INDIAN CHICKPEA CURRY (CHOLE) – NO OIL

Evolution has been a crazy phenomena and today it seems most of us struggle with some kind of a dietary intolerance. Bread, the love of my life, and I had to part ways a year ago because my body cannot digest gluten. Similarly, a friend of mine was advised to go on a no oil diet to help control his heart disease. With every one wanting to be healthy, eating at home and recreating recipes to meet with our health stipulations is important, and that’s how I came up with this recipe. I chose chickpea, also known as garbanzo bean, because it is a very popular legume in most Indian households. With some warm basmati rice this curry is like a warm hug in a bowl. To many of my non-Indian friends, cooking Indian recipes is very intimidating and they would rather go out to a restaurant than make it at home. Partly because it needs ingredients that you may not find at your local grocery, and expecting someone to run to an ethnic grocery store to get these spice blends can seem unreasonable. Here is where I come into the picture. I have always believed that if a recipe requires complicated ingredients that are hard to find and takes too much of your time, you should just buy the food rather than make it. After all, time is money! For instance, take croissants: it is far more expedient to buy a croissant at my local patisserie than making it at home. With that being said, I will try keep my promise and simplify this recipe so that you can prepare it at home. Like I have said before, follow the recipe like a robot and chances of you making a mistake are very unlikely.

Serving size: 6
Prep time: 10 mins + Cook time: 25 mins, Total time: 35 mins

INGREDIENTS

  • Chickpea or garbanzo beans – 2 cups
  • Garlic – 6 to 7 large cloves, peeled.
  • Tomato – 1 large
  • Tamarind paste – 3 tablespoon or juice of 1 lemon
  • Cumin seeds – 1 teaspoon
  • Ground coriander seeds – 1 teaspoon
  • Paprika or ground red chili – 1/ 2 teaspoon
  • Garam masala (Indian all spice) – 2 teaspoons
    You can make your own garam masala by using spices in this ratio- Ground cinnamon – 1/2 teaspoon, ground clove -1/2 teaspoon, ground nutmeg – 1/2 teaspoon, ground cardamom – 1/2 teaspoon, and ground pepper – 1/2 teaspoon.
  • Turmeric – 1 teaspoon (optional)
  • Crushed chili flakes – 1/2 teaspoon (optional)
  •  Chat masala – 1 to 2 teaspoons (optional)
  • Salt to taste

DIRECTIONS

  1. Prepping chickpeas for cooking: Wash and soak the chickpeas overnight in 5 cups of water. Strain the chickpeas and set it aside.
  2. Cooking chickpeas: In an Instapot, electric or stove top pressure cooker, slow cooker or Dutch oven, add the chickpeas with 3 cups of water and the rest of the ingredients.
  3. Cooking time: If using a Instapot is the bean chili setting. In a pressure cooker, it should take about 20-25 minutes on medium heat. If using an electric pressure cooker about 25 minutes. Slow cooker about 8 hours and Dutch oven about 3 hours on medium heat while checking on it every 30 minutes. When cooked, the chickpeas should be fork tender but should still hold their shape.
    If you see chunks of garlic or tomatoes, just use a fork to mash them up until it disintegrates into the gravy.
  4. You may add some green (spring) onion and cilantro (coriander leaves) to garnish.
  5. Serve is with a bowl of rice or flat bread of your choice!

NOTES

Dutch oven: If using Dutch oven for making this recipe add 4 cups of water instead of 3.

TOOLS AND COOKWARE

Here is a list of the tools and cookware used to make this recipe.

Pressure cooker by Hawkins
Measuring cup by Pyrex
Mixing bowl by Pyrex

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