Black beans curry is delicious, creamy and perfect over rice or you can enjoy it as a curried black bean soup or stew. This is an Indian style black beans curry recipe (prepared in pressure cooker) so we use some popular Indian spices to spice up the curry and it is so very delicious! I love this with a bowl of white rice or brown rice but it also goes great as a delicious side dish with Indian flatbread like chapathi, Nan bread, poori (puri) etc.
We use dry black beans which is soaked overnight or for several hours to make this delicious Indian style curry.
How To Cook Dry Black Beans?
Soaking the dry black beans over several hours ensure the beans is soft and well cooked, which is necessary to make the gravy of the curry creamy, rich and delicious.
So make sure to soak the dry black beans in enough water for several hours before cooking them. They enlarge in size as they are soaked in water so you will have to use a large bowl which can hold the soaked black beans.
To cook the dried black beans, you can use a pressure cooker, an instant pot or crock pot based on the recipe you are using.
In this black beans curry recipe, we use a pressure cooker to cook the soaked black beans to make the delicious curry. And it goes great with rice and other dishes!
Can You Use Canned Black Beans To Make The Curry?
Yes, you can use canned black beans instead of dry black beans to make the black beans curry.
However, if you are using canned black beans, you can skip the soaking part and you can just rinse the canned black beans and use directly in the recipe.
Also, since you are not soaking the canned beans, you have to adjust the amount of black beans you are using. This is because we are using 1.5 cups of dry black beans in the recipe, which increase in size as they are soaked in water.
So if you are using canned black beans which doesn’t require soaking in water, you have to adjust the amount of black beans used in the recipe, or it will be too less amount for the curry.
I recommend using at least one 15 oz can of black beans in place of 1.5 cup dried beans as directed in the recipe.
Can You Make This Black Beans Curry In Instant Pot?
Yes, you can easily adjust the recipe to make it in an instant pot.
A 6 quart instant pot will be perfect to make this amount of curry.
See this instant pot black bean spinach curry recipe to see how I cooked black bean and spinach to make delicious black bean curry in instant pot and also see this instant pot black beans recipe using soaked black beans to see the basics on how to cook soaked black beans using instant pot.
How To Make Black Beans Curry?
Black beans is soaked in water for hours, then paired with spices and cooked to perfection using a pressure cooker. We also use onion, tomatoes, potatoes and heavy cream in this recipe, which makes it super yummy, rich and delicious.
This is a vegetarian black beans curry recipe and we use heavy cream in the preparation, but if you wish to make it vegan, you may replace heavy cream with coconut milk.
We need the following ingredients to make Indian style black beans curry.
As I told, Indian spices form an important part of this delicious, rich and creamy black bean curry.
Ingredients For Indian Style Black Beans Curry
dry black beans 1.5 cups
potatoes 3 medium sized
onion 1 large
garlic 2 to 3 cloves crushed
tomatoes 3 medium sized
water 3 cups
extra water as needed for soaking black beans
heavy cream ¼ cup
salt as needed
spice powders
turmeric powder ½ teaspoon
red chili powder ½ teaspoon
coriander powder 2 tablespoons
cumin seeds powder ½ teaspoon
garlic powder 1 teaspoon
onion powder 2 teaspoons
for seasoning
oil 2 tablespoons
cumin seeds ½ teaspoon
broken dried red chilies 4
curry leaves a few (make sure no water content)
Step By Step Instructions
Rinse the black beans very well and soak in water overnight or for several hours. Discard the water used for soaking the beans and save the beans.
Slice the onion in thin long slices, slice the tomatoes in small sized pieces and also peel and slice the potatoes in medium sized pieces.
Heat one tablespoon of oil in a pressure cooker (6 quart is good) and add the onions, saute them lightly. Also add the garlic and saute for couple of minutes.
Add the tomatoes and cook for another 2 minutes.
Now add the potatoes and black beans also to the pressure cooker, mix everything well.
Finally add the water, enough salt and also the spices, mix everything well.
Close the pressure cooker with lid, and once the steam starts coming, cook for about 10 to 12 minutes of time or until 3 whistles come. Wait for the pressure cooker to cool down.
Once the pressure cooker is cooled enough, carefully open the cooker, stir the contents and simmer the contents for about 6 to 7 minutes or until the gravy is just enough. In case if the gravy is less for your preference, you may add little more water.
Also add the heavy cream, stir in with the curry.
In a separate pan, heat one tablespoon of oil.
Add the cumin seeds and lightly fry the cumin seeds. Also add the onion powder, garlic powder and also add the broken dried red chilies and curry leaves. Pour this seasoning over the prepared curry and gently mix in. The delicious Indian style black beans curry is ready to be served!
Can You Make This Black Beans Curry Vegan?
Yes! This is a vegetarian black beans curry but you can easily make it vegan. To make it vegan, simply replace the heavy cream with coconut milk or cashew cream as you like.
The flavors will be slightly different with coconut milk or cashew cream, depending on which one you are using, but they are both delicious!
More Black Bean Recipes:
instant pot black beans and spinach curry
instant pot black beans using soaked black beans
no soak black turtle beans in instant pot
quinoa black bean salad recipe
mustard greens curry with black beans
Popular Black Bean Dishes
Black beans are popularly used in many cuisines and they are an excellent source of vegetarian plant based protein.
Cooked black beans is too delicious and you can make many dishes using black beans. Many Mexican and Cuban black bean recipes are so popular around the world as well.
Chipotle black beans is so famous and popular and in fact, you can make many delicious dishes out of black beans.
Some of the delicious things that you can make out of black beans include:
black bean soup
black bean salads
black beans and rice
black bean curry
black bean pasta
and many more..
See this vegan black beans with rice and vegan cuban black beans.
Tips To Make The Best Black Beans Curry
Indian curry recipes are popular and what makes them so delicious and flavorful is the use of Indian spices.
You can make this less spicy or more spicy by adjusting the chili powder and other spices and you can easily make it even more creamy by using good little more cream if you like.
To make the best black beans curry:
- use a broth like vegetable broth if you like, instead of water to make the curry more delicious.
- add more flavors like crushed ginger and green chilies if you like (that will make it more spicy too)
- use butter instead of oil to make the curry more calorie rich, flavorful and more delicious
- make sure to use good quality black beans
- make sure to use good quality fresh cream and good quality spices
- cook the beans until they are soft, which makes the curry really delicious as the flavors from the beans are added to the curry once they are cooked soft.
This recipe is really very flexible and you may adjust the spices according to your liking!
Below you can read the detailed recipe for black beans curry prepared in the Indian style.
Black Beans Curry Indian Style Recipe
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups dry black beans
- 3 medium sized potatoes
- 1 large onion
- 3 cloves garlic crushed
- 3 medium sized tomatoes
- 3 cups water (extra water as needed for soaking the beans)
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- salt as needed
spice powders
- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
- ½ teaspoon red chili powder
- 2 tablespoons coriander powder
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons onion powder
for seasoning
- 2 tablespoons oil
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
- 4 red chilies dried broken
- 1 string curry leaves make sure no water content
Instructions
Preparations
- Wash the black beans and soak in enough water for about 6 to 8 hours or overnight for best results.
- After soaking, discard the water used for soaking the beans, rinse the black beans again in fresh water and keep it aside.
- Wash and peel the onion, slice in thin long slices.
- Wash and chop the tomatoes in small sized pieces.
- Wash and peel the potatoes, cut in medium sized pieces. Keep all chopped veggies separately.
Making The Black Bean Curry
- Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large sized pressure cooker (6 quart is enough) and add the sliced onions.
- Saute the onions in medium heat for about 7 to 8 minutes until the onions are lightly sauteed.
- Add the garlic and saute for another 2 minutes.
- Add the tomatoes and stir fry the contents for another 2 minutes.
- Add the potatoes and black beans, mix everything well.
- Add the 3 cups of water and salt, mix the contents.
- Now add all the spice powders and mix again.
- Close the pressure cooker with lid, and switch on the stove. Once the steam starts coming, cook for about 10 to 12 minutes of time or until 3 whistles come. Wait for the pressure cooker to cool down.
- Once the pressure cooker is cooled enough, open the cooker, stir the contents and in medium heat, simmer the contents for about 6 to 7 minutes or until the gravy is just enough. In case if the gravy is less for your preference, you may add little more water according to the consistency you prefer.
- Add the heavy cream, mix well and switch off the stove. Make sure to keep the pressure cooker away from heat once you have added the heavy cream.
For The Seasoning
- In a small pan, heat one tablespoon of oil.
- Add the cumin seeds and lightly fry the cumin seeds.
- Add the onion powder, garlic powder and also add the broken dried red chilies and curry leaves. Mix well and quickly (the onion powder and garlic powder will get burnt soon) pour this mixture over the prepared black beans curry and gently mix in. Now the delicious black beans curry is ready to be served. Serve with rice, chapathi, poori etc.
Where do you add the onion and garlic powder please? Into the pot or as part of the seasoning?
Thank you.
You can add the garlic and onion powders when you add the spice powders in the pressure cooker. This will give extra flavor, but you may skip them too since we are using fresh garlic and onion as well in the recipe. Hope this helps. Thank you.