I have a theory about Montreal. Everyone who goes to McGill comes back bald. I have a cousin and one husband to prove that. Not that genes helped them there but there’s something there that normalises male pattern baldness.

In the mid to late 1990s, my husband was writing his PhD in the terribly balding vicinities of Montreal. Not one to let anything stand between him and his work, food soon became just a necessity. For more than 10 months straight, this man only ate chickpeas and yogurt on rice.

Over two decades later, his obsession with chickpeas nor his cooking abilities have transcended that era. He (and now we) call it his “Wholesome Nutritious Meal”

I however, lover of all things fine, couldn’t stand making a meal as simplistic as dumping a can of chickpeas in a bowl of yogurt and shoveling it in with rice. His 15 minute fix to not starving himself to death because can’t be bothered to spend more time on this useless activity. (Chefs of the world jumping off a cliff. In turns)

So I improvise.

I’ve made this super ginger-y Chanaa Pulaao courtesy girlfrand Sarah Jafri Mir and it was an instant hit with Raita.

See what I did there? Rice. Yogurt. Chickpeas?

I’ve made this fantastic Chickpea Raita that I think I invented on a whim. Make a separate post methinks? Perhaps next time I make it I’ll take some pictures. But yeah see what I did again?

Yogurt and Chickpeas. (We always always have cooked rice in the house)

Today I got up to make my famous red beans (that I must write about too) and every can I picked up would be chickpeas. Only a few of red beans.

Cans? In Pakistan? What is wrong with you girl? Don’t you have any regard for your ROOTS that damn you to toil in the kitchen soaking them creamy coloured balls of steal overnight and then agonisingly cook till they soften?

Yeah no. I don’t do hard work. Also I have this debilitating fear of the pressure cooker hat has only increased over time. Sure we’ve had it in our house all our lives and I’ve even cooked with it earlier in life when I was at my mom’s house. However both my husband and I unanimously decided to never allow this contraption in our house.

So either it is long, laborious cooking or canned stuff. Beans and Chickpeas etc, I’d choose a can. Happily.

 

I love this recipe. I love a nice Chanaa Shorba.

I have no idea how many recipes I mixed of OTHER things to come up with this one but here it is in all its glory.

Ingredients

3 large onions (2 cubed, 1 finely sliced.)

2 large tomatoes (roughly chopped)

2 tablespoons ginger garlic paste

2 tablespoons cooking oil or enough to coat the base of your pot.

1 to 2 bay leaves

5 to 6 cloves

3 to 4 green cardamoms

2 black cardamoms

5 to 6 peppercorns

1-2 pieces of cinnamon bark

1 teaspoon cumin (I like it when it is while. If you don’t like that effect when eating, maybe use powder instead)

2 teaspoons coriander powder

1/4 teaspoon red chili powder

1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder

1/2 teaspoons garam masala

2 (15 1/2-ounce) cans of chickpeas

salt (to taste)

Hot Water (enough to make a gravy. Usually 1.5 cup is fine)

1-inch piece of ginger (finely julienned) OR finely sliced Onions for garnishing.

2 tablespoons fresh coriander leaves (chopped fine)

The recipe itself:

Start by draining the chickpeas in a Colander and then giving them a quick wash. Keep them aside.

Bonk the tomatoes, chopped onions (not the sliced one!) and ginger garlic paste in a blender and turn it into a purée. If it refuses to budge like mine did and only keeps going for a ride around the jug, add some water to melt it into submission and you shall have a purée.

Heat the cooking oil and add the kharaa masala to it (Bay leaves, both cardamoms, cinnamon bark, peppercorns, cloves). Once you can smell it (like nicely. Not like burning!) add the finely sliced Onions to it and cook it till it is just a nice golden brown. Then add your tomatoes, onion and ginger garlic purée to this.

Let it cook until the oil begins to rise to the top.

Now add the rest of the masala. Cumin (whole or powder) coriander, red chilli powder, turmeric, garam masala. Mix it

 well and sauté until the oil rises. Add a little water (like a tablespoon or two), cook it some more till the oil rises. Then add some more water. Cook it out again. Incorporate around 1/2 cup water in here. This is in addition to the water for gravy later by the way.

Once you’re happy with the cooked smell of masala, add the drained and washed chickpeas and mix it in for a bit. 2-4 minutes max. Now add that 1.5 cup water for gravy plus salt. We eat low salt so I added half a teaspoon. You can add as much as you’d like.

Now allow it to come to a simmer and let it cook for 10 minutes, covered. Do check at the five minute mark since that’s around the time when mine usually starts to stick at the bottom and needs a quick whirl of the spoon. Once all this is done squeeze a Desi lemon (small ones) or half a Bidesi one (large lemons), mix it in.

Once this is done, turn the heat off, top with coriander and julienne ginger or onions or honestly absolutely nothing is just fine too because my daddy says, it’s dark inside the stomach.

It’s a plain and simple Chanaa Shorba and I love it with a nice Vegetable Raita and Rice.

See what I did there? Again?

Midway through this cooking, dearly beloved comes into the kitchen on a “kya pak rahaa hai” (What’s Cooking) drive. Guess what he is having as a snack.

Freud had something going with that fixation theory of his coz we sure are proving it right.