This Lobia recipe is a spiced, tangy, and delicious Punjabi style curry made with black eyed beans, aromatics and tomatoes. This simple yet flavorful vegan and gluten-free Lobia Masala is again from my awesome collection of family recipes which I love to share with you all.
About Lobia Recipe
In Hindi and Punjabi language, black eyed beans are called “lobia” and “rongi”. In Marathi language these beans are called “chawli”.
My mom would make plenty of dishes with this healthy legume. Being a store house of protein these beans are faster to cook than your chickpeas or kidney beans.
They have a nice nutty flavor too that melds so well in a tangy onion-tomato-spices base of this curry. The beany flavor of black eyed beans balances the spiced tangy flavors very well in this gravy.
Lobia or rongi is favorite in my family. I learnt this Punjabi lobia recipe from my mother-in-law. This is one of the curries I tend to make often as it comes together quickly. I also make our family favorites Rajma Recipe and Kala Chana Recipe often.
How to make Lobia Recipe
Prep and Make Masala
1. Soak 1 cup of lobia or black eyed beans for 30 minutes in enough water. Drain and rinse the beans with water. Again drain very well and set aside.
Note that if you are short of time, you can skip the soaking and move to step 2. Keep in mind that you will need to cook the black eyed beans for some more time.
2. In a 3 litre pressure cooker or pressure pan, heat 2 tablespoons oil. Add the cumin seeds and let them crackle and sizzle on a medium-low heat. Use any neutral tasting oil.
3. Then add ⅓ cup chopped onions.
4. Stir and sauté stirring often on a medium-low to medium heat until the onions become translucent and have softened.
5. Add the ½ teaspoon finely chopped ginger, ½ teaspoon finely chopped garlic and ½ teaspoon chopped green chilies or serrano pepper.
Sauté stirring often for some seconds until the raw aroma of the ginger and garlic goes away.
TIP: 1 teaspoon of ginger-garlic paste can be swapped with the chopped ginger and garlic.
6. Add ½ cup chopped finely tomatoes. Combine and mix chopped tomatoes with the rest of the sautéed ingredients in the pressure cooker.
7. Add the all the ground spices – ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder, ½ teaspoon red chili powder, 1 teaspoon coriander powder and ½ teaspoon garam masala powder.
8. Stir and saute the masala on a low heat, till the tomatoes become soft and the entire tomato-onion mixture starts to leave the sides of the cooker.
The masala mixture will become lumpy and leave the sides of the pan. You will see oil leaving from the sides of the masala.
This cooking technique is called as “Bhunao” in Punjabi language and takes some time. So do not rush the process.
9. Now add the lobia or black eyed beans to the sautéed masala paste .
10. Combine and mix well.
11. Pour 3 cups water.
12. Add salt according to taste and stir.
Make Lobia Masala
13. Pressure cook for 9 to 10 minutes or 8 to 9 whistles on a medium heat until the beans are tender, softened and cooked well. When the pressure falls naturally in the cooker, then only open the lid.
I cooked these black eyed beans for 8 to 9 whistles as I had soaked them for half an hour. If you have soaked the beans overnight or for 2 to 3 hours, it will take less time to cook.
If you have not soaked them at all, they will take a bit more time to cook. So keep these points in mind.
The lobia should be soft enough and when pressed with your fingers, it should get mashed easily.
Check the beans once they are cooked by pressing them with a spoon or with your fingers. If the beans have a dense or hard center, they are not cooked. So pressure cook for some more whistles.
14. Once the lobia beans are cooked, simmer the gravy without the lid so that the gravy gets thickened.
15. You could also mash a few cooked lobia beans to thicken the gravy.
16. The consistency of the lobia masala curry is neither thin nor thick.
17. Lastly add 2 tablespoons of chopped coriander leaves and give a final stir. You could also garnish lobia curry with chopped coriander leaves.
Enjoy Punjabi lobia masala with roti, paratha, naan, puri, steamed rice or jeera rice. It taste best with steamed basmati rice or soft roti.
It is best to eat this black eyed beans curry as soon as it is made. I would not recommend to store the curry in the fridge or freeze it as the taste and flavors of the beans completely changes.
Expert Tips
- Black Eyed Beans: Whenever you make any recipe with dried beans, ensure that they are fresh and in their shelf period. Older beans take more time to cook. Black eyed beans come in a few sizes. To get the best taste and flavor, I recommend to use the beans which have a medium to large size. Avoid the beans which are tiny and small.
- Canned Beans: In a pinch, easily swap 2 to 3 cups of canned beans with dried beans. Drain all the liquid from the cans and rinse the beans before adding to the sautéed onion-tomato masala. Add water as needed to make a medium consistency gravy and simmer for some minutes.
- Soaking: If you decide to soak the beans for a few hours or overnight, then reduce the cooking time.
- Spicing: This lobia recipe is not spicy. If you like spicy food, increase the amount of red chilli powder and green chilies.
- Consistency: Make a slightly thick or medium consistency curry if eating with roti or bread. When serving with steamed rice, make the curry with medium consistency or slightly thin, but do not add too much of water as this will dilute the flavors.
More Punjabi Recipes To Try!
Chickpea Recipes
Dal (Lentils) & Legumes
Dal (Lentils) & Legumes
Punjabi Food
Please be sure to rate the recipe in the recipe card or leave a comment below if you have made it. For more vegetarian inspirations, Sign Up for my emails or follow me on Instagram, Youtube, Facebook, Pinterest or Twitter.
Lobia Recipe | Lobia Masala (Punjabi Recipe)
Ingredients
- 1 cup black eyed beans (black eyed peas, cow peas, rongi, chawli)
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
- ⅓ cup finely chopped onions or 1 medium-sized
- ½ teaspoon finely chopped ginger or ½ inch
- ½ teaspoon finely chopped garlic or 2 to 3 medium garlic cloves
- ½ teaspoon chopped green chilies or serrano peppers or 1 to 2 green chilies
- ½ cup finely chopped tomatoes or 2 medium-sized
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder (ground turmeric)
- ½ teaspoon red chilli powder
- ½ teaspoon Punjabi Garam Masala or garam masala powder
- 1 teaspoon Coriander Powder (ground coriander)
- 3 cups water
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 1 to 2 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves (cilantro)
- salt as required
Instructions
Soaking
- Rinse the black eyed beans for a few times in water. Soak the beans for 30 minutes in enough water. Later drain and rinse the beans again with water. Drain very well and set aside.
- If you are short of time, skip the soaking and move to the sautéing step. Keep in mind that you will need to cook the black eyed beans for some more time if they have not been soaked.
Making lobia recipe
- In a 3 litre pressure cooker or pressure pan, heat oil.
- Add the cumin seeds and let them sizzle.
- Then add the chopped onions.
- Stir and saute till the onions become translucent. Stir often while sautéing onions so that they cook evenly.
- Add the chopped ginger, garlic and green chilies. Sauté for some seconds or until the raw aroma of the ginger and garlic goes away.
- Then add the chopped tomatoes and mix well.
- Next add the all the dry ground spices – turmeric powder, red chili powder, coriander powder and garam masala.
- Stir and sauté the masala on a low heat, till the tomatoes become soft and the entire tomato-onion mixture starts to leave the sides of the pan or cooker and you see the oil leaving from the sides. Do not rush this step.
- Now add the lobia or black eyed beans. Combine and mix well.
- Add 3 cups water. Add salt according to taste and stir.
- Pressure cook for 9 to 10 minutes or 8 to 9 whistles on medium heat or until the beans have softened well. I cooked the beans for 8 to 9 whistles as I had soaked them for only half an hour.
- If you have soaked it overnight or for 2 to 3 hours, it will take less time to cook them. The lobia should be soft enough and when pressed with your fingers, it should get mashed easily. Check the beans once they are cooked through.
- Let the pressure fall naturally in the cooker and then only open the lid.
- Once the lobia beans are cooked, simmer the gravy without the lid so that it gets thickened.
- You can also mash a few cooked beans to thicken the lobia masala gravy.
- The consistency of the lobia curry is neither thin nor thick.
- Lastly add chopped coriander leaves and give a final stir. You could also garnish lobia masala with chopped coriander leaves while serving.
- Serve lobia curry with roti, paratha, naan, puri, steamed rice or jeera rice.
- It is best to eat this black eyed beans curry as soon as it is made. I would not recommend to store the curry in the fridge or freeze it as the taste and flavors of the beans change completely and do not taste that good after a day.
Notes
- Black Eyed Beans: Whenever you make any recipe with dried beans, ensure that they are fresh and in their shelf period. Older beans take more time to cook. Black eyed beans come in a few sizes. To get the best taste and flavor, I recommend to use the beans which have a medium to large size. Avoid the beans which are tiny and small.
- Canned Beans: In a pinch, easily swap 2 to 3 cups of canned beans with dried beans. Drain all the liquid from the cans and rinse the beans before adding to the sautéed onion-tomato masala. Add water as needed to make a medium consistency gravy and simmer for some minutes.
- Soaking: If you decide to soak the beans for a few hours or overnight, then reduce the cooking time.
- Spicing: This lobia recipe is not spicy. If you like spicy food, increase the amount of red chilli powder and green chilies.
- Consistency: Make a slightly thick or medium consistency curry if eating with roti or bread. When serving with steamed rice, make the curry with medium consistency or slightly thin, but do not add too much of water as this will dilute the flavors.
- Cumin: Instead of cumin seeds, you could also use cumin powder.
Nutrition Info (Approximate Values)
This Lobia recipe from the blog archives first published in May 2010 has been republished and updated on November 2022.
