Yellow Eyed Bean Curry

Soak the yellow eyed beans in 3 cups water overnight or for at least 5 hours. Once soaked, drain the soaking water and discard it.

Cooking the soaked beans:
This is what I do: Cook the beans with 2 cups salted water in a pressure cooker for approximately 15 minutes and 4-5 whistles.
Other methods of cooking the soaked beans: Cook the beans with 3 cups salted water in a pot with a lid on medium heat for about 45 minutes till tender.

Once cooked, drain the beans and preserve the water. We will use it in the curry later. Set both aside.

In a cooking vessel with lid, on high heat add the oil and heat it up till the oil starts smoking slightly.

Reduce flame to medium. Add the finely chopped onion and cook till golden brown. After this add the bay leaf and cloves and saute for 2 minutes.

Continue cooking on medium heat and next add the grated garlic and ginger and cook for 1-2 minutes.

Now, reduce the heat to low and add the chopped tomatoes along with chili powder, coriander, turmeric powder and salt. Cook this on low heat till the oil starts separating from the mix along the sides of the vessel.

Tip the boiled beans into the vessel and combine well so that all the beans are covered in the sauce. Saute for about 3 minutes on low heat.

Next, add ground cinnamon and 1/2 cup or more of the reserved water (from the beans) depending on how thick you like the gravy,and let the gravy come to a boil on a high heat. Once boiling reduce the heat to low and let the beans simmer on low heat till totally cooked.

Once the curry has simmered for 8-10 minutes, add the dry mango powder and garam masala, stir well and let simmer for another 2 minutes.

Remove from heat, garnish with chopped cilantro and serve warm with rice or flatbreads.