How was the Easter break? What did you? Went for a Holiday?
Painted Easter eggs? Eggs hunt with kids? Or had an elaborate dinner? Most of
our friends in the UK went to beachside to soak the sunshine and relax. I hope
they had fun as the weather was fluctuating from sunny to rainy to windy. Well
that’s the English climate-so unpredictable!
We decided to stay at home and complete several pending
work. So we went to buy Indian grocery, ate some good Indian food, met one
friend (which was long overdue), renewed the books from library and spared some
time to see movies. We saw The Amazing Spiderman and The Grand Budapest Hotel.
Spiderman- yes, I wanted to see as I enjoyed the trailer and 3d effects were exciting.
The Grand Budapest Hotel-no I dint like it; but Mr. Husband loved the movie as
it had subtle humour. (Don’t know what that even means? *grin*). So yes, that was
all what we did on Easter break.
Cooking?? I dint try anything new. I stuck up to basic
old meals. Quick carrot nutty salad, lehsuni daal tadka, methi mutter pulav and Punjabi aloo parathas were on the menu. Sunday it was sunny and bright and I wanted to
click pictures but was still wanted to make something basic. So it was aloo channa
subji (potatoes and chickpeas side dish). Remember I shared a tip on how tofreeze legumes for future use? Well I used the same frozen chickpeas/chola with
boiled potatoes to compose the quick lunch. Nice isn't it?
In the UK it is one of the most popular vegetarian side
dish. I have seen here people ordering aloo channa in Indian restaurants –may be
they find it exotic or fancy; but; for Indian homes, this is no fuss, easy
subji that is prepared on daily basis. There are many variations
of making aloo channa recipe from dry to semi gravy to a curry version. I like
semi gravy where chopped tomatoes are swathed in massala finally infusing the
flavour to chickpeas and potatoes. Ideally this side dish is served with puri
(fried Indian bread) in Punjab, but you wouldn’t mind pairing it with parathas as
well. Just chop some red onions, squeeze out fresh lemon juice, have massala chaas and enjoy scoops of the subji with parathas. Perfect Indian lunch.
Ingredients:
1 cup Chickpeas/Kabuli Chana
3 medium boiled potatoes/aloo
1 teaspoon red chilli powder/lal mirch
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder/haldi
1 teaspoon cumin seeds/jeera
2 tablespoons channa/chola massala powder
1 onion/pyaz
2 medium tomatoes/Tamatar
2 green chillies/hari mirchi
2 tablespoon grated ginger
2 garlic cloves
1/4 teaspoon carom seeds/ajwain
1 black cardamom/badi ilyachi
Salt to taste
2 tablespoon oil
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves.
Method:
Soak chickpeas overnight. Next day drain the water, wash
and pressure cook for 8 whistles with 2 cups water and 1 teaspoon salt.
Grind onion, ginger, garlic, green chilli with 5
tablespoons of water.
Heat oil and add cumin seeds. Let it crackle. Add black cardamom.
Add grinded mixture and stir well. Cover and cook till
raw smell fades away.
Next add in finely chopped tomatoes. Mix.
Add all the remaining spices with 1/4 cup of water. Cover
and cook till tomatoes are mushy.
Add boiled chickpeas and chopped boiled potatoes. Mix
well. Let it cook covered for 12 minutes. Then cook uncovered for 2 minutes or
till you have semi-dry gravy.
Sprinkle lemon juice and add chopped coriander leaves.
Notes:
Add more water if you need liquid gravy.
You can grind tomatoes with spices if you are in hurry.
Perfect for rotis
ReplyDeletevery yumm and all time favorite... suberb combo...
ReplyDeleteMouthwatering Aloo Chana..Looks too yummy dear..
ReplyDeleteOh with rotis i am drroling here .Fantastic click shweta ..
ReplyDeletedelicious recipe
ReplyDeleteTasty Appetite
i so wanted to make this, but my potato hater huby wont like it so waiting for that night when he is out and i can make it for myself. BTW made marwadi aloo pyaj again and it was still a hit.
ReplyDeleteYummy and tasty combo !
ReplyDeleteyemmy aloo channa / Aloo chola
ReplyDeleteyemmy Aloo Channa well explained recipe
ReplyDeletelooks so tempting dear :)
ReplyDeleteReally mouthwatering aloo channa.........super combo....really tempting me :)
ReplyDeleteI love Aloo..I love channa.. I love the combo too :) Looks lovely!
ReplyDeleteMouthwatering dish and wonderful preparation Shweta....
ReplyDeletevery nice... i love it!
ReplyDeleteLooks really yummy !! Thanks for participating in MLLA 70
ReplyDeleteLooks delicious:)
ReplyDeletenice combo n good clicks.
ReplyDelete