Veggie Red Curry with Black Eyed Peas

One of my favorite styles of cooking is Asian-inspired cuisine. For the most part, it's easy to cook, caters to an abundance of vegetables, and has some of the most flavorful sauces. I love to cook Japanese, Chinese, Indian, and Thai-inspired dishes. Tonight for dinner, I decided to prepare vegetable red curry with black-eyed peas. I would be remiss to say I knew that black-eyed peas were something other than a pop group starring Fergie, Will.I.Am and a couple other dudes until recently. This is a shame, because black-eyed peas are so PRETTY! 

To prepare the black-eyed peas (1/2 cup -- I did this earlier in the afternoon), I followed these instructions: 

Part One: Soaking the Beans

1. 1
   Rinse the beans. Place the black-eyed peas in a colander and rinse them with cool running water.
   • Rinsing the black-eyed peas removes dirt and stray hulls.^[1]
2. 2
   Place the beans in a pot of cold water. Make sure that the water covers the black-eyed peas completely, but do not fill the pot so high that it will boil over when heated. Cover with the lid of the pot.
3. 3
   Boil the water. Heat the beans and water over medium-high heat until the water reaches a steady boil. Continue boiling for 2 to 3 minutes.
   • Most beans are soaked in cold water for several hours, but black-eyed peas can be soaked in hot water to reduce the amount of time it takes.^[2]
   • It is not essential to soak your black-eyed peas, so this step can be skipped if you are short on time. Soaking the beans causes them to become softer, however, and it also helps to reduce the risk of digestive upset.
4. 4
   Let stand. Allow the black-eyed peas to sit in the warm water for 60 to 90 minutes.
5. 5
   Drain and rinse. Pour the contents of the pot through a colander to remove the stale water. Rinse the black-eyed peas once more with cool water.

Later that evening, I prepared the rest of the dish.

Ingredients:

- 1 can of coconut milk (I used Light but it doesn't matter)

- 3 tsps of red curry paste 

- 1 tsp brown sugar

- 1/4 tsp garlic salt (to taste)

- 1 stalk of organic celery (chopped into 1/2 inch pieces)

- 3 leaves of organic dino/lacinato kale (torn into medium-sized pieces)

- 1 leave of organic collard green (torn into medium-sized pieces)

- 1/2 organic yellow onion (cut into 1/4 inch slices)

- 8 organic button/white mushrooms (cut vertically into quarters)

- 10 organic brussel sprouts (cut into halves)

- 1/2 organic daikon radish (sliced into 8 slices then each slice cut into quarters)

- 2 cloves organic garlic (pressed)

- 1/2 serrano pepper (chopped finely)

All of the vegetable servings were just chosen at random. I like certain vegetables more than others. There is no rhyme or reason to the portions.

The rest of the instructions are as follows:

1. BRING coconut milk to simmer in large skillet on medium heat. Stir in curry paste and sugar until well blended; bring to boil. Reduce heat to low; simmer 5 minutes.

2. STIR in vegetables. Cook 3 to 5 minutes or just until vegetables are tender-crisp. 

I then heated the black-eyed peas in a covered glass bowl in the microwave on high for 35 seconds. Lastly, I poured the vegetable curry onto the black-eyed peas in the glass bowl. I sliced some fresh watermelon as a side dish and enjoyed my vegan vegetable red-curry.