Tag Archives: Chickpeas

Dahiwale Chole aka Chickpeas in a Tomato Yogurt Sauce

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The other day, while wondering what to cook — something that happens to all of us — I suddenly had an epiphany and thought of experimenting with some boiled chickpeas that I had at home. The result was this quick gravy that took about 15-20 minutes to put together and went beautifully with the boiled chickpeas. I will also be making this gravy again, this time trying it with different vegetables.

Dahiwale Chole aka Chickpeas in a Tomato Yogurt Sauce

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup boiled chickpeas
  • 2 medium-sized onions, roughly chopped
  • 4 medium-sized tomatoes, roughly chopped
  • 5-6 garlic cloves, peeled
  • 1-inch piece of ginger, peeled
  • 2-3 fresh red chillies, destalked
  • 1 cup yoghurt, whisked
  • 2 tbsp roasted peanut powder
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • ¼ tsp turmeric powder
  • ½ tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder
  • 1 tsp cumin powder
  • 1 tsp coriander powder
  • 1 tsp jaggery powder (optional)
  • Salt to taste
  • 1 tbsp oil or ghee
  • Finely chopped coriander leaves to garnish

Method:

  • Blend together the garlic, ginger and red chillies into a smooth and keep aside.
  • Blend the onions into a fine paste and keep aside.
  • Blend the tomatoes into a fine paste and keep aside.
  • Heat the oil in a pan and when the oil heats up, add in the cumin seeds and let the seeds pop.
  • Pour in the blended garlic, ginger and chillies and stir well for a couple of minutes
  • Then add in the blended onions, sprinkle a bit of salt and cook well until the onion starts to become translucent.
  • Then add the blended tomatoes and cook covered until the oil starts to ooze out.
  • Add the dry spices – turmeric powder, red chilli powder, cumin powder, coriander powder, salt, and peanut powder. If you are adding jaggery powder or sugar, add it now.
  • Once the oil oozes out, add in the whisked yoghurt and stir continuously for a few minutes.
  • Now add the boiled chickpeas and cook covered on a medium-low flame for 5-7 minutes.
  • Check for seasoning and adjust what is needed.
  • Garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with rice or any Indian flatbread.

Notes:

  • I used already boiled chickpeas, but if you don’t have them handy, you can make it with canned chickpeas or soak a cup of dry chickpeas for 6–8 hours and then cook it in a pressure cooker or in a pan until they are soft.
  • To make roasted peanut powder, dry roast peanuts until the skin starts to split. Cool them completely and blend to a coarse powder.
  • You can also add powdered sesame seeds instead of peanuts or both together. To make powdered sesame seeds, dry roast white sesame seeds until they start to pop. Cool then pulse to make a fine powder.
  • If you plan to use other vegetables, lightly fry them in 1 tsp oil until they are 80% cooked. Then remove and keep aside and make the gravy as per the recipe above. Add them back into the gravy where I have indicated adding the boiled chickpeas.

Recipes: Chickpea Salad

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Another salad which was a huge hit at home. Again, a super easy salad which can be put together in less than 10 minutes.

I used black chickpeas in this recipe, but you can use the normal chickpeas. I used the dried chickpeas which I cooked after soaking, but you can use the canned version if that is easier.

Chickpea Salad

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup dried chickpeas (I used black chickpeas in this recipe)
  • 2 medium sized onions, finely chopped
  • 2 medium sized tomatoes, finely chopped
  • 1 medium sized potato, boiled, peeled and finely chopped
  • 1 medium sized red bell pepper, finely chopped
  • 2 tsp lemon juice
  • 2 tbsp finely chopped coriander leaves
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

  • Soak the dried chickpeas in water for 6-8 hours (or overnight), drain and cook in a pressure cooker till the chickpeas are soft and mash when pressed.
  • Drain the chickpeas and let it cool.
  • In a large serving dish, mix together the chickpeas, all the chopped vegetables and coriander leaves and mix well.
  • Add the lemon juice, salt and pepper just before serving, mix well and serve.
  • This is a yummy dish when you eat it cold and is wonderful in warm summer days.

Recipes: Chole

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This recipe for Chole (or Chana Masala) is a bit different from what you typically see in recipe blogs. I have not seen something similar below and when I made this last week, I thought, I should share with you all.

This recipe was shared by our Sindhi neighbour aeons ago to my mum and I further experimented with this recipe, with this recipe the final incarnation which I have been making for years!

Chole

  • 1 cup of dry chickpeas, soaked overnight
  • 2 tbsp each of chana dal and yellow moong dal
  • 4 onions, finely chopped
  • 3 tomatoes, finely chopped
  • 1 pod garlic, chopped
  • 1-inch pieces ginger, chopped
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1 tsp amchur powder
  • 1 tsp tamarind paste
  • 1-2 tsp chole (or chana masala) powder
  • 1 tsp garam masala powder
  • 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
  • 1-2 tsp red chilli powder
  • Salt to taste
  • 2 tbsp oil
  • Coriander leaves to garnish

Method:

  • In a pressure cooker, cook the soaked chickpeas with the turmeric powder till they are soft
  • Cook the dals (chana and moong) separately and keep aside.
  • Heat the oil in a pan and when warm, add the cumin seeds and when the seeds pop, add the garlic and stir for a few seconds. Then add the ginger and saute for a few seconds.
  • Now add half the chopped onions and saute till it becomes translucent.
  • Next, add the tomatoes and a bit of salt plus the red chilli powder and let the tomatoes cook till it becomes mushy.
  • Remove from the flame and keep aside till completely cool.
  • In a blender, blend to a fine paste with the cooked dals.
  • In the pan, pour the blended paste and let it come to a boil. Add the cooked chole and let it blend together.
  • Add the tamarind paste if using, otherwise omit this step.
  • Add the amchur powder and the garam and chole masalas and check for seasoning at this point. Add more if needed.
  • Switch off the flame, garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with puris or bhature.
  • Sprinkle the remaining chopped onions on individual servings and serve hot.
  • I usually serve it with a sprinkling of chopped onions, followed by a tsp of tamarind dates chutney and some sev.

Notes:

  • You can also cook the dals along with the chole to save time. This is how I usually do it, but this time I did as above and the result was that nobody could say there was dal in the chole and the whole gravy was super thick. Doing it with dal makes the gravy thick and you don’t need to add any thickening agents to the gravy, including blending some the cooked chole as some people are wont to do.
  • I also realised that I have not yet shared the recipe for my Tamarind Dates chutney, so will do that soon. I’ll then link this recipe to that one so you have both recipes in the same page.

Recipe: Hummus and Tahini

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I’ve made Hummus years and years back when I was on a food experimentation drive. The past few weeks, in a bid to increase good protein, I was thinking of making hummus again, but somehow this did not happen. Then the other day, I read about someone who was raving about Tesco’s caramelized onion hummus and I was intrigued. This made me want to try making hummus again, and also try it with caramelized onion. As luck would be, I also had some dry chickpeas or garbazano beans which were going to go bad soon and so this recipe of hummus soon saw the light of the day.

When I made Hummus earlier, I didn’t add Tahini paste to it, thinking I won’t get it here in Singapore. Then when I went online and found how to make it, I realised it was very simple and so this time, I made it as authentic as I could….

Hummus and Tahini

Ingredients:

Tahini 2For the Tahini Paste 

  • 2 tbsps white sesame seeds
  • 3-4 tbsps extra virgin olive oil

Hummus 2For the Hummus

  • 2 cups dried chickpeas, soaked overnight and cooked in a pressure cooker until soft
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped
  • 3-4 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
  • 3 tbsps tahini
  • 2 tbsps lemon juice
  • salt to taste

Method:

For the Tahini

  • Soak the sesame seeds in a bowl of water and drain it.
  • In a dry pan, dry roast it till it starts to crackle. This should take not more than 5-6 minutes. Do not let it brown too much and burn.
  • Take it off the gas and let it cool completely.
  • In a small mixer/blender, blend the sesame seeds to a powder, then add the olive oil and blend till it becomes a smooth paste. Keep aside.

Hummus 2For the Hummus

  • In another pan, add 1 tsp oil (I used a canola olive blend) and when it warms, add the chopped garlic and stir, letting it brown and caramalize.
  • When it browns, remove and keep aside. In the same pan, with the remaining oil, add in the chopped onions and let them brown and caramalize. Once it has browned, remove and keep aside.
  • In another mixer blender, add the chickpeas, caramalized onions and garlic, lemon juice, olive oil and tahini and blend well.
  • You can blend it smooth like I did or keep it slightly coarse. You can also keep some onions aside to use as a topping.
  • Check for salt and serve. You can also add some red chilli powder to use as a topping when serving.

I usually eat this plain, or add in my red chilli chutney and eat….

Hummus 4