Spicy Kabuli Chana/Chickpeas with Veggies

Kabuli Chana/Chickpeas/Garbanzo beans needs no introduction, it's one popular bean through out the world. Specially in Mediterranean & Indian(to be more specific north Indian) Cuisine it has a lot of importance, 99% of Indian restaurants have Punjabi Chole/Chana Masala on their menu. Kabuli Chanas are white in color & the name Kabuli comes from the city name Kabul(capital of Afghanistan). For very long time Afghanistan was the gateway to Indian sub-continent and it is suppose to be the place from where Kabuli Chana/Chickpeas were introduced in Indian subcontinent. Now, India is the largest producer of Chickpeas in world.

From Indian Cuisine the most popular Chana/Chickpeas dish is Chana Masala or very popularly known as Chole in north Indian households, which goes with the combination of Puri/Bhatura/Kulcha (flat Indian breads). I have already posted Chana Masala/Punjabi Chole recipe here. Today I'm sharing a very healthy but less time consuming recipe and taste wise also it's a hit.

What U need :

• 1 cup of dried uncooked chanas/chickpeas, soaked overnight.
• 1 tablespoon of chopped garlic
• 1 med. size onion, thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoon of tomato paste
• 3-4 green chillies, chopped finely
• 1 & 1/2 cup of veggies, chopped into small bite size pieces( I used carrot, zucchini & eggplant/baingan)
• salt
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tsp. paprika
• 1 tsp. dhania/coriander powder
• 1 tsp. jeera/cumin powder
• 1 tsp. garam masala
• handful of chopped cilantro for garnish
• l & 1/2 tablespoon oil

What U do :

1. Boil the chickpeas with 1 tsp. of salt & 2 bay leaves.
2. Once the chickpeas are cooked, heat oil in a heavy bottom pan. Saute garlic for few seconds, add onions, cook till translucent.
3. Add chopped veggies, sprinkle some salt, saute them. Once they are around half done add all the dry spices.
4. Next add tomato paste & little liquid from boiled chickpeas and green chillies. Also add drained chickpeas(see notes) to it and cook it covered till the veggies are done.
5. Garnish with fresh cilantro & serve with roti/naan or with your fav. bread.

If U don't count the time for boiling the chickpeas, this dish hardly takes 20 minutes or so and it's ready for one wholesome meal.

Notes :

1. If U prefer canned chickpeas, drain the liquid & rinse them with fresh water, no need to boil.
2. In case if U r boiling your own chickpeas try to boil them with just enough water as the final dish is dry kind. But if U have extra liquid use it in other dishes or for roti (Indian flat bread)dough.
3. I usually boil some extra chickpeas & keep them handy in the fridge to throw them in different dishes & if nothing else, works good in lentil salad.
4. I use whatever veggies I have on hand , so far I've used celery, parsnip/mooli, cauliflower, Indian bottle gourd/ghiya, spinach, beetroot(careful with this as it'll turn the whole dish into dark pinkish red color, so only if U like it that way).
5. I usually add all the veggies together (except leafy ones if using), that way the veggies which cook quickly like zucchini will get mushed up & U get kind of thick masala(not too much). For leafy veggies I add them once rest of the veggies are half done.

Roasting the Aubergine(Eggplant)

For roasting the baingan aka eggplant, there are different techniques :

1) For the most tasty one roast it directly on the fire(if u r lucky enough to have a gas stove). B’coz no other way can beat the taste of fire roasted eggplant. Wash & pat dry the eggplant then rub little cooking oil all over the eggplant. Put it directly on the gas (med.-high) & when the skin start getting charred (burn marks) just rotate it. Do it till its roasted from all sides.The aroma will tell u it’s roasted(takes around 10-12 min.).

2) Now for those who like me don’t have luxury of gas stove can double wrap the eggplant in a heavy duty foil, put it on the stove top(med-high). Make sure u wrap it nicely-no open ends, otherwise the juices will run out on the stove(so be ready to do the cleanup).Same as first method u got to rotate it but this time to check if it’s roasted or not just press the packet with a wooden spoon and if u feel it’s hard means need more roasting on that spot otherwise if it’s firm means done (takes around 15 min.).

I only do this when I’m roasting just 1 eggplant as I need to baby sit this.

3) For most easy & efficient way just wash & pat dry the eggplant then rub some cooking oil on it & put them in a baking sheet & broil in the oven. You need to rotate these one also may be 1 or 2 time so they are charred from all the sides.

This method is very handy when u want to roast more then one(like I do 3-4 at a time). As u can freeze the x’tra ones for later use.

Now the major part is done. Next either dip the roasted eggplant in cold tap water or let it cool then take off all the skin, which will be easy to peel now.Take all the meat(pulp) of the veg. and using knife or backside of the fork just mash it.It’s ready to be used.

Note : If not using it right away just sprinkle little salt & cooking oil on the roasted eggplant meat, mix it nicely & freeze it.Next time when u crave baingan bhartha no need to go thru all the roasting part.

Baingan Ka Bhartha with Matar(Peas)

(Baba Ghanoush-eggplant dip)

This is one of those dishes which me & my dear hubby both likes or I should say love. We can eat it everyday with anything like roti, parantha, bread, rice,salt crackers or just with the spoon yep! to get it’s real taste you just need to eat it by itself. Though the bhartha I make is fairly tasty enough but I still love the taste of bhartha which my mom makes, it use to be in big demand among my colleagues back in India.

I call Bhartha the Indian version of Baba Ghanoush, which is a dish from Middle East & use tahini in its preparation.I know many people who think bhartha is a time consuming dish, but it's not. It's only the roasting part which take some time other than that it's very easy to cook. For roasting baingan(eggplant) you can click here.

Ingredients :

1. Pulp(meat) of 2 Medium size Roasted Eggplants
2. Half a cup frozen sweet Peas
3. One Large Onion diced
4. Two Roma Tomatoes diced
5. Green Chillies chopped 3-4
6. Jeera(cumin seeds) – 1 tsp.
7. Turmeric-1/4 tsp.
8. Red chilli powder-1 tsp.
9. Dhania(coriander) Powder-1& ½ tsp.
10. Garam Masala-1/2 tsp.
11. Salt-as per taste
12. Oil-2 tablespoon
13. Fresh Cilantro-handful

Method :

1. First & the most important step for making bhartha is to roast the baingan aka eggplant. How to roast an eggplant.

2. Once the roasting is done, heat little oil in some heavy Karahi or wok.Add cumin seeds to it & when they start to splutter add onions and sprinkle half a tsp. of salt. Saute them a little bit on med. high flame around 5-7 min.

3. When the onions become translucent add tomatoes and chopped green chillies, stir them.

4. After 5-7 min. when tomatoes become soft add eggplant meat & peas(frozen). Mix everything gently and let it cook for 2-3 min. then add turmeric, chilli powder, dhania powder, garam masala & salt(remember we used the salt on the onions also so please adjust the quantity) mix it & let it cook for around 10 min. covered in med.-low gas( If u are using less oil then u might need to stir it more frequently).

5. Before serving put chopped cilantro on top & serve it warm.

Ratatouille Masaledar

(Indian Style)

For those who are not familiar to the term ratatouille, let me please tell you that it doesn't have anything to do with Rats. Ratatouille is a traditional French Provençal stewed vegetable dish, originating in Nice. The full name of the dish is ratatouille niçoise(source : wikipedia). I have seen many different versions of it on food tv so there is no hard & fast rule except that it's mainly tomato based dish with zucchini, aubergine(eggplant) & onion as the main vegetables plus some herbs of your choice.So today morning when i woke up thinking in my mind what to cook for lunch & open the cooler box(yes i mean fridge). It was full of vegetables thanks to our love for fresh veggies whenever me & my hubby dear go for groceries together, result is lots & lots of fresh veggies & fruits. So i guess you guessed it that we had a trip to the grocery store yesterday.I didn't wanted to make aloo-baingan, except me no one is very fond of zucchini as a subji with roti in my house but for some reason i wanted to cook these two things. So here comes Ratatouille Masaledar. I hope all of you gonna enjoy it as much as we did.

Ingredient :

1. One medium size Eggplant
2. 2 Green Zucchini
3. 1 med. Size potato
4. 1 white Onion
5. 1 large tomato
6. 2 Carrots
7. ½ cup chopped green beans
8. 4-5 garlic cloves
9. Salt as per taste.
10. Green chillies 3-4
11. Fresh cilantro or parsley chopped a handful
12. Enough oil to saute all the vegetables(preferably Olive Oil)
13. Panch Puran spice mix 2 tsp.
    Panch Puran is a fragrant mix of five whole spices - fenugreek seeds, mustard seeds, kalonji (onion) seeds, fennel seeds and cumin seeds. Mainly used in Bengali & Oriya cuisine.

Method :
Chop eggplant,zucchini,potato, onion & tomato into 1 inch cubes. Slice the carrots(not too thick)& chop the garlic too(I like it sliced).

In a heavy bottom pan heat up some oil(enough to coat the bottom of the pan). Add eggplant saute them around 7-8 min. on med. high. When they turn brown from all the sides take them out using a slotted spoon.Now add zucchini to the pan (if needed add little bit more oil)saute it too. Once done take it out of the pan. These 2 vegetables can easily become mushy so be careful not to overcook these, they should be holding there shape & a little bit of crunch too.

Next add little bit more oil to the same pan & shallow fry the potatoes & when potatoes are half way done, move them to the side of the pan & tilt the pan onto one side (by holding it little bit up from the opposite side) & add garlic saute it add panch puran let the spices saute little bit now add carrots & beans(If needed add little bit of oil) . After 2-3 minutes add chopped onion. Let everything cook for roughly 5 min.

It does sound little bit of confusing but the order in which we are adding vegetables is just to make sure that all of them get coating(flavor) of olive oil & believe me sauteing the veggies one by one really adds to the flavours as compared to putting everything together.

Now it's time to add tomatoes & chopped green chillies.Let them cook for 3-4 min. and it's time to return the sauted eggplant & zucchini to the pan. Add the salt too & stir everything together very gently, you don't want to break eggplant & zucchini.Cover it & cook it for another 5 minutes or till the potatoes are done. Before serving add the fresh herb on top.......we had ours with the thinly sliced green onions on top.

Serve with warm roti or naan.