – 1/2 medium
Tomatoes – 2 medium
Garlic – 2 cloves
Ginger – 2″ cube
Oil – 1 tbsp
Green Chillies – to taste
Water – 2 cups
Salt – to taste
Red Chili Powder – to taste
Turmeric Powder – 1/4 tsp
Chaat Masala – 1/2 tsp
Garam Masala – 1tsp
Cumin Powder – 1/2 tsp
Coriander Powder – 1 tsp
Lime or Lemon Juice – to taste
Cilantro – for garnish
Method:
Slow-Cooker Method
1. Drain the water from the Black Eyed Peas and transfer to a slow-cooker.
2. In a blender, grind the following: Onions, Tomatoes, Ginger, Garlic, Green Chili and Oil. Use part of the water if needed.
3. Grind to a smooth paste and add to the slow-cooker.
4. Add in the water and the dry spices: Salt, Turmeric Powder, Cumin Powder, Coriander Powder, Garam Masala, Chaat Masala and Red Chili Powder.
5. Cook on high for 5 hours, covered and then for 1 hour uncovered.
6. Add a squeeze of Lime or Lemon Juice and garnish with Cilantro.
7. Serve hot with Rice or Chapatis.
Method:
Pressure Cooker Method
1. Pressure cook the Black Eyed Peas with Water (3 whistles or 9 minutes after pressure).
2. Take off the flame and allow the pressure to release by itself.
3. In a skillet, heat Oil and add Turmeric Powder.
4. Add in the ground Onions after a minute add in ground Ginger and Garlic. Allow the Onions to get translucent.
5. Add in the Ground Tomatoes and cook down until moisture evaporates and the Oil separates.
6. Add in dry spices: Salt, Turmeric Powder, Cumin Powder, Coriander Powder, Garam Masala, Chaat Masala and Red Chili Powder.
7. Cook for a couple of minutes and mix into the Black Eyed Peas.
8. Mix and bring it to a boil.
9. Adjust seasoning, add Lemon or Lime Juice and garnish with Cilantro.
10. Serve hot with Rice or Chapati.
Hi there it’s me, I am also visiting this web page daily, this website is truly nice and the people are truly sharing good thoughts.
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Hi Hetal and Anuja,
I have come to love your site… I can always trust you to have the recipe bang on. I have already tried several of your recipes and they have always been a hit! Thanks for taking the work out of the recipes for us and thanks for posting them. I wish you great success.
Thank you so much KS!
Hi
I tried the Blackeyed peas on my Slow Cooker and I must
Say, it came out just great I added a little more Hot Chilli.
My Question is, can I make Chana Masala using the same
Recipe?
Please Help.
Bans.
Hi Bans,
Yes, you can use the same method but the cooking time may be longer for soaked chana than soaked black eyed peas because they are larger in size. Also, the spice mixture is a little different. You can see our Chana Maala recipe to adjust the spices.
Thank you so much for this slow cooker recipe. I cook Indian food for my husband and I at least a few times a week because it is so healthy, tasty, and inexpensive. It helps that the nearest grocery store to my house is an Indian market! However, the recipes can be quite time-consuming and make a huge mess of the kitchen. I’m really looking forward to trying this one. I just tossed it in the crock pot in 10 minutes. Amazing! I plan to stir in some spinach and peas at the end to make it a complete meal 🙂
This came out great. The pureed spinach and peas brightened the flavor nicely. I had to skip the cilantro but I’m looking forward to making it that way next time. I’d love to see more slow cooker recipes on your site!
Elyn,
The spinach and peas sounds delicious! Thanks for sharing your variation.
Hi,
Can we sprout black eyed peas for this recipe?
Thanks,
Namagiri
Should we change anything in the recipe? If we sprout
black eyed peas?
Thanks
Namagiri
I tried this today in my 5 quart slow cooker following all measurements. The curry came out really dry. Should I double the water next time? The masalas were cooked well.
Please I would like you to post more vegetarian slow cooker recipes.
Thanks
Namagiri
Hi Namagiri,
It is possible that your slow cooker may be more powerful than ours. You can definitely add more water, but we are not sure if you would need to double it.
Hi Namagiri,
Sprouted beans take considerable less time to cook.
Thanks Hetal
I would like to know if I can use Black Beans with this recipe.
Hi Maria,
You could use black beans but the cooking time may be different. We have not tried them in a crock pot.
Hi Anuja / Hetal
I was looking for a black eye peas receipe and I found your site through google. I want make the recipe but where can i find Turmeric powder, chaat masala, garam masala and coriander powder
Hi Chidimma,
I’m not sure where you live, but here in the US, we can find all these ingredients at our local Indian grocery store. Some items like turmeric, coriander powder, cumin powder, etc is also available at our local American grocery stores as well. Finally, you can find them online if you don’t have Indian grocery stores around.
Hi Anuja / Hetal
I tried making this recipe in the slow cooker with Rajma. The Onion and Tomato paste turned out bitter. Any suggestions?
Thanks
Swetha
Hi Swetha,
Rajma should not be cooked in a slow cooker because they need to be cooked in high heat for a certain time to remove some toxins. Onions sometimes turn bitter if you grind them finely.
Hi Hetal/Anuja,
I loved this slow cooker recipe. Can you please tell me if I can make this same type recipe using GARBANZO BEANS? How long will the cooking time be? How much amount of water would it actually take?
Hi Uma,
You can use garbanzo beans but we have not tried it out to get an exact cooking time. It will take longer though as the beans are much larger.
Hi..this is a great idea. loved to cook deals using slow cooker. But i have a question, the 2 times i tried to cook deal in slow cooker and even for this recipe, the taste is coming to be quite strong. I am using the same about of dry spices (turmeric, powders etc) as I would in a pressure cooker. The final taste is turning out to be a little pungent, strong…thats the best I can describe the taste…Have you noticed something similar? do you reduce the quantity of dry spices when using slow cooker method?
Keep up the good work on this website and thanks of call your recipes.
Hi NewFan,
We have not noticed that before, but its possible that the flavors of the spices get intensified as the cooking process is longer. You can reduce them to your liking.
Hi, I’ve tried several recipes from your site and they’ve all turned out really well. I prepared the black-eyed pea curry this morning and just now took a taste and it is simply wonderful. I love how easy this was to prepare. Thanks so much. Your site has been a wonderful inspiration, especially on days when I simply do not know what to make for dinner.
This was soooooo good!!! I had to stop eating it before I hurt myself. Thank you so much for this website and recipes…..absolutely love it!
Thanks for the feedback Marsha! Glad you enjoyed them.
I tried frying the onions, tomatoes,chilli,ginger and garlic for few min till the raw smell goes away and ground it, but the remaining I followed according to yours. Thanks.
About your recipe, anything said is less. But loved the closure statement regarding garnishing. I mean, seriously, what’d we Indians do without cilantro garnishing on such stuff.
Thanks for a wonderful recipe. Me off to soaking some Black Eyed Peas for tomorrow, as I just love ’em.
Cheers
Bobby
I tried out this recipe last night using Pressure Cooker.. And it came out very well.. Thanks for this wonderful recipe
Hello!
Hope you’re having a great summer with your kids! whenever you have a chance, can you please answer a few questions:
1. Is there a place to post general questions?
2. I may be overlooking it, but could you please post a recipe for toor dal at some point?
3. This is the more complicated question, but I thought I’d ask you since you both seem very heath conscious. In your opinion, is dal healthy enough to eat several times a week? I LOVE to make it, as it’s so easy because you don’t need to keep a lot of fresh stuff on hand. I like fresh stuff, too, but it’s so simple to make dal without going to the grocery store every day. I also like how dal is full of protein and fiber. And my FAVORITE part is the smell of the tadka when the spices hit the oil or ghee. : ) Do you eat dal regularly? I know you aren’t doctors (at least I don’t think you are!), so I’m just asking for your opinion.
Thank you! I love your website and your recipes.
Ann Marie
Hi Ann,
1. No, there is no general place for questions but if you can email us at hetal@34.233.61.50 or anuja@34.233.61.50. We prefer viewers ask questions that are related to the recipe within the post…your question may benefit others as well.
2. We have Varan and Sambar (off the top of my head) that uses toor daal.
3. Daal is very healthy as a part of a balanced meal. My family has a different type of daal everyday but I combine it with some fresh vegetable subzi as well. Another option is to add some vegetables into your daal (eg: mung daal with spinach).
Thank you very much for answering my questions!
Hi Hetal,
I was wondering if you can tell me how you would cook Gujarati Daal in a slow cooker? Would you just add all of the ingredients except the seasoning that you do in the oil to the slow cooker, and then add that seasoning once the toor daal is done? Or how would you do that? About how many hours do you think that it would take? Thanks Hetal! I love the recipes on this website!
Jesse
Hi Jesse,
Yes, your thinking sounds right. Unfortunately, we have never made it so we don’t have the exact timings available. Sorry.
Hi Hetal / Anuja,
Would it be ok if I used the Red Lobia beans for this recipe instead??
Hi Shauna,
We have not tried the red variety but the timings may change. Just to clarify, you cannot use red kidney beans for this recipe.
EXCELLENT!!!! This is a great dish!!! 5 Starts from this lover of Indian food!
Hi, first i want to say how much i have been enjoying your site 🙂
Second, my friend and i are hosting a dinner party for friends later this summer and plan to serve this curry, your Reshmi Kebab along with your Aloo Gobi Masala – Spiced Cauliflower and Potatoes. I am just wondering if you think that these items will pair well together? We are both terribly naive to indian cooking so we are unsure, do you have any other suggestions?
Thanks so much!
Hi AshinMT,
The menu sounds great! We recommend adding a bread like naan and rice (either plain white or something like Jeera Rice) to make a complete meal. Naan can be bought frozen from an Indian grocery store and heated in the oven. Here is the link for the rice: https://34.233.61.50/rice-dishes/jeera-rice.html
Hi Hetal nd Anuja
Thanks a lot for sharing your slow cooker recipe with us. I have read in the internet that sometimes food tend to get spoilt in slow cookers especially when left over night for 8hrs cooking. please let us know your opinion about it coz for working women it will be very helpful.
Does your slow cook get on warm after the cooking time ? It shudnt spoil if that option is there.
Hi Madhumalika,
When slow cooking anything, as long as it is in a constant state of cooking, it should not spoil. It could spoil if you leave it in the slow cooker for a long time after the cooking cycle has finished (as in if it finishes cooking sometime in the night and stays in the slow cooker until morning).
I tried it to cook for 8 hours and still beans were not done. I wasn’t sure to cook further after that as slow cooker was set on high and I felt that must have spoiled food with onions and tomatoes cooking on high for 8 hours. Can you please, tell what went wrong? I use my slow cooker for Urad dal and Moong dal and it works well. I have never tried beans and this was a big failure. My assumption is that you can not cook raw beans with tomatoes. First you need to cook just beans and when it’s done add the whole paste fried a bit on pan for few mins and add it to beans and let it cook for an hour to mix up the failure.
Your recepies always work very well so, I am shocked with the failure. Please, let me know why beans very 80% uncooked after 8 hours.
Hi Beena,
Sorry to hear that. My guess would be that the power on your slow cooker may not be at the same level as ours. Technically, you could have continued cooking the beans. The tomatoes and onions will not spoil. Even when the temp says high, it is a lot lower than a stove.
Is there a way to measure power and find out how much time will be setting up?
Hi Beena,
It may be written on the label or in the instruction booklet. Usually, the larger ones have more power than the smaller ones. We have a 5 qt size.
Beena, Did you add salt earlier by any chance..or anything like tamarind.. ? I guess it has something to do with the sour agent. Tomato may be ?
That’s what I am thinking that adding tomato onion paste to raw beans would not allow to cook. First let beans boils for 5 or 6 hours and later, adding tomato-onion paste slightly sauted with oil and add to precoocked beans. Let slow cooker run for another hours so to add spice and onion-tomatoe flavor. But as this duo ladies has tried and tested I am not able to figure out what went wrong following this recipe. My slow cooker is Hamiltonbeach 4Q.
Beena, That is one similar mystery to me too. For example I remember a similar thread in SMTC when I asked abt cooking dal in cooker with salt. Although many ppl including H&A said they have not had any such issues, neither has that order worked for my mom nor me. I guess we have to go my what works for us and what does not. The same applies to sour agents. It doesnt cook if that is mixed when the dal is being cooked. I add all of it later. i.e after it is cooked.
I made this last night for dinner in the pressure cooker, it was delicious!! I ground the onion and tomato in the onion chopper and put in a little bit of tomamto sauce too. Next time i’l prob add in some cream twds the end! Thanks a ton for the wonderful recipe!
Hey Hetal, Anuja, thanks for this recipe. I make it similarly in the slow cooker. but i just cook the beans with a bit of turmeric n salt in the cooker and then the masalas separately cooked int he oil and then after 5 hours i mix the masalas in the beans and let it mix and cook well with beans again for abt 30 – 45 minutes..
thanks this is easier way to do it..
vaishali
hi the recipes is very nice.. but i have a question that what is the reason of adding oil while grinding the onions & tomatoes?
thank you
A little bit of oil while cooking this dish improves the flavor. We add it while grinding so that all of the tomato/onion mixture gets evenly cooked with the oil. It also helps the grinding process.
Hi,
I had a question; not related to this recipe though 🙁
What is the best way to preserve raw grains and beans? Like, its just two people in our house and a 5lb bag of rice lasts for a few months, I noticed that during the hot months it gets infested with some pests. Do you have some tips to prevent that?
Thanks..Appreciate
Hi Vibha,
Usually, dried beans/daals do not go bad for a long time. Rice and Chapati Flour (the two main things that get infested with bugs) can be kept in ziploc bags in the refrigerator. Also, in India, they sell some type of tablets that can be wrapped in cloth and kept in the container with the daals/rice. It prevents bugs as well.
Try putting it in the slightly heated oven for sometime, cool it and store it. That should help.
I usually put cedar stick in all of dried beans,daals and rice. The smell of cedar keeps pest away. Hope this will help.
Thanks a lot for the tips.. I am going to try the cedar sticks. Just to confirm, its the one you get in walmart/ target for the odor absorption?
Nice video. What a coincidence. I made the same curry yesterday evening and watched your video while having my lunch at work 🙂
I took a little bit short cut. I used the canned peas and canned tomato sauce. I the onions and the rest of the masala on the stovetop and cook the tomatoes for few minutes then added the canned black eyed peas ( I washed them before). Similar to the pressure cooker method.
Hi DV,
Sounds like a great time saving method!
hi Hetal and Anuja,
Doesn’t onion taste bitter if we make paste of it?
This has been an age old mystery to us. We have had onion paste turn bitter once on us. We did notice that if we grind onion together with a tomato, it does not turn bitter. I don’t know if that is the key or not, but it has been working for us.
yes i have noticed that with white onions…white onion paste goes bitter on cooking,, but luckily havnt had any problems with red onion paste so far..may be i should try white onions with tomatoes next time..
Thanks ladies!! I tried it in slow cooker and it came out very well. Can you guys do some more slow cooker recipes. They are very easy to make and it saves lot of time for working moms.
Hello,
What is the brand of slow cooker that you are using? I would like to invest in one.
Hi Divya,
Ours is a Rival 5 QT Programmable model.
Thank you so much Hetal! You guys are sweethearts! 🙂
I had previously asked the same question im asking today..actually i have an automatic slow cooker which doesnt have any high or low settings.can i still cook this dal or any dal in my slow cooker?should i go the same way as u did?
thanks
hoping u reply this time
Hi V,
Sorry, we must have missed your earlier question… Unfortunately, we do not have an exact answer for you. We are not able to experiment with different power levels of the various brands/styles available so it would be trial and error for you. The basic recipe stays the same, of course. You can assume that since there is only one setting, it is probably HIGH, and then you can go from there.
It was perfect viewing here, no problem.I cook this dish totally different , all the same I guess both would taste good.
Thanks for the lovely recipe. My family loves black-eyed peas, and this gives us a great version with lots of flavor. I thought perhaps Kala Channa could also be cooked this way? How much longer would it take to cook,(as I know Kala Channa takes longer). Thanks again, Anuja and Hetal.
Regards,
Judy
Hi Judy,
We have not tried kala chana yet in the slow cooker but you are correct…it will take considerably longer (I would guess a full day of cooking).
Hetal, I tried kala chana. If it is soaked overnight it takes 3 hours on high and 1 hour on low. If not soaked then it is the boiling water method.
Thanks so much Sonia!
Excellent receipe. Thanks a lot!!
Soaking them right now:)
Thanks for the easy recipe. You guys rock, as always.
Please give more recipes for slow cooker. Your recipes are fabulous.
Hi there, you guys always do such an awesome job! Could a slow cooker be used to cook other Indian dishes like Kaali Dal (your healthy version) or Rajma, Chhole, khichdi or even daal…basically all the stuff that calls for a pressure cooker? Do we follow a similar recipe?
Hi RC,
I’ve had fantastic luck cooking all sorts of Indian and Thai curries/stews/soups in my slow cooker; and, interestingly enough, in my rice cooker as well! Just experiment with different recipes (usually the saucier the better; drier recipes tend to overcook and burn) and make sure you taste them for doneness after 2 hours for vegetarian dishes (unless they have beans like this one) and 3 hours for non-vegetarian.
Hope this helped!
hi Tanya! please share your slow cooker recipes. i have had awful luck with the slow cooker. esp the chicken recipes turn out so awful.. very dry.. Hetal/Anuja can you please show more slow cooker recipes.
thanks, Annie
Annie and RC,
Google online for Anupy Singla’s recipes. She has a few of them in a video online, like simple dal, Kaali dal, quite a few lentil recipes and a chicken recipe too. They r pretty nice. Check it out.
Hi RC,
Yes, you can make most daals and saucy things in a slow cooker (you can follow this recipe or change the spices up a bit). Of course, the cooking time will change depending on the bean you are using. The only thing to be careful about is Rajma (Kidney Beans) as they release a toxin if not cooked properly.
Sonia! this is awesome! thanks a lot.. butter chicken in crock pot!!! brilliant… now i can feed my husband who only eats butter chicken, pizza and hamburgers 🙂
Annie, her book is amazing !! u shud check it out !! Send me your email add.. I will send u a short cut to butter chicken..
Sorry everyone who experienced trouble viewing this video. We had some technical difficulties but the video should play fine now. Please try again. Thanks!
could not see the video as it says the video is private.
Hi
This video says it is private, not able to see… waiting to see the recipe 🙂
Me too. Can you fix it?
It says “private video” for me too……..
Me too….:(
says private for me, as well ;(
me too :'(
It is saying private video 🙁
for me it is saying this video is private…:(
HI Hetal and Anuja,
Just to let you know that this video ended abrutly. Not sure about what others saw but atleast it ended as soon as you sqeezed lime and and the voice also disappeared at the end 🙁
Love the idea of using Black-Eyed Peas in the slow cooker!