Every few months, Paro locks me in the TV room with a 6 pack of beer, and embarks on the marathon task of straightening out the kitchen and the store room. These exercises are always interesting and while they remedy some of the havoc I tend to wreak, they also yield ingredients that have been swallowed up by the store room and missed my eye. Last week we found not one, but two bags of Black Chickpeas / Kala Chana / Kadala hibernating at the back of the store room. Thankfully, dried chickpeas last years in storage and this was nothing like the Mutant Coconut Uprising of 2014. Here’s the #recipe for Black Chickpea Sundal – a quick vegetarian snack from South India that’s loaded with protein and is absolutely delicious.
- Soak 1.5 cups of Black Chickpeas overnight in 3 cups of water
- Pressure cook with salt and turmeric, till your cooker screams 5 times. Drain & set aside.
- In a pan, dry roast 2 dry red chillies and 2 tsp each of Chana Dal & Urad Dal. Cool and powder in a blender.
- Heat 2 tbsp oil in a wok. Add asafoetida (Hing), 1 tsp mustard seeds, 3 slit green chillies & 2 sprigs of curry leaves
- Tip in the cooked chickpeas and mix well. Cook for 5 min on medium heat.
- Add the powdered mixture to the pan and mix well. The whole damn thing will thicken up real quick and you should see the masala start to coat the chickpeas really well.
- Toss for 2 min more and take off the heat
- Add 2 tbsp freshly grated coconut and serve in a frisbee you found in the back of the store room
Over and out!