Chick pea Curry (Chole or chana curry)

Garbonzo beans are also  referred to as chick peas, chole or chana and  are a good source of proteins.  They come in two or three varieties.  The most popular are the fairly large white chick peas often called Kabuli Chana, the small dark brown variety or a strange almost greeny colour..  They can be cooked in lots of different styles and also served with rotlis, puris or bhaturas.  They can also be eaten boiled in salads or bhels or even fried to be eaten as a snack.

Ingredients (serves 2):

2 cups of boiled kabuli chick peas.  Note: If using dry chick peas, you need to soak them overnight before boiling them until soft. Using a pressure cooker makes this process a bit faster.  ( In some countries, like Kenya, we had to add half a teaspoon of  soda bi carbonate to the water while cooking the chickpeas or any lentils.  If you didn't add soda bi carbonate, the lentils would not cook!  Not sure whether it was because of the altitude or the water).  Canned chick peas are also available in most UK supermarkets. I used the large white chick peas  called Kabuli chana.  But the same recipe can be used for the small dark brown variety of chick peas.

half a can of crushed tomatoes ( you can used fresh tomatoes too)
2  tablespoon cooking oil (I used sunflower oil)
1 teaspoon dry cumin, 2 small pieces of cinammon, 3 small cloves
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon chilly powder
1 reaspoon crushed garlic
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons jaggery or brown sugar

For garnishing:

Some curry leaves

Method:

1. Lightly warm the cumin in a wok or saucepan until you get the lovely cumin fragrance

2. Add the 2 tablespoons cooking oil to this, add the cloves and cinammon and allow the cumin to cook until it looks dark.

3. Add the garlic and tomatoes to the mixture and stir.

4. Add all the spices, lemon and jaggery to the tomato mixture. 

5. Cook all the ingredients until the tomatoes go soft and homogenous.

6. Add the boiled chick peas to the mixture and cook for a further 10 minutes on a medium heat.

7. Remove the chick pea curry to a serving dish and sprinkle it with some chopped onions, green chillies and coriander.

8. Some people add tamarind sauce to this curry but this is an acquired taste so only add tamarind if you like  the sweet and sour taste.

9. This curry should be served hot with any of the Indian breads.

10  You can also serve this as a starter by serving it as a topping over Alu tikkis.  (Alu tikkis are potato pattis stuffed with peas

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