Monday, February 20, 2006

ARF/5-a-Day#8 and HFCIPTP #2

Another week gone by and it's Sweetnicks' ARF/5-a-day Tuesday again! This event has truly changed the way I approach my Monday night dinners :-) I did not need to be extra creative to accomplish ARF meals on my stock-limited pantry. I had plenty of canned chick peas which formed the basis of my 'Methi Kabuli Channa (Chick peas with fenugreek leaves). Here's a great picture of methi leaves by Indira. Today's recipe is adapted from Hemant Trivedi's, specifically I substituted dried kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves) for fresh ones. This is a Rajasthani (a desert in India) recipe, which is cooked without onions, garlic and other vegetables since they were hard to come by in the desert climate. Still, this is one of the best chick pea recipes I have tried, and I will definitely be making it again (with fresh leaves!)

Chick peas are a great source of protien, and contain a substance called saponin, which can act as antioxidants. Here is the recipe for "Fenugreek Chick Peas"

Fenugreek Chickpeas
1 tbsp Ghee (Clarified butter) or oil
1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
4-5 cloves
1/2 inch sticks cinnamon
1/2 tsp asafetida
3/4 tsp mustard seeds
Heat oil in a saute pan/sauce pan and add the seeds. Allow seeds to sputter.
2 green chilies, chopped finely
3.5 tablespoons kasuri methi
Add and allow to sear very briefly until fragrance exudes
3/4 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp garam masala powder
1 tsp asafetida
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
salt to taste
2 tbsp tomato paste
Add to the 'tadka' and stir
2- 14oz cans of chick peas drained and rinsed
1 cup of water
Amchur (dry mango pow) or tamarind paste, to taste for desired sourness
Add and allow to simmer. Crush a few chick peas to thicken the gravy/sauce
1 tsp besan (chickpea flour)
2-3 tbsp cold water
Mix flour and water to form a thick paste. Add to the chick peas and allow to simmer for 5-7 minutes

Serve hot with warm chappatis or a bed of steaming rice.

14 comments:

sailu said...

GM,I guess the use of fresh methi leaves gives a slightly different flavour and texture to the dish.Nice recipe without the use of onions and the use of hing gives it a lovely aroma and flavour too.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the mention GM.

A new recipe with chickpeas and fenugreek. I Like the combination, surely going to try.

You like tables, ha...:) Neat and pretty look!

Meenal Mehta said...

hey garam masala,

i eat choley all the time ..a twist to recipe finally , nice :)

GourmayMasala said...

Thanks Sailu, Indira & Meenal! I am glad you like the recipe. We all like a change from the mundane! If you use fresh methi, be sure to cook the leaves until they are wilted and cooked before adding the chickpeas.

Indira - I like the table format too. I feel it makes it easy to scan through the recipe and understand it quickly. Also, we can easily copy and paste it into excel, and print more than one recipe on a page etc. This is an inspiration from the format used at www.cookingforengineers.com

Kay said...

Ah! My favourite chole! Everybody's cooking up my fav foods, this week! :)

Cooking chole with kasoori methi leaves seem interesting. Thanks GM! These days I put kasoori methi in everything - yesterday in dal, some days before in Pulao... next time, I'll give this a try.

I occasionally add palak to rajma and it turns out nice. Only later, I came to know some maharastrians always cook Rajma that way.

Anonymous said...

Yummy pic, very interesting recipe... going to try it tonight, methinks.

I like reading Mr Trivedi's recipes even if I havent tried out too many - they sound SO complicated!

Sury said...

Looks and sounds excellent! I have to try this soon; thanks for sharing. This will put my big packet of kasoori methi to some good use as well. lol

GourmayMasala said...

Kay - Glad you like it. Nice combination of rajma and spinach. I've never tried it!

Shammi - Hope the recipe worked for you! Yup Trivedi's recipes look wordy, but his explanations of why certain things are done are great I think.

Sury - Thanks! Do let me know if the recipe worked out for you!

kpks said...

Hi,
I tried this today, subsituting black eye dpeas for the chana. Looked yummy! and my nearly 4 year old didnt complain.
KPKS

Priya said...

Hi Gm , i made this today and it was tasted real good. Thanx for sharing the recipe. And thanx to Kay on her suggestions on adding palak to rajma,though iam a maharashtrians i never knew it.

GourmayMasala said...

kpks - I am glad the recipe worked for you. Your kid didn't complain, now thats a compliment :) Thanks!

priya - you tried it too! Glad you liked it.

Sumi said...

I tried this receipe of yours and it turned out great.I used frozen methi cubes, instead of the dry powder.I should say, its a very nice dish to do on one of those days when you run out of onions and other vegetables...
It was over very quick, i couldnt take a picture, But I will take one, when I do it for the next time.Thanks for the must keep receipe.

Anonymous said...

Wow !! I tried this recipe today and it was awesome...easy recipe ...tastes great...it sure is a keeper !! it has a nice unique flavour to it. thanks for the wonderful recipe.

Anonymous said...

Friends,

This is Hemant Trivedi on a walk on cyber way. I was googling for feedback and I land here.
Glad to know you liked Rajasthani Chole with Methi.

I am sorry if my recipes seem too long. It is just that I do not want people to make mistakes in preparing a dish.

Keep cooking different things using my recipes.
Chao

Hemant Trivedi