This comforting recipe with a little bit of spice will do the trick to stay warm …
Author and cookery teacher Torie True shows home cooks how to bring authentic Indian food to your own kitchen in her book Seven Kitchens where she draws on her travels in India as well as meticulous historical research to create flavourful and accessible recipes. The book takes the reader through the vibrant kitchens of India’s past and present – from familiar favourites like vindaloo, korma and biryani – to lesser-known dishes of Goan Portuguese, Indo-Chinese, Syrian Christian, Parsi and Tibetan Nepalese origin, such as courgette and prawn foogath, whole fish pollichathu, duck roast or country captain chicken. Save her recipe for black chickpea curry below …
“This recipe is known as kadala kari in Malayalam, the national language of Kerala. Traditionally, it’s made with dried black chickpeas that are soaked overnight before boiling in a pressure cooker until soft. For a time-efficient alternative, I suggest either purchasing tinned black chickpeas that are easily available from Asian grocers, or if you’re based in the UK Bold Bean Co Queen Carlin Peas are a great substitute. Freshly grated coconut is traditionally used to make a paste, but I have opted for coconut milk which is more readily available. This curry is often served for breakfast in Kerala alongside string hoppers (also known as idiyappam), appam or dosa – but you can enjoy it with chapati or paratha too.” @chilliandmint
Preparation time: 10-15 minutes
Cooking time: 18 minutes
Makes 4
Ingredients
2 tbsp coconut oil
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp black or brown mustard seeds
1 stem of fresh or frozen curry leaves (about 15 leaves)
1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
1 tsp fine salt
1 tsp finely grated garlic
1 tsp finely grated fresh ginger
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
3 medium tomatoes, chopped
2 x 400g black chickpeas or carlin peas (see above)
1 x 400ml tin of coconut milk
150ml water
For the tempering
1 tsp coconut oil
1/2 tsp black or brown mustard seeds
1 stem of fresh or frozen curry leaves (about 15 leaves)
1 dried whole red chilli, broken in half
Method
1. Heat the coconut oil in a pan and add the fennel seeds, mustard seeds and fresh curry leaves. Stir for 20 seconds and then add the onion and salt. Cook on a low heat for 4 minutes, then add the grated garlic and ginger and cook for a further 2 minutes.
2. Add the ground spices, followed by the tomatoes. After a minute, add the chickpeas or carlin peas, coconut milk and water. Simmer gently on a low heat for 10 minutes.
3. In a small tempering or frying pan, heat the coconut oil, mustard seeds, curry leaves and dried red chilli. Allow to sizzle for 10 to 15 seconds and then pour the tempering onto the curry and mix well.
4. Taste to check the seasoning and adjust as required. This curry is great alongside the Aloo Dum on page 168 and either Mughal Sheermal page 238 or Goan Pao page 140 of Seven Kitchens.
Notes: To ‘temper’ spices means to briefly fry them in hot oil or ghee before pouring them onto the finished dish. Tempering pans are small metal pans, about the size of half a coconut. If you can’t find either black chickpeas or carlin peas, tinned or jarred regular yellow chickpeas will work equally well here.
From Seven Kitchens: A Journey Through India’s Culinary Heritage (Meze Publishing €29). Food Photography by Tim Green.