Spicy Chickpeas

I know my friend Mary was on a chickpea kick a while back. I finally found the recipe I wanted to give her. When you have 900 cookbooks, sometimes it takes a while.

This recipe is from Madhur Jaffrey's World of the East Vegetarian Cooking (which provided a recipe for creamed eggplant about a week ago). I toned down the spice a bit. The original recipe is called Very Spicy, Delicious Chickpeas. If I had used all the cayenne, it would have blown my husband's head off. As it was, it was still quite spicy but absolutely delicious.

There is one exotic ingredient here: ground amchoor. Amchoor is ground dried unripe mango and it adds a unique tart-sweet flavor. You can find it in Indian grocery stores.  I don't know a substitution. Hopefully, you'll be able to find some for this dish because it's a winner.

Spicy, Delicious Chickpeas
(serves 6-8)

¼ cup vegetable oil
2 medium onions, minced
8 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbl ground coriander
2 tsp ground cumin seeds
¼ tsp cayenne pepper (if you are really in to heat, try a ½ tsp)
1 tsp turmeric
1 roma tomato, skinned and finely chopped
3 15 oz. cans chickpeas or 4 ½ cups cooked chickpeas, drained
2 tsp toasted cumin seeds, ground
1 tbl ground amchoor
2 tsp sweet paprika
1 tsp garam masala
½ tsp salt
1 tbl lemon juice
1 serrano chile, minced
2 tsp grated fresh ginger

Heat oil in a large skillet with a cover or a dutch oven over medium heat. Add onions and garlic and cook until onions are a medium-brown. This will take 10-15 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low and add ground coriander, ground cumin, cayenne, and turmeric. Stir for a few seconds. Add tomatoes and stir until they start to brown. Add the chickpeas and 1 cup of water. Stir. Add roasted ground cumin, amchoor, paprika, garam masala, salt, and lemon juice. Stir, cover, and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 10 minutes. Add minced chile and ginger, cook for ½ a minute and serve.

PDF of Spicy, Delicious Chickpeas