August 18, 2006: Spiced chickpeas with mixed vegetables in karhi sauce

Having settled in properly to our flat, it was time to really test out the kitchen with a more elaborate menu. I opted for an old standard: spiced chickpeas and a yoghurt-based vege curry. The first stage of making the spiced chickpeas (picked up during our Indian cooking course at Mondo Organics) is making lila masala spice paste, which basically involves turning this:

Into this:

This paste (along with a glob of tomato paste and a few extra spices) is combined with cooked chickpeas to make a big, tasty feast. However, the chickpeas are a bit samey and, given my vast amount of leisure time at the moment, I opted to make a mixed vege curry to provide a bit of contrast. This curry is basically a pile of steamed vegetables thrown into a paste made of yoghurt, chickpea flour and a pile of spices.

Usually, the combination of these two dishes is quite delicious – the spicy, tangy chickpeas moderated by the blander, cooling yoghurt based curry. However, things were somehow reversed: the chilli powder I used in the yoghurt curry was a little more powerful than I anticipated, while the ginger in the chickpea dish wasn’t as potent as usual. The vege curry was a bit overpowering for Cindy unfortunately, but I still enjoyed it all (both for dinner and, repeatedly, as leftover lunches).

Categories

• Cooking
• Savoury