June 26, 2008

Sweet and Sour Chickpeas for 3 - events!!



I think I am a pleased woman since I blush so much
I am so soft and shiny to your delicate touch
But look what I have for relatives, so different with no common string
One used for smoking, one for hotness, one used to refer idler and one referred as veggie's King

I am not what you refer to me most often
I am 'fruit' of labour but never called one so
I am neither a wolf nor a peach in the scale of one to ten
but then why do you think I am called one as so?

I can go green with envy, or completely red with anger
A little crown on my head makes my walk look like a swagger
You cant do without me in your day to day cooking
Tell me what veggie I am without too much thinking.


No, I did not become a poet all of a sudden! This is what jumped out at me when I opened Box 2 of "Open Sesame-2" event. These riddles are the poetic words of Dhivya of "Culinary Bazaar" for the event organised by Siri of "Siri's Corner". This was my first riddle, and I was super nervous! It reflected on my guess, I guess. I guessed it to be bell peppers, but I was wrong! Oooops, there went my 25 points!! Then I got the first hint which was "In early 17th century, these were referred 'Love Apples'". Well, I sent my second guess... ooooh yes, the pleasant woman who blushes a lot is the TOMATO! Phew! that went well, 20 points in the bag! A message to all who havent signed up for Open Sesame - please do, its loads of fun doing the riddle! I loved it!


Coming to the recipe, this is a quick and easy recipe (and certainly new to me) which can be used as a side dish with rice or with any of the Indian breads. As the name implied, the chickpeas curry was sweet and sour, but a little too sour for my tastes. JM also remarked that it is a bit sour (note: sour not bitter) which I should have expected with tamarind and tomatoes. I had used fewer tomatoes than suggested, but even then, I felt that for my tastes it shouldve been a bit more on the spicier side. So I would suggest you to reduce either the amount of tamarind or tomatoes. But I think it would be ideal for chaats. I should tell you that it looked awesome with a thick gravy and it tasted heavenly with naan. I used canned (and thereby cooked) chickpeas and so my work was reduced in half. Enjoy!! :-) For another tasty recipe with tomatoes, check out my Turkish tomato pilaf.



Recipe (Serves 6) :

Chickpeas - 2 1/4 cups (500g)
Oil or ghee - 2 tbsp
Large red onions - 2, thinly sliced
Ginger - 3/4", finely chopped
Sugar - 2 tsp
Ground coriander - 2 tsp
Ground cumin - 2 tsp
Chilli powder - a pinch (otional)
Garam masala - 1 tsp
Tamarind puree - 3 tbsp
Ripe tomatoes - 4, chopped
Water - 2 cups
Chopped cilantro or mint - 4 tbsp

Method:

Soak the chickpeas (if using raw peas) overnight in 8 cups of water and drain.

Cook the peas in 8 cups of water until tender. Drain and keep aside.

Heat the oil in a heavy-based pan.

Fry the onion until soft and brown.

Stir in the ginger and stir fry for about 30 seconds.

Add the chickpeas, sugar, coriander, cumin, chilli powder, garam masala and a pinch of salt.

Stir and then add the tamarind puree and tomatoes.

Simmer for 2-3 minutes.

Pour 2 cups of water, bring to a boil and cook until the sauce is thickened.

Stir in the coriander leaves.

Serve warm.

Source: The Food of Indian - a journey for food lovers by Priya Wickramasinghe.


Tips:

  1. I used canned cooked chickpeas (425g/15oz).
  2. I used 3 medium yellow onions and chopped them up finely, rather than slicing it.
  3. I had store-bought tamarind puree.
  4. To make up the 2 cups of water, use the drained liquid from the can + water.
  5. Since I wanted a somewhat dry curry, I kept the chickpeas mixture on the heat longer, to make it drier.









So here is my submission to the OS-2 event with our dear vegetable TOMATO....Well, I've actually targeted three events with this recipe! I am also sending this recipe to JFI - Tamarind hosted by Sig of Live to eat and Eat Healthy - Protein Rich Contest hosted by Sangeeth of the Art of Cooking Indian Food. Enjoy!

28 comments:

Kalai said...

Delicious multi-entry, JZ! That was a really cute riddle by Dhivi, too! :)

FH said...

Kewl!! I love Chole, ready for the fourth recipe now! HeHe!!
Looks great JZ, great entry.
How come your white dish photos don't get the glare I get? I have too much light where I photograph I guess!:D

Srikitchen said...

yummy as well as tangy recipe.. usually am impresessed with the pics and ur presentation.. itz always awesome dear..

Laavanya said...

I have not attempted any of these riddles before but I truly admire those who came up with it :) Real good.
The sweet and sour chickpeas sound really tangy and tasty JZ.

Rachel said...

Decadent!!! one beautiful creation for all 4 entries!!!

ranji said...

nice riddle isn it...chole is universal fav...love it anytime:)..even ur simple presentation is so beautiful...great job...hope ur wrist is doing fine now...

Trupti said...

Hey JZ, I am glad that you solve the riddle. Chole curry looks delicious. I will try this recipe next week when I am expecting some guests.

Suganya said...

Hi JZ....
Sweet and sour chickpeas looks great. YUM!.... that was a wise idea of sending one recipe to 3 events.

Actually i am not feeling well..... Cold n fever.... So not feeling like sitting on the system for few days. Hopefully will start from Monday. I have missed many of ur posts and many bloggers too.

Enjoy....

Sig said...

Great job solving the riddle JZ! That is a great dish... thank you for this entry!

Dori said...

Chickpeas are my favorite... Looks so good!

Sailaja said...

Delicious entry. Great pictures.
I hope your wrish is fine now.

Cham said...

I got to take a class for presentation with U :) Yummiest recipe :)

Sailaja said...

Jz, Sorry for the typo in my comment.

I hope your wrist is fine now.

-Sailaja

Sujatha said...

Wow, that was a cute riddle :) I surely will checkout the event.

Your Chickpeas looks delicious, I love the color and the way you have presented.. very appetizing.. Cheers :)

Sailaja said...

JZ,
Something is waiting for u in my blog.

Rajitha said...

yum! love chole...and urs has a good color to it...and great job on cracking the riddles..i suck at things like those!

Siri said...

All the pics are droolworthy JZ and thank you dearie! glad to know that u had fun playing OS 2..:)

Hugs,
Siri

Illatharasi said...

Pick up your award from my blog;)

Rock everyday with your presentations:)

Deepthi Shankar said...

delicious ... love the tangy taste of tamarind

A_and_N said...

Hi, I think this is my first visit to your blog. I love the 'sweet and sour' idea! Sounds really yummy! Thanks for the recipe :)

Unknown said...

Loved it.I just made chole yesterday..Looks delicious.And your mango lassi pic..so perfect..

@the_whisk_affair said...

Thanks Kalai, Asha and Srilekha!! I just have a pair of lighst on where I take these food pictures, maybe thats why! :-)

Laavanya, its fun to do the riddles, so whats there to lose if we dont get it, try them sometime...and thanks!!

Thanks Rachel and Ranji! Yes, my wrist is much better now!

Trupti, I am glad u decided to try them out...:-)

Hey Sukanya, Sig, Meeso and Sailaja! Thanks for your comments, and Sailaja, my wrist is feeling much better now, thanks a lot for ur concern! :-)

hehe Cham, come over, I'll give you some pointers! and u r modest to say that u need a class! urs is awesome!

No probs sailaja, thanks again..and thank you sooo much for tagging me!! :-)

Thanks Sujatha and Rajitha! :-) try the event out, its fun..

I sure had fun Siri!

Thank you sooo much for the award Illatharasi!! :-)

Thanks VP and A&N! Welcome to my blog A & N!

@the_whisk_affair said...

Thanks a lot Maheswari! :-)

Ramya's Mane Adige said...

I opened Box 2 too!! OS event is indeed so much fun!! Love your tomato-chickpea combo

Chef Jeena said...

What a fabulous way to eat chickpeas for dinner, yummy!

@the_whisk_affair said...

Thanks Ramya and Jeena!! :-) I thought no one else opened OS-2 !! :-)

KALVA said...

just made Chana Batura.. but i dint ad tamrind.. next time ill try ur version dear

Hetal said...

Thats a lovely recipe for the event....I also chose the same box and had lots of fun solving the riddle...