Test Kitchen – Black Eyed Pea Curry With Collards and Potatoes

Deb | 05/01/2014 | Reply

Yesterday I made a big ole pot of black eyed peas. Looking around for something interesting to try with them, I found a recipe on a well-regarded website people have been telling me has great recipes. “She’s a fabulous cook Deb, you should try some of her stuff.”

Okay, so I decided that I was going to start a new section of the blog and call it THE TEST KITCHEN. My goal is going to be to try recipes that people say are fabulous, wonderful, delicious, etc. myself, and post the results here for you to see.

So about 30 minutes ago, I finished making this recipe for Black Eyed Pea Curry with Collards and Potatoes. Here are a few pictures of the process.

Recipe Ranking

It wasn’t horrible, definitely edible if you’re really hungry. But it was rather bland on the tongue. I’d have to doctor on it considerably to make it taste the way I would want my curry to taste – rich and creamy with a kick that sent you back to the pot for more.

In cases like this it is quite evident that the taste buds of black folks are accustomed to a lot more seasoning and flavor in our food, even if the others are southerners too. Therefore, this recipe gets only five forks.

My suggestions if you decide to try it yourself:

Use small green Thai peppers if you can find them instead of jalapenos
Use 2 large or 3 small cloves of garlic
Use full fat coconut milk, not lite which is the most popular in stores – and in many that is all they stock. However, we’re going after depth of flavor here — this is not the time to worry about calories
If you use low sodium vegetable broth be prepared to add a lot of salt to make up the difference
Use 3 tablespoons of tomato paste, not two for richer flavor
Use at least 3 tablespoons of curry powder, not two if you want a true curry taste
Chop onions fine, do not “thin slice” as recipe states. I could not get with those onion strings in my food.

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