Helen RandellChana Masala
March 2nd 2010 07:39
This recipe is taken from the wonderful Molly Wizenberg's A Homemade Life. For those who are interested, Molly now does a pod cast called Spilled Milk with a fellow blogger. It's quite amusing and well worth a listen.
In her book, Molly describes how really this is her husband, Brandon's, recipe. She describes how usually he will just add a bit of spice here and there, until the taste is well-rounded, usually that is, unless she is hovering around with a notepad and pen writing down quantities.
I followed the recipe almost to a tee (leaving out fresh coriander because we didn't have any) and found it to be most enjoyable. Because we were also out of yoghurt, I served this with a squeeze of lemon juice - delicious!
1/4 cup olive oil
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
1 medium garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon garam masala
3 green cardamon pods, lightly crushed
1 teaspoon salt
water
2 x 400g tinned tomatoes
pinch of cayenne
2 x 400g tinned chickpeas, rinsed and drained
lemon to serve
Pour the oil into a heavy based pot and warm it over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally until it is deeply coloured. The darker the better as this will intensify the flavour. Reduce the heat and add garlic, cumin, coriander, ginger, garam masala, cardamon and salt and cook stirring for about 30 seconds. Add 1/4 water and stir to scrape any brown bits on the bottom of the pan. Cook until the water has evaporated completely. Pour in the tinned tomatoes.
Raise the heat to medium and bring the pot to a gentle boil. Adjust the heat to maintain a simmer and add the cayenne. Continue to cook gently, stirring occasionally, until the mixture reduces a bit and continues to thicken, about 5 minutes. Add the chickpeas, stirring well and cook over low heat for 5 minutes. Add two tablespoons of water and cook for another 5 minutes.
Serve with a squeeze of lemon juice and some extra garam masala if you wish.
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Comment by Jason King
Sydney Table
Salty Popcorn
Total Randomness
I have this article to write about a Multicultural Market I went to and one stall only made chickpea kebabs - I had decided to eat something from every stall and to write about it and I fell in love with a chickpea tikka kebab - absolutely loved it - so won't write this vego meal off myself
One of my friends told the stalls I was a food critic - small stretch of the truth, but I had stalls offering me free food by the end of the night as long as I wrote about them - and I even had to go and award a verbal prize of best food at the end of the night and the chickpea lady won it. Hahahaha
I finally have to put my money where my mouth is on Saturday night and a group of friends have thrown in $30- a head for me to cook up a 4 course meal of divine palatable sensation - you will be happy to know your grape and chardonnay cake is reappearing as dessert with a brandy cream and served warm
Comment by Helen Randell
Rough Cooking
Good luck with the dinner - sounds fabulous!