Chick Peas Curry (No Onion No Garlic)

This is among my all time favourites, especially on the days I want to have vegetarian food. I wonder how  this dish goes so well with rice, puri (deep  fried Indian flatbread), roti, bhatura (leavened deep fried Indian flatbread) and pulao as well. I always make it a point to have at least 50gms of soaked and boiled chick peas in my fridge. I can quickly assemble a salad or a dip or a main course dish with this. I usually make this with onion and garlic, but to keep it light and not very spicy I tried  making this without these two aromatics. The result was good and I’m sharing it with you. 

Serves 4

Ingredients

1. 125 gms of dried chick peas
2.  2 medium potatoes boiled, peeled and cut into dices
3. 2 ripe and  juicy red tomatoes roughly chopped
4. 1 small piece of peeled and roughly chopped ginger
5. 1 fresh red chilli roughly chopped
6. 1 whole black cardamom
7. 1 bay leaf 
8. 1 tbsp oil
9. Dry roast 1/2 tsp each of coriander seed, cumin seed and 2 cloves, 1/4 tsp of carrom seeds(ajwain), 1 small cinnamon stick, 1 deseeded dried red chilli and grind into a fine powder
10. 1/4 tsp of dried mango powder (optional) 
11. Turmeric powder as required
12. Water as required 
13. Salt to taste
14. Chopped fresh  green chillies and coriander leaves to garnish. 

Procedure

1. Soak the chick peas  in water for at least 4 hours. 
2. Then, cook them in a pressure cooker with 1/2 tsp of salt and with the water it has been soaking in, for two whistles on medium flame. 
3. In the meantime, take the tomatoes, ginger and chilli and run in the blender to make a fine paste. (no need to add water) 
4. Add oil in a wok and once heated, add whole black cardamom and bay leaf and,  as soon as they start releasing their aroma, add the blended paste and cover. 
5.  After a while, remove  the lid and keep stirring and frying till oil leaves the sides of the pan. 
6. Now add turmeric powder and the roasted and powdered spices. Fry till you get a nice aroma. 
7. Add the potatoes and fry till the masalas get coated. 
8. Now, add the  boiled chick peas along with the water. Let it cook for a while and add salt as required. 
9. Mash a few of the chick peas with the back of your ladle. This gives you a thick gravy. 
10. Garnish with green chillies and coriander leaves. 
11. This can be had just like that, without any bread. 
12. But, as I said earlier this goes really well with all types of Indian bread and rice as well.