Chhole (pronounced Cho-Lay) - Garbanzo beans cooked with vegetables and spices

This is one of my favourite dishes. And very versatile..serve with rice, bread, with samosas, naan or just eat it by itself! And the best part is, it's so easy to make. It's one of the most popular Indian party foods!

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients: Garbanzo beans(2 cans), Onions (medium - 2), Tomatoes (large - 1), Ginger(1 inch), serrano peppers(2),cilantro(1/2 bunch), Tamarind extract(1/2 cup), salt, Garlic (2 cloves), red chilli powder (1 tsp), Chhole Masala(3 tsp)**

**Chhole Masala - Store-brought, available in all Indian Grocery stores and some local american stores as well. If you don't have this on hand, no worries. You could also throw in some garam masala (if you have it) or some cumin and coriander powder and some cinnamon powder instead.

Ingredients for tempering: Canola oil or EVOO (1 tbsp), Cumin seeds(2 tsp), mustard seeds(2 tsp), turmeric (couple of pinches)

Blend ginger, onions, tamarind, cilantro and serrano pepper with salt



Cook the blended paste with onions and red bell pepper



Finished Product..delicious!

Cook Away..

> Slice the onions into thin, long strips, dice the tomatoes, roughly chop the ginger, peel garlic and slice the serrano peppers

> Drain and rinse the garbanzo beans and set aside

> Rinse and roughly chop the cilantro

> Soak lemon-sized tamarind in half a cup of water and set aside

> Throw the onions (set aside some of the sliced onions and use the rest), ginger, garlic, cilantro (set aside a little for garnish), half of the tamarind extract, 1 serrano pepper and some salt into the blender and blend to a fine paste with some water

> Heat a pan on medium high on the stove and add the oil and tempering ingredients

> Once the mustard seeds start to splutter, add the remaining sliced onions, turmeric and remaining serrano pepper and saute for a couple of minutes until onions start to turn golden brown

> Add the diced tomatoes

> Add the blended paste and let it all cook together for a few minutes

> Add the garbanzo beans, remaining tamarind extract, red chilli powder and Chole Masala and combine thoroughly and let it all cook together for about 3-4 minutes

> Do a little taste test and if needed, add a little bit of salt

> Transfer to a serving bowl, garnish with the remaining cilantro and serve hot!

My Thoughts..

> You can throw in all of the sliced onion in the blender if you like, I put some of it aside and drop it in the oil so you can actually taste the onion a little bit more

> If you or someone in your family is not big on garlic, you can skip the garlic in the paste. What I typically do in that situation is roast the garlic separately and serve it on the side. That way the garlic lovers don't miss out on it!

> Sometimes I also use thin long strips of red bell pepper (half) and throw it in while cooking with onions and tomatoes. It adds a little bit of sweetness to balance the tangy tamarind

> If you don't have tamarind on hand, you can use juice of a lime instead

Enjoy!!