Domesticity Log, no. 4 | Chickpeas in Spicy Tomato Gravy

Ingredients:

• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 jalapeno, chopped
• One 2-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 bunch green onions, chopped + sprinkling of dehydrated onion (eyeball it).  Or, 3 onions, chopped.
• 2 tablespoons ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon ground coriander
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 1/2 cups canned diced tomatoes
• 2 cups dried chickpeas (soaked overnight)
• 2 cups water
• 2 tablespoons cilantro leaves

Instructions:

1. In a food processor, combine garlic, jalapeno, & ginger.  Process to a paste.
2. When chopping green onions, separate the green from white.
3. In a large skillet, heat the oil.  Add the white stems of the chopped onions & dehydrated onions and cook over moderately high heat until sizzling, about 3 minutes.  Reduce the heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are browned, about 7 minutes.
4. Add the garlic paste and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 2 minutes.
5. Add the cumin, coriander, and cayenne and cook, stirring for 1 minute.  Add the tomatoes and simmer over moderate heat until thickened, about 6 minutes.
6. Add the chickpeas and water and simmer until the chickpeas are flavored with the gravy, about 8 minutes.
7. Season the chickpeas with salt, garnish with cilantro and green onion.
8. Serve with Greek yogurt & naan.

Recipe adapted via Food & Wine's Chef Recipes Made Easy.  Every year my grandpa orders me a Food & Wine recipe book for Christmas.  I have about five now, this one being the most recent (2011).  Below, you can see how I changed up the recipe.  My effort was to make this not so incredibly spicy, though even with my alterations (I used 1 jalapeno instead of 2, for instance), this still about burnt my tongue and lips off.  But, still a very tasty dish.  And cooking it is a delight--all those spices hitting the skillet make the entire kitchen bloom with that exotic scent.  It's lovely. 

Also, a note on onions: I don't like them.  I hate getting a mouthful of onion, which is always somehow crunchy and slimy at the same time.  So, I use scallions and dehydrated onions exclusively to get around the weird texture thing.