An Easy Chole (Indian Chickpea) Recipe

Its funny to suddenly crave a food that you haven't really been that fond of in the past.  That recently happened to me when I started thinking about chole, an Indian chickpea dish.  Although I have eaten plenty of chole in the past, I don't think its ever really counted as one of my favorites.  I decided to satisfy this newfound desire by buying a can of chickpeas at the supermarket (instead of paying $10 for this dish as nearby restaurants!), and looking around my apartment and the Internet for recipes.  I couldn't find anything that really would work with the ingredients in my house, so I decided to improvise a bit based on my of my latest experiments with North Indian cooking. 

The recipe I came up with was definitely what I was looking for — spicy and substantive.  And because I enjoyed the leftovers so much, I decided to make the recipe again just week or two after the first attempt.  I definitely encourage to try this recipe, though some may need to down (or up) the spice based on preference.

Ingredients

• 1 can chickpeas, very lightly washed and partially drained
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds
• 1 tsp. ground coriander
• 2 tsp. prepared ginger garlic paste (or mince equal parts ginger and garlic to reach this amount)
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 thai green chili peppers (or substitute other hot peppers), coarsely chopped
• 1 1/2 medium-sized tomatoes, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 tsp. turmeric
• 1/2 tsp. garam masala
• 1/2 tsp. chili powder
• salt
• vegetable oil

Directions

• Heat in a medium pot 1 – 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil and add cumin and coriander, stirring lightly and cooking until fragrant (maybe 30 seconds – 1 minute).
• Add ginger garlic paste, chopped onion and hot peppers and saute for 2 – 3 minutes until the onion is translucent.
• Stir in the tomatoes, turmeric and garam masala, and cook the mixture until the tomatoes reduce in volume and break down (3 – 4 minutes)
• Stir in chickpeas, with some of the water from the washing, and 1/2 tsp. salt.  Coat the chickpeas with the onion, tomato and spice mixture.
• Cover, and stir periodically.  Add water if necessary to ensure the mixture isn't sticking to the pot.  Cook for 20 minutes or until chickpeas are hot and absorb the flavors of the spice mixture.  Finish by adding the chili powder and salt to taste.