Tart, Tasty Chickpeas

The first time I made these Indian-spice flavoured legumes, my relative Dineshi wanted me to put the recipe on this blog. That was several months ago and I have been procrastinating. Then last weekend, during a pot luck dinner with my workmates, again this easy-to-make dish proved unexpectedly popular and I got requests for the recipe. Finally, thought of writing out this recipe several times over has propelled me out of my lazy ways! Here goes…

What you’ll need:

2 x 400g cans chickpeas, drained

2 medium onions (either red or brown), sliced

1 teaspoon grated ginger

½ teaspoon crushed garlic

1-2 fresh green chillies, finely sliced. (Substituted 1/2 tablespoon of red chilli powder)

½ teaspoon turmeric

3 tablespoon oil or oil/butter combo

400g diced tomatoes

1 tablespoon coriander powder

2 teaspoons garam masala

2 tablespoons lemon juice (optional, or use 1 tablespoon)

2-3 tablespoons chopped coriander leaves

What to do:

Fry sliced onions in hot oil until they brown at the edges, then add ginger, garlic and turmeric. Fry for several minutes more. Add tomatoes, cook until pulpy (generally 10-15 minutes), then add coriander powder and drained chickpeas, with about a cup of water. More water can be added if the gravy is too thick. Partially cover pan and cook for roughly half an hour. Then during the last few minutes of cooking, add garam masala (and lemon juice if using) and chopped coriander leaves. Stir through and take off fire.  This is good with rice or Indian roti. The last time I served this was with ready-made paratha and cucumber raita.