Chickpea Curry

When food supplies are running low in the house, usually I am left with 2 options: (a) to order pizzas online or (b) instant noodles. Although both options do not require much effort, they don’t provide much health benefits either. I was raiding my pantry for some quick meal ideas to discover that I have a can of chickpeas hidden at the far corner of my pantry. That’s what happens when you own a cluttered pantry! I have completely forgotten about this can of chickpeas which originally intended for hummus. Since I was not going to make hummus any time soon, making curry out of these chickpeas did not sound like a bad idea!

{Hummus can wait, curry can’t!}

(A fuss free cooking recipe)

Serves 2-3

Ingredients A:

400g canned chickpeas

1 red onion, peeled & finely chopped

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

2 tbsp tomato paste

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp coriander powder

1 tsp turmeric powder

Some water

Salt to taste

Coriander for garnish

Ingredients B:

1/2 inch thick ginger

2 garlic cloves

A pinch of salt

Methods:

1. Use mortar and pestle, pound ingredients B into a fine paste.

2. In a pot, heat up 3 tbsp of oil with cumin seeds and mustard seeds.

3. When the seeds begin to pop, add onion and saute until golden brown.

4. Add ginger-garlic paste and ground cumin, coriander and turmeric powder into the onion mixture and saute until aromatic. If the mixture starts to stick , add a little water.

5. Add tomato paste and let the mixture cook further until the oil begins to separate. If the bottom starts to stick again, add water little by little.

6. Stir in chickpeas and pour enough water to cover them. Let the curry bubble away until tender/borderline mushy.

7. Season and salt and simmer further for 10 minutes.

8. Just before serving, sprinkle chopped coriander and best served hot with rice/bread.

(Emily’s note: Instead of chickpeas, you can substitute with any canned legumes of you choice i.e. red kidney beans or four mix beans}

Chickpea Curry (Channa)