black-eyed beans with mushrooms

This works very well without the mushrooms, as I discovered when we suffered a "no mushroom" incident upon opening the fridge. Great with rice as a main, vegetarian/vegan meal, or eat less (not easy) as a side dish with other indian food.

serves 4, freezes very well

225g black-eyed beans
1.5 litres water
225g fresh mushrooms
3 tbsp oil (this is half what the books says - you might well get away with even less. I never measure this sort of thing)
1 teaspoon whole cumin seeds
1 2.5cm stick of cinnamon
1 medium onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tin chopped tomatoes
2 teaspoons ground coriander seeds
1 teaspoon ground cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1 teaspoon salt (half what the book says)
freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander

Put the beans and water in a heavy pot and bring to the boil. Cover, turn heat to low, and simmer gently for 2 minutes. Turn off the heat, and leave covered for an hour.

Cut the mushrooms through their stems into thin slices. Heat the oil in a frying pang and when it's hot, add the whole cumin and the cinnamon stick. Sizzle for a few seconds.

Add the onion and garlic, stir and fry until the onion starts to brown. Add the mushrooms, and stir until they start to wilt. Now add tomatoes, ground coriander and cuin, turmeric and cayenne. Stir through and cook for a miinute, then cover, turn down the heat, and let this cook for about 10 minutes.

Bring the beans back to the boil, cover and simmer fo 20-30 minutes until they are tender. Then add the mushroom mixture, salt and pepper, and fresh coriander. Stir it in, bring to the boil and simmer, uncovered, on a low heat for another 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove cinnamon stick before serving.