Authentic Chickpea Dhal – With a Twist
THE TWIST IS IN THE SAUCE PREPARATION.
Pick up any Authentic Indian Cookbook and the basic sauce for a great curry involves some Ghee / Vegetable oil and frying the onions. But what if you could make an altogether healthier curry, just as tasty but without the oil ?
Well this is the twist – you can if you follow this neat little trick of baking your onions rather than frying…
Ingredients
-
4 Tins of Cooked White Chickpeas -
3 Large Onions, Fresh Garlic 6 cloves, or 1 tablespoon minced garlic -
Thumb length of ginger, or 1/2 tablespoon minced ginger -
Turmeric Powder – 2 teaspoons, Cumin Powder – 2 Teaspoons, Coriander Powder – 1 Teaspoon, Garam Massala, – 1 Teaspoon (all available at most supermarkets now or your local indian grocery store) 2 Teaspoons salt -
Fresh Coriander -
Fresh Tomatoes and Fresh Spinach can be added as option extras
Preparation & Cooking
STEP ONE : PREPARATION
Peel and chop the onions into small pieces and put into a large pyrex or oven proof dish. Add your garlic, ginger and all your spices with your salt and mix well thoroughly. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes at 180 – 200 degrees.
STEP TWO : THE SECRET SAUCE
When done, let the mixture cool and spoon into a blender or food mixer. Add 1/2 cup of water and blend into a thick gravy. Add more water if its too thick. You want to achieve a nice thick gravy. Repeat with the rest of the mixture.
STEP THREE : THE CURRY
Place the sauce back into your pyrex bowl or cooking dish and then add your tins of chickpeas. If you wish to have tomatoes and spinach the you can add these now too. Wash coriander throughly, as it can be gritty. Chop 2/3rds of the bunch and add. Save the rest for garnish.
STEP FOUR : THE FINAL BAKE OFF
Mix well and then bake for 20 mins – if after 10 mins the sauce thickens too much for your liking, then you can add a little hot water to thin. Once cooked, have a taste and add more salt as required and also chilli if you want more heat. Sprinkle the remainder of the coriander as garnish and if you want to go really posh add some chopped red onion and very thin strips of ginger.
To Serve
THATS IT YOU ARE DONE !!
Serve with boiled rice or potato wedges is nice and have plenty of salad on the side for a very filling and healthy meal for the family. If you wish to have a different curry you can replace the chickpeas with red kidney beans or cooked lentils and make the curry in exactly the same way. This dish is perfect for freezing and when you are tired and hungry and dont have time to cook – just pop back into the oven and you have a lovely wholesome tasty meal ready to go.
Authentic Indian Food in Coventry
In 1810, after moving to London, Sake Dean Mahomed opened the first Indian restaurant in England: the Hindoostane Coffee House in George Street, near Portman Square, Central London. It closed after a year from lack of trade !
Fast forward 210 years and the choice of Indian restaurants is plentiful and diverse with Coventry being no exception.
WHERE TO GO ?
With a plethora of restaurants where do you go to find healthy nutritious authentic indian food. We have picked 3 for you which come highly recommended. All three will reduce the amount of oil for you if you ask for “No Oil” to be used when ordering your dish. We also have some free money off discount codes for you to use.