Yes you can can can!

Posted: July 22, 2009 | Author: Johanna | Filed under: Johanna | 3 Comments »

I have had a love for Indian food. A big one.

In fact, my friend Dipali may be talking to her mother about getting me some recipes and doing Dipali’s Dinners as a guest post. Because it’s that amazing. And I’m so excited about it!!!
Until I get some hard recipes, I have to approximate. And I make a pretty mean curry for all my approximation (although if someone has a source for curry paste they’d be willing to recommend, let me know), but sometimes you want something different. When you’re me, what you want is chana masala — chickpeas stewed in tomatoes (although sometimes not) and chiles, garlic, all manner of fantastic things. So… Saturday night I got the urge for chana masala.

Since I wasn’t exactly sure how to make it, and didn’t have many fresh ingredients, it went a little somethin’ like this:
1 onion and 1 clove of garlic diced and sweated in some olive oil.
When they were soft, a can of drained and rinsed chickpeas was added into the pot. They sauteed for a minute, to get all the onion and garlic flavor in, and then I added a 15 oz. can of Muir Glen chopped tomatoes with Medium Chiles and half a can of vegetable broth. Also, a tablespoon of cumin and 2 teaspoons of chili powder.

I let that simmer, covered, for about an hour. Then, I tasted, stirred, re-covered, and let it simmer again. Basically, the goal is to let the flavors get all yummy together, and cook as much of the useless liquid out as possible. You also want to cook the chickpeas, because they’re much better when they’re smushy.
If the liquid appears to have cooked ALL the way out, though, add in a quarter of the leftover veggie broth. (save the rest for the rice). I added half a cup (ish) of frozen peas when I started my rice cooker, so about 40 minutes before serving.
When everything tastes rich, pour in about a quarter-cup (tops) of coconut milk and stir it in. This will ease the heat of the chilis. Plus, it’ll make things creamy and thick and delish.
And you’ll be left with this:

This is completely vegetarian, and can obviously easily be doubled, tripled, frozen in portions, or eaten all by yourself. It’s also delicious cold in the pot the next morning, although I wouldn’t know anything about that……