Chickpea Curry With Spinach
Chana-Palak-Saag (Chole-Palak)
Mamta Gupta
One day, I had made chicken curry. I also had a packet of spinach leaves in the fridge, which needed using up. So I added these to the chickpea curry. It tasted really nice, something I will definitely make again. You can experiment with other leafy vegetables like Bathua and Methi too. Dry Methi/fenugreek leaves are sometimes added to chicke pea spicy version called Cholae.
Serves 4
Ingredients
400 gm. tinned chickpeas in water** (you can soak and boil chickpeas at home, best done in a pressure cooker)
1 medium onion, peeled and roughly chopped/ground
1/4 inch piece of ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic (optional)
2 medium tomatoes, chopped finely or 200 gm. tinned tomatoes. If tomatoes are unavailable, 1/2 cup of natural yoghurt can be used instead
1 tbsp. cooking oil
1 tsp. cumin seeds
1 level tsp. turmeric powder
1/2 tsp. chilli powder, adjust to taste
1 tsp. of coriander powder
Salt to taste
1-2 tsp. ready made chana masala* (this gives a nicer flavour/taste)
1/2 tsp. Garam masala
1-2-3 cups of water, depending upon how thick you want you curry gravy/sauce
2 cups of chopped or baby spinach leaves. Frozen, chopped spinach leaves can also be used.
*Almost everyone in India adds this to their chickpea curry or Chana Masala. It is worth keeping a packet in your cupboard. You can add it to dals too.
** You can use any other tinned/boiled beans like Kala Chana or Bengal Gram, Black Eyed Beans, Pearl Haricot Beans, Pinto Beans etc. for this recipe
Instructions
Prepare all ingredients.
Peel, wash and chop onions, ginger and garlic in a food processor or (finely) by hand.
Heat oil in a pan.
Add cumin seeds. Let the cumin seeds crackle.
Add onions, ginger, and garlic if used. Fry until onions are golden to dark brown (not burnt).
Add tomatoes and all powdered spices, salt and chana masala, leaving garam masala out. Stir for 10 seconds to release flavours.
Stir-fry until oil separates.
Add cooked chick peas and spinach leaves, stir and add water. How much gravy you want is a personal choice. I usually have it with a stew like gravy.
Cook for 15 minutes in a pan.
Adjust salt and chilli to your own taste and likes.
Add garam masala.
Serve hot with Poori or Plain Paratha or Nan or Tandoori Roti or Chapatti