Visually, this dish looks like a simple chickpea stew, but its lemony and gingery fragrance is assertive and intoxicating. “Khatte Chhole” is Madhur Jaffrey’s attempt to recreate her childhood memories of the intensely-flavored chickpeas sold as street food in Indian bazaars. As I write this, I notice that the other Indian pulse recipe I’ve shared on Two Jade Bowls so far is also lemony – Ismail Merchant’s lemon dal. As a native Californian, I guess it’s natural that I’m drawn to lemony recipes.
I own several of Madhur Jaffrey’s cookbooks, but when I lived in London I discovered this slim, older paperback called Madhur Jaffrey’s Indian Cooking. This sour chickpea recipe quickly became a favorite, and I made a batch of it probably every other week while I lived in London. Before I started Two Jade Bowls, I typed out and emailed this recipe to various friends and family. It’s finally time to post it here and share it with a wider circle.
This recipe calls for using dried chickpeas. Canned chickpeas simply won’t work here because their texture is too soft. Dried chickpeas give this dish a firmer and more defined texture, and are much cheaper than the canned ones. They’re easy to use as long as you plan ahead and let them soak overnight.
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cup (350 g) dried chickpeas
- 7 1/2 cups (1.75 litres) water
- 2 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1 fresh, hot green chili
- 1 tablespoon finely grated ginger
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 6 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 3 medium onions
- 2 medium tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon ground coriander seeds
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
- 2 teaspoons garam masala
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Instructions
- Pick over, wash, and drain the chickpeas. Soak the chickpeas in 7 1/2 cups of water for 20 hours.
- Put the chickpeas and their soaking liquid into a large pot and bring to a boil. As they come to a boil, a white foam will emerge on the surface. Skim off the foam with a ladle.
- Cover, lower the heat, and simmer gently for an hour and a half, or until chickpeas are tender. Strain the chickpeas and save the cooking liquid.
- Finely chop the green chili. Grate the ginger. In a small bowl or teacup, combine the chili, ginger, lemon juice and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Mix well and set aside.
- Finely chop the onions. Finely chop or puree the tomatoes. Heat the oil in a heavy, wide pot over medium-high flame. When hot, add the chopped onions. Stir and fry for 8-10 minutes, or until the onion bits develop reddish-brown spots.
- Add the tomatoes. Continue to stir and fry another 5-6 minutes.
- Put in the coriander, cumin, and turmeric. Stir and cook for about 30 seconds.
- Now add the drained chickpeas, 1 3/4 ( 400 ml) of their cooking liquid, 2 teaspoons of salt, the garam masala, and cayenne.
- Stir to mix and bring to a simmer. Cover, turn the heat to low, and cook very gently for 20 minutes. Stir a few times during this period.
- Add the lemon mixture to the chickpeas. Stir again to mix. Serve hot or lukewarm.
