Tag Archives: chickpeas

Chana Masala

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It’s fall here in New York!

After the sweltering heat of the summer, fall makes me think of snuggling on the couch in sweatpants with a warming bowl of something delicious.

We’ve been trying to lean vegetarian most weeknights so I started looking around for new recipes to try. I kept coming across recipes for Chana Masala, which is a vegetarian chickpea stew. I kept looking at the recipes and shying away because it is an Indian dish and I typically don’t like certain Indian spices.

But then I realized, I’m making the dish myself. I can adjust the spices. The best part of cooking at home is the ability to modify recipes to suit your tastes.

So this is my modified Chana Masala. It’s actually vegan (if you leave off the dollop of yogurt we put on top), incredibly easy to make and one of the tastiest things to come out of our kitchen lately. Added bonus: it’s super cheap to make. Double added bonus: it’s made in one pot and the recipe makes enough for two dinners for the two of us. Major score.

  • 2 cans chickpeas
  •  1 can diced tomato (I have used fire roasted and plain. fire roasted adds a nice smoky flavor)
  • 1 onion
  • an inch of fresh ginger
  •  2 cloves of garlic
  • 1 tablespoon tahini
  • turmeric
  • cinnamon
  • coriander
  • salt and pepper

Roughly chop the onion, ginger and garlic and place in the food processor.

Blend until it forms a paste.

Pour the mixture into a large pot. We’re going to layer flavors now into the pot. Cook the mixture over medium for about fifteen minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the rinsed and drained chickpeas and the diced tomatoes. Cook for another ten to fifteen minutes on medium.

Add the tahini, salt, pepper, coriander, turmeric and cinnamon. It’s totally up to you how much to add. I’d say a teaspoon of each or so to start. The best part of cooking with so many spices is adjusting the amounts to match your flavor preferences. I go heavier on the turmeric than the other spices.

 

Give it a stir and let it sit for at least another thirty minutes.

We served ours over rice pilaf and topped with a scoop of yogurt.

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Eggplant, Tomatoes, peppers, chickpeas.

I cook with these ingredients a lot.

Sometimes all together. Sometimes in different combinations with some other vegetables thrown in. But they’re pretty standard occupiers of my fridge.

We all go to the market and we all find ourselves coming back with the same things over and over again.

There’s not an infinite number of vegetables in the world. And there’s not an infinite number of foods to be tried.

BUT!

There are infinite possibilities when it comes to flavors.

Recently I’ve been exploring an aisle in the store I usually shied away from. Instead of picking up the usual salt, pepper and dried basil, I’ve been venturing out with things like coriander and ground ginger.

Mixing spices lets you transform your vegetables. Spices can take eggplant from Italy to Morocco and to your dinner table.

And that’s what I did with this dish. I took my usual suspects of tomatoes, eggplant, peppers and chickpeas and tossed them with some new spices. The result? The smoky and complex flavors of the dishes I’ve had in Moroccan restaurants.

For this dish you will need

  • 1 eggplant, peeled and chopped
  • 2 green bell peppers, chopped
  • 2 tomatoes, chopped
  • 1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
  • olive oil
  • salt
  • pepper
  • 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
  • 1 teaspoon allspice
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon coriander

Drizzle olive oil in a large pot and toss in the eggplant, seasoning with salt and pepper. Let the eggplant cook on its own for a few minutes until it starts to brown. Eggplant is like a sponge, so add more oil if it soak it all up.

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Add the peppers and stir, letting them soften a bit.

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Next add in the tomatoes. This is a one pot dinner that’s all about layering the flavors. The vegetables cook at different times, so by adding them in throughout the cooking process, each gets the chance to cook through without turning to mush.

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Last, add in the chickpeas and the spices. Give the pot a big stir, cover and let simmer for about 10 minutes. This is a great dish if your significant other is going to be late because it can just hang on the stove over low heat until everyone is home.

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Dish up heaping bowls and top with a scoop of tzatziki.

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The noise of the city fades as the spices transport you to a far off village…

Hummus – Meme’s Secret

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Remember yesterday when I told you that I can never get food to taste quite like meme’s?

Well, that was a tiny fib. I can get one thing right.

Hummus.

I’ve told you before about my love of tahini. Hummus is probably the most common introduction most people have to the sesame seed paste.

Nothing compares to homemade hummus. There are some store brands that are okay in a bind, but once you make it yourself, you will never be able to dip your carrots and celery sticks into the plastic tub again.

This is a ridiculously easy recipe. For a while though we couldn’t get it to taste like meme’s.

Granted, meme’s recipe was something like garlic a lil bit of lemon, a lil bit olive oil, some tahini, some pepper and the chickpeas. And fresh lemon juice. My lil bit would always be different from her lil bit.

But no matter what we did, it wasn’t quite right. It was delicious, but not quite right.

Until the day that meme told us her secret. She had been holding out on us.

So here it is. How meme makes hummus

Into the cuisinart (meme calls it a cuisinart not a food processor.) So into the cuisinart

2 cloves of garlic

3 tablespoons tahini

olive oil (enough to make the mixture smooth. this is an add and blend and add if you need more ingredient)

juice of half a lemon

a few grinds black pepper

1 can chickpeas, rinsed, and here’s the trick. reserve the liquid the chickpeas are in. Add maybe one or two tablespoons to the mix. Trust me.

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Blend it all up in the cuisinart. Serve with carrots, celery, cauliflower, warm pita, use it as a sandwich spread. This is a great healthy snack or a great way to start a meal if you’re tired of salad.

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I promise you, once you make it, you’ll never buy it again. And bonus, it’s way cheaper to make it yourself, so the money you save can go into paying for the itty bitty city kitchen. You may even be able to buy a new gadget for your kitchen!

If you can find the room for it.