I usually stay away from the recipes in Indian cookbooks that you find on every restaurant menu. I’d rather try something different – different spices, different textures. But sometimes you want a classic. You want to know what the homemade version is really supposed to taste like. Sure, every recipe is different, and you may end up with something soupier, blander, or otherwise disappointing, but you might end up with something great. And when you use a good cookbook that you trust, it’s usually great.
So I made chana masala. That’s the chickpea curry made with tomatoes and anywhere from a little to a lot of heat.
What I liked about this recipe:
1. I didn’t have to blanch and peel the tomatoes (this step is supposed to make the dish less bitter, but I didn’t mind)
2. The spices were simple – ginger and garlic in a blender with water, plus coriander, cumin and cayenne. There’s a bit of garam masala thrown in at the end, but I had it pre-made, so it was easy.
3. It calls for fenugreek leaves, which is different. I didn’t have any, so I didn’t use them and just the coriander leaves were fine, but I like that they’re there to jazz the recipe up a bit.
4. It uses fresh jalapenos as well as dried red chilies. The dried chilies have more of an effect on day 2 after soaking into the cooking liquid, and the jalapenos add the on-the-spot bitter heat that the dish needs.
How’d it turn out? Pretty good, actually. I skimped on the oil, which normally means less flavour, but my tomatoes and tomato paste weren’t too watery and acidic so it worked out. I also could have substituted some chicken or vegetable brother for the 1 cup of water you add near the end and it would have helped, but it wasn’t necessary. Vegetarian, clean comfort.
I even made this dish with half sprouted chickpeas and half yellow peas (smaller than chickpeas, but whole, soaked overnight). The sprouted ones take about 4 minutes to cook, so no hour wait time while the old dried beans come back to life. For more on sprouting chickpeas, read this.
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