Curried whole brown chickpeas

6 servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
1¼ cup Whole kala chana beans or
; dried chickpeas
5½ cup Water
1 each Bay Leaf
5 tablespoons Ghee
2 xes Inch piece cinnamon stick
6 eaches Black peppercorns
½ teaspoon Cardamom seeds
8 eaches Whole cloves
1 tablespoon Cumin seeds
1 teaspoon Minced ginger root
1 teaspoon Minced seeded hot green
; chili
1 teaspoon Turmeric
1½ teaspoon Paprika
1 teaspoon Ground coriander
½ teaspoon Cayenne pepper
½ teaspoon Asafetida powder
1 each Large firm tomoto, diced
1 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Amchoor powder OR
3 teaspoons Fresh lemon or lime juice
6 xes Lemon or lime twists for
;garnishing

Directions

1. Sort through the beans of remove any dead kernels or foreign matter. Then rinse and drain. Place the beans in a bowl, add 5½ cups of hot water and soak for a least 8 hours of overnight at room temperature.

2. Place the chickpeas and their soaking liquid in a heavy 3-4 quart saucepan. Add bay leaf and a dab of ghee or oil-butter mixter and bring to a full boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to moderately low, cover with a tight-fitting lid andgently boil for 1 ½-3 hours or until the beans are butter-soft but not broken down.

3. Drain the chickpeas, saving the liquid. Discard the bay leaf. Take out ⅓ c of the soft beans and mash into a coarse paste.

4. To make fresh garam masala, pound the cinnamon stick into small bits in a stone mortar or with a rolling pin or kitchen mallet.

Combine the cinnamon, peppercorns, cardamom seeds, cloves and cumin seeds in an electric coffee mill or stone mortar and grind to a powder.

5. Heat 3 tablespoons of ghee or oil-butter mixture in a heavy 2 ½ quart nonstick sauce over moderately high heat. When it is hot, stir in the ginger root and green chili and fry until browned. Remove the pan from the heat and spinkle in the turmeric, paprika, ground coriander, cayenne and asafetida. Stir well. Place the pan over the heat and immediately drop in the tomato. Stir-fry for 4-5 minutes or until the ghee or oil separets from the spices a tomato paste.

6. Stir in the salt, whole chickpeas, mashed chickpeas, ½ cup pf the cooking water and amchoor powder or lemon or lime juice. Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer untilthe liquid is reduced to a thick sauce. Sprinkle the finished dish with the gramam marsala powder.

Stir and and sprinkle on the remaining ghee or oil and chopped herb.

Garnish, if desired with lemon or lime wedges or twists.

Yamuna Devi. "The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking".

Submitted By KEN KUBOS On 04-25-95

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