Sort of Indian style chickpeas and spinach (not Vedic) over rice with an IPA beer
I call this Indian style but only because I use a few techniques and spices common in Indian cooking. In reality, because I use both onions and garlic it's not going to work as actual Indian cuisine.
Also this recipe started out life as a Spanish dish of chickpeas and spinach, but I have an amazing ability to ignore instructions and go veering off on my own course.
Ingredients:
2 cups dry chickpeas. Soaked over night and then cooked, preferably in a pressure cooker but a crock pot or stove top would work too.
Two bags of baby spinach. Or else two bunches of spinach cleaned and perhaps chopped or ripped apart just a bit so it's not in huge chunks.
Olive oil (a lot) or ghee (I use olive oil, but ghee might taste better)
1 tablespoon mustard seed
1 tablespoon (or maybe just a bit less) of whole cumin seed
1 teaspoon of dill seed
1 tablespoon crushed red chillies
1 table spoon curry powder
1 tablespoon paprika
1 1/2 tablespoons hing (Asafoetida) (yeah, I know it's a lot, give me a break, I like the stuff.)
1 full bulb of garlic minced. (I know, that's a lot of garlic too, but you don't see vampires hanging out at my house, do you?)
2 or 3 tablespoons of peeled and grated fresh ginger
1 large onion
A few small tomatoes
Salt
Steamed basmati rice
A good hoppy IPA
Prepare the ingredients before you start to cook. I usually put the seeds and chili peppers in one small bowl, the spices in another bowl, the garlic in a third and the ginger in a forth. The chopped onion can be on a plate or larger bowl. At any rate, you want these set up before you start to cook so you can very quickly throw them into the pot as they are needed.
In a large wok or a pot, pour a fair amount of olive oil... At least a 1/4 cup but more will most likely be needed. Heat this until it is fairly hot. Olive oil will smoke so be careful. Ghee would be better. Throw in the crushed red chiles and the seeds (mustard, cumin and dill) stir this for a few seconds and then add the spices. Be ready to throw in the ginger and garlic very quickly because that will help prevent the seeds from burning.
This will quickly turn into a thick bubbling paste. You may want to add more olive oil or ghee at this point. Let the ginger and garlic cook for a minute or two and then add the onion. Cook this until it softens a bit.
Add the cooked chickpeas along with the water they were cooked in. You may want to add the water in a bit at a time keeping the heat fairly high and let it cook down in stages. When the chickpeas have simmered in the spicy juices for some time (5 to 10 minutes) and the water is cooked down so there is some gravy around the chickpeas but it is not a soup, then add the chopped tomatoes and the spinach. Stir them into the chickpeas quickly and turn the heat off. The spinach and tomatoes will cook adequately in the remaining heat of the chickpeas.
Salt to taste.
Serve over rice and have an IPA on the side. Hoppy beers work well with this kind of spicy dish.
Beware, this is a fairly spicy dish and it may be a bit too much for some people. If you prefer a milder version, you could eliminate the crushed red chilies and use a mild curry powder. Also be careful about paprika. The stuff you get in American grocery stores tends to be very mild but if you get it at an Indian or middle eastern market, it is likely to be much hotter.
_________________
Never let the weeds get higher than the garden,
Always keep a sapphire in your mind.
(Tom Waits "Get Behind the Mule")
05 Apr 2013, 12:01 am
I baked them.
