Weekday Vegetarian: Curried Chickpeas

Kelly Rossiter/CC BY 2.0

I've been on a bit of an Indian food kick the last few days. Much of Indian cuisine can be a bit daunting because there are usually so many ingredients, and sometimes lots of steps, but I have a great book entitled India's Vegetarian Cooking by Monisha Bharadwaj that is completely accessible. The chickpea dish we had for dinner last night took about 10 minutes to make, and I had all the ingredients in my cupboard.

This recipe is actually just for chickpeas, but I cooked some cauliflower and sauteed some mushrooms and then just added them in with the chickpeas and sauce, so that I wouldn't have to cook a separate dish for the vegetables. This was simple, healthy and really tasty, the perfect mid-week dinner. If you don't have any asafoetida, don't worry. It enhances the flavour, but you can certainly make this recipe without it.

Curried Chickpeas

1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
2 tbsp sunflower oil
Pinch of asafoetida
Salt
1 16 oz tin of chickpeas, drained
1 tbsp lemon juice
Few cilantro leaves, chopped

1. Mix all the spice powders with about 4 tablespoons of water and reserve.

2. Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan and add the asafoetida. Reduce the heat, stand back and pour in the spice liquid. Let it sizzle for one minute or so and add the salt and the chickpeas.

3. Pour in about 2/3 cup of water and bring to the boil. Simmer for a couple of minutes, crushing a few of the peas with the back of the spoon to thicken the sauce. This should be fairly liquid but have some consistency. Take off the heat and serve hot, sprinkled with the lemon juice and cilantro.