Quick Coconut Curry with Rice, Corn, and Beans

1. Mix black-eyed peas, coconut milk, corn, tomato paste, curry powder, sugar, and 3/4 teaspoon salt in a pot until smooth and evenly combined; simmer over medium-low heat, stirring often, until curry sauce is heated through, about 5 minutes.

2. Pour enough water into a separate pot to almost fill and bring to a boil; season with a pinch of salt. Add rice to boiling water and cook, stirring occasionally, until rice is very soft, about 15 minutes. Drain excess water from rice.

3. Mix rice and curry sauce together in a large bowl.

Cook's Notes:

Make sure you use black-eyed peas (or other beans) that are canned in salt and water. Otherwise, if there is no salt in the beans it will cause a bland taste to the whole dish. The beans should be slightly saltier than the rest of the dish, just as the corn kernels are slightly sweeter. This balances to make it extra flavorful.

If you don't have Jamaican-style curry powder, use Indian curry powder and add a lot of ground fenugreek seed to it. If you don't have that either, I think it would still be good if you just use Indian curry powder, although I haven't tried that variation myself.