Weekend Cooking: Chole, Indian Chickpea Curry
August 25, 2012 26 Comments
Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. It is hosted by Beth Fish Reads.
I haven’t done a Weekend Cooking post for a while. But recently, I’ve made some new dishes and remembered to take photographs!
For lunch, in the Netherlands we traditionally eat sandwiches. I am not so keen on sandwiches and try to find alternatives when I can. Chole turned out to be a really nice lunch time meal, and would also serve well as a light meal at dinner time.
I got this recipe from a Dutch website, Vegatopia. The recipe suggested naan bread, which I got from the shop, and carrot salad. My last attempt at carrot salad wasn’t successful so I sliced up a large carrot and boiled it until it was tender. It made for a fun decoration.
Here’s the recipe:
Ingredients for 2 people
1 tin of chickpeas (425 ml or 1 lbs)
1 onion, diced
2 tomatoes (or use a tin of peeled tomatoes in juice, which is what I did)
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon cinnamon
a pinch of cayenne pepper (I used chilli pepper)
a small piece of ginger, grated (I used baking ginger, from a jar)
2 tablespoons coriander (I used some from a jar)
Method
Fry the onion for about 5 minutes in a frying pan with some oil.
Add the tomatoes and spices. Stir and then add the chick peas and some salt and pepper.
Let this stew for about 10 minutes, stir occasionally.
Serve with carrot salad (or boiled carrot) and naan bread.
Results
This turned out to be just right. At first it doesn’t seem very spicy but something lingers in the mouth… The ginger and tomato make this dish a little sweet, but this is counteracted by the spices. The carrot and naan bread were good accompaniments. My son and I loved this simple recipe!
Welcome back to Weekend Cooking, Judith 🙂 You’re continuing the Indian trend that we’ve seen in the past two weeks. No complaints from me 😉 Your salad looks very colourful and I adore naan. Haven’t seen this recipe before, but will definitely give it a try.
Chinoiseries, I didn’t know there was an Indian trend (I lost touch!) but I love Indian/Thai food. This chole is a simple recipe that you could make really fast, so there’s another idea for you quest for easy recipes.
Oh yum! I’d like to try this. I don’t really like sandwiches either.
It’s very simple, Sam.
I love chickpeas, so I’ll definitely give it a try.
Karin, I didn’t know chickpeas until I went to England (many years ago now), and I loved them. I also love hummus, which is made of chickpeas.
Very delish! This is a once-a -week staple in my house, though I use a different spice combination. And i pair it with a green salad so my plate looks nice and colorful 🙂
NIranjana, I heard that there are as many different recipes for Chole as there are cooks in India! Every family has their own way of preparing this. I’m not keen on green salads, so I’ll keep to the carrots. 🙂
This sounds great! Thanks for the recipe.
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Momto3, hope you and your family will love this. Mine did!
Mmm … this looks so good and healthy! And … relatively easy to prepare. I’m wondering … would you recommend the entire amount of cinnamon for someone who is extremely sensitive to the flavor? My hubby can taste it even when I use a pinch … and it’s not a flavor he likes (go figure). Do you think the dish would be as good if I used far less … or even eliminated it? Thanks for sharing … I’m bookmarking this one!
Smallftprints, it’s very easy to prepare- no cutting! I think leaving out the cinnamon is probably fine – I didn’t really notice the taste myself.
Yay, another tasty lunch idea. Will make a nice change from sandwiches. I like all the spices included. Thanks!
Hope you’ll enjoy making this, Jama.
I like the idea of using the carrot as a garnish. My post this week is all about chickpeas in the form of hummus.
Hummus is so nice! I’ll check out your post. I almost bought some hummus ready made in the shop today but it was a bit expensive. Making your own is even better!
This looks nice. Have a great week.
PS Just to let you know that I run a monthly series called Books You Loved. The current one is the August edition and a new edition will go up about the 10th Sept. If you would like to contribute, you would be more than welcome
Thanks, Carole, I’ll have a look.
I love curries, and this is very simple. Perfect for a meal in itself or even a side dish. The carrot garnish is nice touch.
Beth, yes, this would work fine as a side dish too.
i love chickpeas..I love curry, so this sounds like an easy winner.
Oh, this looks delicious! I really need to branch out more and try dishes like this for lunch. I’m usually just a salad, sandwich or soup person – and that’s a little boring after a while. Thanks for sharing!
Cecelia, this is such a simple recipe, it doesn’t take any time to make, and it makes a nice change.
What a great alternative to boring sandwiches for lunch; thanks for posting it.
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