Our favourite vegetarian cookbook at the moment is East by Meera Sodha. This is an Indian main course dish but it’s like a soup and works well as both a mid-week dinner, and in a flask for lunch the next day. Also vegan and gluten-free if this is useful information for you. Serve with crusty bread.
Black-eyed bean and chickpea usal – serves 4
- 4 tbsp rapeseed oil
- 2 red onions, chopped
- 2 long green chillies, very finely chopped
- 4 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 2 large vine tomatoes, chopped
- 1¾ tsp salt
- 1 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- ½ tsp ground turmeric
- 1 x 400g tin of black-eyed beans, drained
- 250g frozen peas, defrosted
- 1 x 400g tin of chickpeas, drained
- 200g mangetout
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- a handful of coriander leaves, finely chopped
Heat the oil in a saucepan over a high heat. Add the onion and chillies and cook for about 10 minutes, then add the garlic and cook for a minute more.
Add the tomatoes and cook for about 5 minutes or until they have broken down, then add the salt and spices and stiry-fry for another minute.
Stir in the black-eyed beans, peas, chickpeas and mangetout and continue cooking for 5 minutes.
Add the lemon juice and coriander, then taste and season with more salt if needed.
(Original recipe from East by Meera Sodha, Penguin, 2019.)
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