A Simple Indian Summer Salad of Black Eyed Peas

When I started out on this whole international cooking adventure it occurred to me that there were a lot of other bloggers out there that had a wealth of information to offer on the different cuisines I was going to be cooking from. I thought it would be fun if I could somehow convince some of these bloggers to do guest posts while I was cooking from the country whose cooking they were so familiar with. When I got to India I had a large selection of bloggers to choose from. While that may have been the case, there was on blogger in particular whose blog I love, and who I wanted to do a guest post more than any other. That blogger is Kathy Gori, who writes The Colors of Indian Cooking. If you share the same love of Indian food as I do you should keep an eye on her blog.

Kathy has been cooking Indian food for more than 20 years. She has an abundance of information to offer when it comes to cooking this cuisine. Her blog is filled with wonderful recipes that are authentic and approachable. She is an excellent writer and a great photographer to boot, which makes reading her blog both easy and enjoyable. Her recipes always make me drool. A couple of weeks ago she wrote up a recipe for green mango rice that I couldn't pass up. I'm glad I didn't because my family loved it. I served the green mango rice with her recipe for a fast and creamy cauliflower curry. The kiddos loved the cauliflower too. In fact my 2 year old asked for seconds on it, and let's face it folks, if you can get a 2 year old to ask for seconds of a vegetable, you've won.

Kathy Gori's green mango rice with fast and creamy cauliflower curry

So, I tentatively got in contact with Kathy to ask her if she would be willing to write a guest post for my blog. I was nervous, because I really admire her blog, and I really wanted her to say "yes". I tightened up the belt on my big girl pants and asked, because after all, the worst thing she could do was say "no". Apparently I had nothing to fear because Kathy is very kind and immediately agreed to write the post for me. Many thanks to Kathy for being so generous and sharing her knowledge on cooking Indian food. Now I'll had it over to Kathy...


A few weeks ago after we had our #Indianfoodpalooza I got an email from my friend Amanda of Dabblings and Whimsey. Amanda was embarking on her own Indian cooking binge and asked me if I'd like to contribute a guest post to her blog. Someone new taking up Indian food? How could I resist?
 
 Amanda told me that I could give her any sort of recipe I wanted and since we've had really warm temperatures around here, my mind has been drifting ahead to Summer weather. I've been thinking of cook outs, Tuesday night picnics at the Sonoma Farmers' Market and various Summer backyard pot luck parties. Of course with all this going on, one wants to spend the least amount of time one can in the kitchen during warm weather, so this black eyed pea salad recipe seemed perfect to share for many reasons.

One, it's easy

Two, it's got very simple ingredients

Three, it's fast!

Four, it can be made ahead and served at room temperature.
 
 This easy peasy (yeah bad joke I know) Indian version of potato salad will kick those baked beans to the curb every time.

  

 Black Eyed Pea Summer Salad

Here's What You Need:
 1 package of frozen black eyed peas ( I love Stahlbush Island Farms  brand) or 3 cups of cooked black   eyed peas.
 3 Tbs of vegetable oil
 3 peppercorns
 2 cloves
 1 bay leaf
 1 tsp. cumin seeds
1 tsp seeded chopped fresh green chili
1 cup of finely chopped onion
1 cup of finely chopped tomato (you can also use unsalted canned)
1 tsp of salt
2 Tbs of sour cream
1/4 to 1/2 tsp of Kashmiri chili, or a half and half mix of cayenne and paprika
A handful of chopped fresh cilantro

Here's What To Do:
In a kadhai or skillet heat 3 Tbs of vegetable oil
When the oil is hot toss in the cloves, bay leaf, peppercorns, and green chili.
Stir everything around for a minute or so and then add in the onions
Cook the onions until they're slightly brown, about 10 minutes or os
Add in the tomatoes  and cook them down for about 5 minutes, or until they're softened.
Add in the black eyed peas, sour cream, salt, Kashmiri chili or cayenne paprika mix .
Cook everything for another 8 minutes or until the black eyed peas are warmed through.
Make sure you keep the heat on the low side , so that the sour cream doesn't curdle.
Sprinkle the dish with chopped fresh cilantro.
Bring it to room temperature before serving.

 I served this salad up with some grilled chicken, and couldn't resist using a gorgeous plate currently on loan to me for photographic purposes.

 The plate was made by Paula Wolfert's husband  novelist William Bayer who also  as you can see happens to be a very gifted potter.
 
 So thanks so much to Amanda, for giving me this opportunity to share a favorite dish with a whole new group of people.