Artichoke, Ricotta, and Chickpea Calzone | Italian Kitchen

Calzones make for a hearty and filling snack in a picnic basket or an entree for a meal on a hot platter. I love making calzones as they are so easy to put together, can be refrigerated for up to three days and taste super hot or cold!! Just add a salad and a cup of milk and you are good to go.

Chole Panjim | Chickpeas in Coconut Gravy | Goan Style Curried Garbanzo Beans

Here is another of my favourite recipes. I love to make it in the winter when we feel like eating a heavier meal as well as something really spicy. I came to know of this recipe many years ago when holidaying in Goa I visited a family who laid out a real Goan style feast for us. Though I have always been partial to Chole, this version left me speechless. The flavour, the texture, and the heat level were all so different from the North Indian versions I had been accustomed to!! I just loved it. And when I made this recipe over the weekend I could not help but wonder why I had not shared this yummy recipe with you until now!!

Chana Masala | Spicy Chickpea Curry | Garbanzo Bean Curry

Kabuli Chana is a very popular and loved food in my family. Its made almost on every festival or celebration with Puri, Paratha, or Luchi. However we never really seem to stick to a particular recipe. As I was getting this post together, I realised I already have two recipes of Chole on my blog: Tari Wale Chole | Curried Chickpeas and Rice Plate Chole | Chickpeas with Rice. The first is a recipe that TH likes to make every so often, and the latter is a reminiscence of my days at DU!

Jeweled Quinoa Pilaf with Pepitas and Cranberries

Quinoa has been a great favourite of mine ever since I discovered it!! I use it not only as a grain substitute but for an amazingly wide range of cooking. Its extremely versatile and can be combined well with a really wide multitude of flavours. It inspires creativity :)

Tari Wale Chole | Curried Chickpeas

Chole is a favourite dish in our home. While I make chole more suitable for chaat and tikkis, he makes them in  a typically North Indian style. Tari Wale Chole is typical of UP and Delhi where you will find this curry being sold early mornings at railway stations and small eateries near bus stops. It is also popular in the many temple towns there. The curry of this chole is very simple to make yet is very flavourful. Ideal for dunking freshly made pooris!!

Avocado & Pepper Salad with Lime-Roasted Cumin Dressing

We are seeing a lot of avocados in the market this winter. Avocados are a beautiful pear shaped green fruit, a berry really, with a soft buttery flesh. They are seen most popularly in guacamole, but you can eat avocados in sandwiches, sushi, use it pureed to thicken curries, in milkshakes, ice creams, and desserts. In a salad, they are divine! Pick a ripe but firm avocado for this salad. For the dressing I used a classic lime dressing with olive oil and honey. The roasted cumin adds great flavour and depth to its taste.

Savoury Vegetable Puffs

Last week we received in the range of 17 inches of snow over two days!! Pretty much everything was buried under it, and I could not even see where my beautiful kitchen garden had existed barely a couple of months ago! Barely a speck of green was visible and I could almost hear some of the tree branches groaning under the weight of the snow that had come to rest on them. Winter in all its beauty and wonder had arrived.

Lemony Chickpea & Macaroni Chaat

Here's another original from my kitchen - Chickpea & Macaroni Chaat!! As all my friends and family know, I love to be creative in the kitchen. So, when we got home last Saturday, exhausted after some biking, we couldn't wait to get some lunch. Well, it was closer tea time and the breakfast we'd eaten had long been digested. Of course, we could have eaten out. But our new mantra is to avoid eating out as much as possible - primarily with the aim of avoiding unnecessary calories from restaurant food and hence to replace any such meal with a healthier home-cooked alternative.

Indian Street Food: Rice Plate Chole | Chickpeas with RIce

Now that's an unusual name for a recipe isn't it? Not if you've been to University in Delhi, Bombay, or many of the other metros in India. When I was completing my Masters in Delhi, I spent long long hours soaking up books in the library. Reading often gave way to a ravenous appetites and late after the local cafes and canteens closed doors, it was the corner shops and street stores that catered to the hunger of budding professionals. I remember stepping out of the library with some buddies, turning a quick corner, and ordering a steaming hot Rice Plate. Quite simply this comprised a plate heaped with rich and served with a deliciously simple curry, usually either chole (chickpeas) or rajma (red kidney beans). At what can only described as a nominal price, each plate served was always enough food for two!! Filling, satisfying, and nutritious, it was an excellent motivation to go back and hit the books.


This is my version of the very same chole made to go with rice. I add cinnamon, star anise, and nutmeg as they impart a delicately sweet flavour to this otherwise spicy curry. Here's to some great memories of Delhi, University, and the ubiquitous corner shop with a Rice Plate menu!!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups chickpeas, soaked overnight
2 onions, chopped fine
3 tomatoes, chopped fine
3 cloves garlic, minced
1" piece ginger, minced
6-8 curry leaves
1" piece ginger, minced
1 black cardamom
2 points star anise (from 1 flower)
1/2 tsp cumin
6 black peppercorns
2 bay leaves
A few shavings nutmeg
Small stick cinnamon
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
Salt, to taste
2 tbsp oil

Method:

1. Drain the chickpeas, and pressure cook with with some fresh water, the cinnamon stick, black cardamom, star anise, 1/4 teaspoon cumin, peppercorns, bay leaves, a few shavings nutmeg, a pinch of salt, and ginger.
2. In a deep frying pan, add the oil. Once it is heated, add the cumin, the curry leaves, garlic, ginger and onions. Fry until the onions are golden brown, then add the tomatoes, salt to taste, turmeric, chilli powder, and 1/4 cup water. Cook until the tomatoes are soft and you have a semi liquid curry.
3. Pour the chickpeas with the liquid they were cooked in into the tomato-onion paste. Stir, cover and cook for 20 minutes. Check for seasonings and adjust according to taste.
4. Serve hot with plain rice, or for a treat enjoy with Zeera Chawal (Cumin Rice). Enjoy!!

I am sending this recipe out to Sri of Cooking for All Seasons for Curry Mela. This will be my very first entry to her Mela series :)

I am also sending this out to Aparna My Diverse Kitchen who is hosting this month's Think Spice, Think Nutmeg.

All text and photographs in this blog, unless otherwise noted, are Copyright of © Annarasa 2007-2013. All Rights Reserved. Kindly do not reproduce without permission.

Pasta with Chickpeas and Parsley

There is nothing quite like having a few recipes for quick and easy one dish dinners handy. Amongst my favourite recipes is Pasta with Chickpeas & Parsley. This is a deliciously spicy pasta with a tremendously hearty flavour. Its completely no-fuss to make. It was perfect for our move last week - fast to make and truly yummy!!