Or chickpeas at their finest
All the ingredients? Check!
If I were to ever become a vegan, which I certainly will not*, I would be sure to pick up more Indian cookbooks. Many recipes from this subcontinent seem to suffer not a bit from the exclusion of any animal products. In fact, I would argue that Indian dishes, in all their regional variants (including the closely related cuisines of Pakistan and Bangladesh), have more vegan and vegetarian offers that can satisfy meat eaters than any other cuisine. This is simply because they have taken the use of spice to an art form. Savoriness doesn’t always have to involve meat, my friends. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy a spicy lamb madras as much as any drunken London lad leaving a late night disco and all summer long I relish a well marinated tandoori chicken fresh off the grill, but the non meat dishes can be equally sublime. This brings me to my favorite Indian dish of late: Chana Masala.
Great fruit and veg shop on Dejvická
Although, often seeing it on Indian restaurant menus, I only recently had my first taste of Chana Masala from a friend who had ordered it delivery from Prague 6’s Shalamar Restaurant. Oh my!, was it amazing. Robust with a plethora of spices, combined with the meatiness of chickpea, it missed not a thing. I had an instant food crush and desperately needed to master this recipe. …So, I started researching and experimenting.
While recognizing some of the ingredients, more specifically the spices, in the dish, I did not know all the specifics. I consulted my copy of Classic Indian Cooking by Julie Sahni, several recipe sites and even Wikipedia. The list of ingredients was rather large but luckily I already had many at home.
According to Wikipedia, it is a popular mainly in the Punjab region of northern-India, and also notably in the regions of Gujarat. In Gujarat and Rajasthani areas, where it goes by chloe bhature, it is commonly cooked dry, with tangy spices and is often eaten with a type of fried bread. A friend reported that on his stint in India it was more common for locals, as well as visitors, to pick up a bowl of these slightly sour and spicy beans from street vendors, although they can be found in proper restaurants.
This was the first time I had come across amchoor, a spice I now know comes from dried mango and adds a sour or citric taste to dishes. For the life of me, I could not find it anywhere for my first two attempts at this dish, so I discovered online that lime juice can make an acceptable substitute. Eventually, I did find amchoor powder at Indicke Centrum in Dejvice (Národní obrany). Most other spices could be found at Shalamar Food Store and the Halal shop on Puškinovo námesti.
Fresh coriander is now available in potted form in many Albert and Tesco supermarkets, but, from my experience, these potted herbs last not four days. Often wilting no matter what you do before you have a chance to use them. I prefer to buy coriander leaves from one of the many Vietnamese owned fruit and veg shops about town, a very well stocked one is found on Dejvická street near Hradčanská metro station. They often come in a resealable plastic bags and still retain a lovely aroma**. If you take a damp paper towel and wrap the stems and reseal them, they can last up to two weeks in your fridge.
Ah! Deliciousness. Yes, that’s mint instead of coriander. I ran out just before this photo.
Chickpeas, while I am quite aware of these high protein legumes, have always been a bit of a pain in the #%% to prepare. When buying dry beans, the package often recommends soaking them over night and voila… THIS NEVER WORKS FOR ME. Instead, it is better to do said soaking (or not) and boil them for at least 2 hours, your mouth being the ultimate judge of time and texture, and rinse and drain them before adding them to process.
After trying my eager hand at this dish several times, what follows below is, what I consider, my closest version, so far, to that awesome Chana Masala I originally tasted from Shalamar. I hope you too can enjoy the tart spice of this wonderful healthy dish and not be intimidated by the ingredients and preparation. It is very well worth the time and exploration.
PREP TIME: 20 minutes (excluding the eons needed to soften chickpeas)
TIME ALTOGETHER: 40 minutes
IT FEEDS: 6 to 8 of ya
WHAT YOU NEED:
1 1/2 tablespoons of vegetable oil or ghee
4 cups cooked dried chickpeas or 2 cans chickpeas***
2 cloves of garlic (peeled and minced)
2 medium onions (peeled and finely cut)
1 tablespoons of ground coriander seeds (helps to have a mortar and pestle as pre-ground coriander seeds are hard to find)
2 teaspoons of ground cumin
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tsp – 1 tblsp ground chili or bird pepper (depending on one’s spice threshold)
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 can of tomato purée or blanched
1 – 1 1/2 cups of water
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
1 tablespoon amchoor powder (alternative: lime juice)
2 teaspoons paprika powder
1 1/2 teaspoons garam masala
salt to taste
1/4 squeezed lemon juice
1-2 hot chili or another spicy pepper finely chopped
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
2 teaspoons fresh coriander leaves chopped
HOW TO DO IT:
1. Heat oil or ghee in a large pan.
2. Add onions and garlic and sauté over a medium heat until browned (3-5 minutes)
3. Turn heat to medium low
4. Add the coriander, cumin (not the cumin seeds) chili, cinnamon and turmeric
5. Stir for 30 seconds
6. Add tomatoes
7. Cook tomatoes until browned
8. add chickpeas and water and stir
9. Add cumin seeds, amchoor, paprika, garam masala, salt and lemon juice
10. Reduce heat and simmer covered for 10 minutes
11. Remove cover and add chopped hot chili peppers
12. Increase heat slightly and stir and cook uncovered for 1 minute
13. Portion onto plates and garnish top with grated ginger and chopped coriander
+ Rice (basmati preferred) or your favorite naan bread should accompany this dish.
* My views on veganism will be discussed in a future post. That said, I still love my vegan friends.
** Yes, I know that there is a percentage of the population that can’t stand the taste of coriander (cilantro), so my apologies for the descriptive word ‘lovely’.
*** I came across recipes where it was suggested to add two black teabags to the pot when boiling the chickpeas as to darken them. I did not find this necessary.
The Toast of Bohemia 