Ingredients

The following ingredients have 5 Servings
  • 2 cups dried black chickpeas (or 6 cups cooked black or regular chickpeas)
  • 2 tablespoons oil
  • 1 large onion (finely minced)
  • Pinch of baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon each: mustard and cumin seeds
  • 2 tablespoons finely minced ginger
  • 4 cloves garlic (minced)
  • 1-2 green chilis (finely minced (remove seeds for a less spicy chili. I used serrano chilis.))
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 2 teaspoons each: coriander and garam masala
  • 1 teaspoon turmeric
  • 28 ounce can diced tomatoes
  • 1 cup chopped cilantro
  • Juice of 1 lemon

Instruction

  • Place the dried chickpeas in a large pot and fill it with water. Let it sit overnight on your counter, or for 8-24 hours. Drain the chickpeas and add fresh water to the pot. Bring the pot to a boil over high heat then reduce the heat and simmer for 1 ½ hours, or until the chickpeas are soft. Drain and set aside.
  • Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and let it cook until it's soft, about 5 minutes. Turn the heat down to medium and add the baking soda to the pan. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is dark brown, about 10 minutes. Add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, ginger, garlic, and chilis to the pan and cook until a dark brown paste forms, about 5 minutes more. (See the pictures in the post to see what it should look like.)
  • Push this onion paste to the side of the pan and add the tomato paste. Let it caramelize until is smells sweet and darkens slightly, about 3 minutes. Add the coriander, garam masala, and turmeric to the pan and let it cook for 1 minute more.
  • Add the diced tomatoes to the pan and gently break them up with a potato masher or the back of a wooden spoon. You want some texture here, just not big chunks of tomatoes. Add the cooked chickpeas, sea salt, and a ½ cup of water to the pan and let it simmer for a half hour. If you're serving this with rice, now is the time to start cooking it.
  • Season with extra sea salt if needed and stir in the cilantro and lemon juice just before serving.