07/18/2023
black chickpeas/kala channa.
i was happy to see a big bag of this pulse in a local supermarket the other day, alongside a well-priced large bag of tiny dried red chillies. Smaller, tougher skinned dense in fibre than more commonly seen chickpeas or garbanzo beans, these make a hearty and satisfying stew or soup. They definitely benefit from a long soak and a change of boiling water mid way through cooking. I did a spicy curry with them as follows:
soak 2 cups of dried black chickpeas overnight. rinse them and bring to a boil with a handful of small dried chillies. simmer til nearly tender.
meanwhile toast a tbsp of cumin seeds and grind in a mortar with 4 cloves garlic, a k**b of ginger and then 2-3 tomatoes. fry this paste in a slug of oil in til the tomato juice evaporates and it smells of toasty garlic, add a spoon of turmeric and stir over the heat for 30 seconds. set aside.
Drain the chickpeas, rinse them, then add back to the pot with the tomato spice paste, a peeled diced potato, a chopped green chilli, a spoonful of garam masala, good pinch of salt and cold water to cover. simmer again until the potato is soft and the gravy is thick.
i will eat this for lunch this week with cucumber yoghurt and toasted sourdough or chapatis if i feel like making them. obviously over rice would also work. you could also add a load of spinach to this at the end of cooking for a more complete meal, as i would have done had the chickens not destroyed most of our spinach last week 😂
