Chickpeas with Mango Powder (Amchoor Chana)

660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer is proving to be one of the wisest cookbook investments I have made lately. There is an abundance of easy, but deliciously satisfying curry recipes that are ideal for days when you want proper nourishment without the fuss. The extensive chapter on legume curries is one that I continue to explore, as most of my meals are centered around beans and legumes.

Amchoor powder is readily available at Indian grocery stores. It is made from unripe green mangoes that are dried and turned into a powder. It adds a tangy, slightly sour flavour to Indian dishes. If you do not have mango powder on hand, you can substitute the juice from one lime.

I'm sending this along to Suganya who is hosting Vegan Ventures, Round 2.

Chickpeas with Mango Powder (Amchoor Chana)


1 1/4 cups of dried chickpeas (yields roughly 3 cups cooked)
2 tablespoons of oil, or a mixture of butter and oil
1 teaspoon of cumin seeds
2 - 3 black cardamom pods, crushed
1 long cinnamon stick, broken in half
1 teaspoon of ground cumin
2 tablespoons of mango (amchoor) powder
1 tablespoon of ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon of turmeric
1 1/2 teaspoons of sea salt
2 medium ripe tomatoes, finely chopped
generous handful of fresh parsley or cilantro, chopped
1/4 cup of chopped red onion (I used shallots), finely chopped

Soak the chickpeas in enough water to cover overnight. Drain, transfer to a large saucepan and cover with fresh water. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer until the chickpeas are soft: one - two hours depending on how old your beans are. Reserve 1 cup of the cooking liquid, drain and set the beans aside.

Heat the oil over medium heat in the same pot you cooked the beans in. When hot, add the cumin seeds, cardamom pods, and cinnamon sticks. Stir and fry for roughly 1 minute. Now add the ground spices, stir and pour in the tomatoes, and add the salt. Cook, uncovered, stirring often, until the tomatoes begin to thicken up (roughly 5 - 10 minutes.

Now add the chickpeas, the reserved cooking liquid and half of the chopped parsley or cilantro. Cover the pot and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is thickened (roughly 20 minutes).

Serve, garnished with some of the remaining parsley and cilantro and some of the chopped onions (or shallots).

Serves 4.

Pear and cinnamon madeleines

I have a cousin who is less than a month older than me. One could see that as an opportunity for a close friend. But not me. She and I were enemies growing up – the more our parents forced us to be play together, the more we loved to punch each other down. Her parents came to the point of enrolling her into the school I attended. It never worked – we couldn’t stand one another.I would always get

Cassoulet with Bread Topping

An old legend about cassoulet relates that the popular French bean casserole was invented in the southern French town of Castelnaudary during an English siege in the Hundred Years War. Unable to venture outside the town walls to collect fresh vegetables, the townspeople invented a rich and hearty repast with their preserved stock of dried beans and herbs, cold storage vegetables, and pork sausages and duck fat. A more contemporary legend has it that we vegetarians can dispense with the copious meats that are added to traditional cassoulets and still enjoy a robust, filling and delicious meal that's perfect for cool fall weather.

This recipe, adapted from Delicious Living, includes a mock version of herbes de provence, a mixture of dried herbs and lavender flowers, for those of us who don't usually have it on hand. If you do have it, however, just substitute a tablespoon of herbes de provence for the herb blend given below.

Cassoulet with bread topping

Herb blend:

3/4 teaspoon dried marjoram
3/4 teaspoon dried thyme
3/4 teaspoon dried savory
1/4 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary
1/8 teaspoon dried sage
1/8 teaspoon fennel seeds

Cassoulet:

1 1/4 cups dried cannellini (white kidney) beans
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 large potato, diced
1 large carrot, diced
2 celery stalks, sliced
2 whole dried hot red chilies
3 cloves garlic, minced or crushed
2 cups vegetable stock
3 plum tomatoes, diced
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon sea salt
fresh ground black pepper

Bread topping:

3 thick slices French bread
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh parsley
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
2 cloves garlic

Rinse the dried beans under running water and soak overnight covered in several inches of cold water with a little yogurt whey or lemon juice added. Drain the next day and add to a medium saucepan with several inches of fresh cold water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until the beans are soft but not falling apart. Drain and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 325° and heat a large saucepan over medium-high heat. When hot, add the olive oil, wait a few moments, then swirl around to coat the pan. Toss in the onion, potato, carrot, celery and dried red chilies and sauté for 5 minutes. Now add the herb blend along with the garlic, and continue to cook for another minute.

Remove from heat and stir in the beans, vegetable stock, tomatoes, bay leaf, salt, and black pepper to taste. Pour into a large and lightly oiled casserole dish, and bake uncovered for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the bread topping by combining the bread, olive oil, parsley, Parmesan cheese and garlic in a food processor and blending on high speed until the bread is reduced to fine crumbs.

Remove the cassoulet from the oven and discard the whole chilies and bay leaf. Turn up the oven to 400° and sprinkle half the bread topping over the beans. Bake for 15 minutes.

Remove from the oven once more, and stir the baked topping into the cassoulet. Sprinkle the rest of the topping over the beans and return to the oven for 15 more minutes, or until the bread topping is a light brown.

Let cool for 5 minutes before serving. Serves 6 to 8.

Polenta-crusted roasted ratatouille tart

Thank you all for your comments and concern – your positive thoughts and kind words were very important for my getting better, for sure!I have been thinking a lot about sweets lately – due to Christmas coming and the gifts I want to make for my friends and colleagues. I have so many recipes bookmarked I don’t even know where to start, really...I found this recipe going through cookie and candy

Sweetened condensed milk cake

Wow, almost a week without a new recipe around here... You guys must be bored to tears with my crepe photo. :)

A stomach flu kept me away from cooking, posting and reading my favorite blogs. But now I’m feeling well again – thanks to tons of medicine and rest – and eager to go to the kitchen.

This is something I baked before I got sick; you know I can’t resist recipes with sweetened condensed

Baked Cheese and Tortilla Pie with Jalapeños, Corn and Pinto Beans

At least once a year towards the end of the summer I'm confronted with the problem of disposing of an absurd number of jalapeños from the over-zealous plants in my garden. Giving dozens away to friends and family turns out to be an inadequate solution, and I'm not especially partial to the taste — or labour, to be honest — of preserving them. So jalapeño-heavy recipes it must be then…

Even people of average tolerance to heat should not be deterred by large quantities of hot peppers when they are tempered with plenty of dairy — east Indians have happily known this for centuries, serving cooling bowls of yogurt raitas with their spicy dishes. So last year I made an extraordinarily simple jalapeño pie loaded with jalapeños and lots of cheese and eggs that was surprisingly easy on the palette.

This year I went with loads of jalapeños and cheese again, but in a more elaborate Mexican-style pie with plenty of cool sour cream, pinto beans, and some lovely fresh local sweet corn. Layered like a lasagne but with soft corn tortillas instead of pasta, this is a firm but deliciously gooey pie that goes beautifully with a green salad and vinaigrette to cut the dairy.

If you're still not sure about using twenty whole jalapeño peppers, reduce the amount by as much as half, or chop them into finer pieces. The crisp juiciness of fresh jalapeños makes them a must in my consideration, but if you do use canned jalapeños be sure to reduce the amount a little and cut them finer.

This is my contribution to Food and Fun's Vegetarian Thanksgiving Celebration. Mansi is looking for tempting dishes to please the vegetarians at holiday time.

Baked Cheese and Tortilla Pie with Jalapeños, Corn and Pinto Beans

Recipe by Lisa Turner Cuisine: Mexican Published on November 4, 2008 A Mexican-style ”lasagne” pie with layers of creamed and spiced pinto beans, corn, cheese and jalapeños baked between soft corn tortillas and topped with more cheese Print this recipe Bean layers: 2/3 cup dried pinto beans 2/3 cup sour cream 1/2 teaspoon chili powder large handful fresh coriander, chopped Cheese and corn layers: cooked kernels from 1 ear of fresh corn (or 3/4 cup frozen corn, defrosted) 1 1/2 cups grated aged Cheddar cheese (about 5 1/2 oz) 1 1/3 cups sour cream 1/2 teaspoon chili powder You will also need: 10 soft corn tortillas, 10" or larger 2 9-inch flat-sided pie plates olive oil for brushing 20 jalapeño peppers, seeded and sliced into rounds 1/2 cup grated aged Cheddar cheese (about 1 1/2 oz) chili powder for garnish Instructions: To prepare the bean layers, rinse the beans under cold running water and soak overnight under several inches of cold water with a little yogurt whey or lemon juice added. Drain and rinse, and place in a small saucepan covered with several inches of fresh cold water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 1 to 1/2 hours or until the beans are soft. Drain and remove the beans to a small mixing bowl. Mash the beans with a potato masher and mix with the sour cream, chili powder and coriander. Prepare the cheese corn layers by stirring together the corn, Cheddar cheese, sour cream and chili powder in a separate mixing bowl. Preheat an oven to 300°. If necessary, trim the edges of the corn tortillas to sit comfortably but fully within the 9-inch pie plates. For each of the pies, brush one side a tortilla with olive oil and place oiled side down in the bottom of the pie plate. For each pie, spoon a quarter of the bean layer mixture onto the tortilla and spread evenly. Place a tortilla on top, and spoon and spread a quarter of the cheese corner layer mixture over that. Scatter half the jalapeños evenly over the cheese and cover with another tortilla. Repeat a layer of the beans, add another tortilla, and repeat a layer of the cheese and corn. Cover with one more tortilla and brush the top with a little olive oil. Place in the preheated oven and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the cheese begins to bubble around the edges and the top tortilla begins to brown. Remove from the oven, turn on the broiler and move the oven rack to the top. Scatter the remaining Cheddar cheese and sprinkle a little chili powder over the pies. Place under the broiler, one at a time if necessary, for 2-3 minutes or until the cheese on top begins to bubble. Remove from the oven and let cool for 5-10 minutes. Run a rubber spatula around the edges to loosen from the pan, and slide the pies onto serving plates. Serve in wedges, with a little extra sour cream if desired. Makes 6 – 8 servings

Rice and Green Lentils in Coconut Milk

Once again I have consulted my copy of World Vegetarian Classics by Celia Brooks Brown. Forgoing the simple task of deciding on a bean and soaking it the night before, I was focused on split dals and legumes, and a grain to balance it all out. This one pot creamy rice and lentil dish from Tanzania turned out to be the perfect mid-week meal solution. Like the Split Pea Cilantro Dumplings in a Coconut Curry I made, this recipe comes from the chapter on dishes from Central, East and Southern Africa. Much like a khichari in texture and spicing, the Indian influence in the Eastern region of Africa shines out here. I modified the recipe to suit my spicy tastes.

Rice and Green Lentils Cooked in Coconut Milk

1 tablespoon of sesame oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and finely chopped
2 - 3 hot red chili peppers, finely chopped
1 cup of green lentils, rinsed
1 cup of brown basmati rice, rinsed
1 teaspoon of garam masala
1/2 teaspoon of cayenne
1/2 teaspoons of cumin
1/2 teaspoon of ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon of turmeric
1 14 ounce can of coconut milk
2 cups of water
1 1/2 teaspoons of sea salt

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. When hot, add the onion to the pan and cook, stirring often, until it begins to brown. Now add the garlic, ginger and hot pepper and stir and fry for about 1 minute. Throw in the spices, stir a few times and then add the lentils and rice. Stir and pour in the water, coconut milk and add the salt. Stir to combine all the ingredients, bring to a boil, reduce the heat to medium low, cover, and cook, without stirring for 40 - 50 minutes, or until the liquid is absorbed and the lentils are soft and tender. Check the dish periodically in case you need to add more water.

Serves 4.

Other African dishes you might like:

Northeast African Millet Patties
Nigerian Baked Beans
African Bean and Peanut Soup
Ethiopian Lentil & Mustard Salad (Azefa)
Harira (Moroccan Chickpea and Lentil Stew)