Chickpea Pulusu

After blogging a few months now, my 'Recipes to Try' list has gone through the roof. I thought I should bring it down a bit so I focused on trying the things I wanted to try.
I started off with Nandita's Egg Curry and paired it with Sailu's Soya Chunks Vegetable Pulao
My hubby is not big on potato so I had to venture out and get my a bag of potatoes to make us Rooma's Jhatpat Aloo Paratha with a bit of potato curry. And since I had bit more time up my sleeve I made Zuccini Chutney. This the same recipe as my Red Capsicum Chutney but instead of capsicum, I made with zuccini. These chutneys are so handy I don't know what I did before them :)
And everyday I add more and more that I think hubby will never say, 'What! We have that again?'. And I would like to thank to all for sharing all your recipes that keeps the variety in my kitchen and the balance in my diet.
I know I am late for Meeta's Monthly Mingle but I am hoping she accepts my post as my way giving thanks to you all. So here goes.This recipe is actually my mother in law's and knowing my love for all things beany, she made this for me. It is quick and simple and great way to satisfy my urge for beans :).
Chickpea Pulusu

Ingredients
1/2 cup chickpeas- I made this with the small brown chickpeas. You can make it with any bean you prefer such as black eyed beans.
2 small onion
1 small tomato- diced.
1 small potato - diced.
4 dried red chillies- fried in a bit of oil.
1/2 cup fresh or frozen coconut
1 tsp coriander powder- freshly roasted and ground.
1/2 tsp cummin powder- freshly roasted and ground.
2 stalks fresh coriander- finely chopped.
1 lime sized ball of tamarind- soaked.
1 tsp salt- adjust as required.

Method

1. Soak the beans overnight and then pressure cook until tender
2. Grind together: coconut, fried dried red chilies, coriander powder, cummin powder, 1/2 an onion. This is your masala base.
3. In a saucepan, add the masala, salt, tamarind pulp, cooked chickpeas, potoato, remaining onion (diced), tomato. I usually reserved about 1/4 of the chickpeas which I grind and add to the pulusu to make the gravy thicker.
4. Bring to the boil and then simmer until the potato is cooked.

Chicky Chicky!

After the day of eating rich foods and heavy meals, the next day we weren't too keen on a big breakfast. Since I had some Turkish bread I thought I would make a simple hummus and chickpea salad. Short and sweet but high in calcium!

Hummus

Ingredients
1 can chickpeas or 400g chickpeas soaked overnight and cooked
1 or 2 garlic cloves- minced finely.
1 lemon- juiced.
1 tbsp tahini- this is seasame butter (like peanut butter but made with seasames).
1 tsp salt- adjust as required
1 tsp pepper- freshly ground

Method

1. In a mortar add the garlic and salt and crush until the mix is sort of glossy
2. Add lemon juice to the this mix.
3. Now add a teaspoon of tahini and mix well. Reapeat this until it is difficult to move your spoon in this mixture. It is really important that you mix well after adding the tahini otherwise it will come out bitter.
4. Grind the chickpeas a little. Grind them until you have the texture you require. Add the tahini mix to the chickpeas.
5. Mix it all up and add pepper. Taste and adjust seasonings. If it tastes bitter add a bit of lemon juice.

Chickpea Salad

Ingredients
1 can chickpeas or 400g chickpeas soaked overnight and cooked
1 carrot- finely chopped.
1 cucumber- finely chopped.
2 or 3 lettuce leaves- ripped into small bits.
1 lemon- juiced.
1 tsp salt- adjust as required
1 tsp pepper- freshly ground

Method

1. This is the easiest recipe. MIX AND SERVE. :)