Indian Chickpea Curry

It has been long since I had a sleep in on a Sunday morning. Today’s recipe is my determination to allow myself & other mothers like me to enjoy the late morning snuggles and still be ready to fill hungry tummies with a healthy & winning menu for brunch!

Chickpea curry is a good dish for vegetarians and meat-eaters alike. Generally, this is served with puffed-up Indian bread called Pooris for breakfast in northern India with pickled onions served alongside. Like I have mentioned before, cooking an Indian curry is a labour of love and needs a fair amount of preparation time but the advantage to this is that, the curry also tastes better and better as days go by. Prepare this dish whenever you have extra time on your hands and store it only to be heated before serving.

Poori on the other hand is quick to make with the same dough used to make other Indian breads like roti or parantha, the only difference is these are deep fried in oil till they are soft and puffy.
However, pita bread or a baguette compliments the curry just as well and also is easier to quickly get things on to the table.

So if you are ready for some savoury and spice… let’s get cooking!

Ingredients :- (Serves 4-6)
• 2 tbsp ghee
• 2 cups chickpeas (Kabuli or white channa)
• 1 tbsp garlic (crushed)
• 1 tbsp ginger (crushed)
• 1 red onion (chopped)
• 2 big juicy tomatoes (pureed)
• 1 tsp dhaniya powder (coriander powder)
• ½ tsp haldi (turmeric powder)
• 2 tsp garam masala
• 1½ tsp salt
• 1 tbsp fresh coriander (chopped)
• 1-2 tbsp lime juice
• 8 cups water

* Chickpea or “kabuli channa” are thick, round and white beans available in cans in supermarkets but if you have access to an Indian grocer it will definitely be better to cook with fresh ones.

Recipe: –
1. Soak chickpeas in water for a minimum of 7 hours. Best soaked overnight.
2. Drain the chickpeas and put them in a pressure cooker with 8 cups of clean water. Set heat on medium low, and cook the chick peas for 20minutes.
3. Turn off the heat and leave the pressure cooker untouched for a few minutes before opening lid. Check the consistency of the chick peas. If still hard, put back on heat for another 10minutes.
4. Once the chickpeas are tender, drain and save the water from the pressure cooker.
5. In a hard-bottomed pan, pour 2 tbsp of ghee and set over medium-high heat.
6. When hot, add onions and sauté until almost brown.
7. Add the garlic, ginger, haldi and coriander powder. Cook for another 2 minutes.
8. Pour in the tomato puree and let this cook on medium-low for another 4-5minutes or until you see oil on the sides of the pan.
9. Add in the garam masala and lemon juice. Give a quick stir.
10. Follow by adding the drained chickpeas with a little of the reserved water. (Add the water from time to time depending on how dry you like your curry to be)
11. Turn off heat. Drop in the coriander. Give one last final stir and serve hot. For an authentic touch, serve with Indian Poori (deep fried Indian bread) and pickled onions on the side.

Enjoy!!!

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