Aloo Tikki-Chole Chaat Recipe | How to Make Aloo Tikki Chole Chaat

Learn how to make Aloo Tikki-Chole Chaat ~ A popular Indian street food of spiced potato patties served with spicy chickpeas curry and assorted sweet date-tamarind chutney and hot mint-coriander chutney and topped with finely chopped onions, tomatoes and sev

Inside a small restaurant with double glazed window you will find several posters of Bollywood stars smiling at you. There are small granite tables with pickle and chutney trays on top and matching red velvet cushioned chairs. Large framed photograph of Guru Nanak is hung just above the cashier’s desk and a small table fan is rotating gently. The aroma of food being cooked inside the kitchen is intoxicating and people are busy savouring plates of Naans, Curries, Chaats, Indian sweets and Kebabs.

Come out of the restaurant you will find women in colourful saris and salwar kameez, men wearing colourful turbans and kurtas, pavement food stalls selling Samosas, Chaats and Jalebi, small shops selling mobile phones and bright fabrics in rainbow colours hanging in shop fronts. Add to this the Bhangra music and sweet smell of incense and spices is in the air. Am I in India?!

Falafel-Pita Sandwich with Hummus Recipe | Middle Easten Inspired Buddha/Hippie Bowl

Learn how to make Falafel-Pitta Sandwich with Hummus ~ Middle Eastern chickpea fritters flavoured with fresh herbs and spices and chickpea dip

Food has the power to evoke memory, bring people together and to transport us to other places without travelling! Food not only satiates our hunger, but it also satisfies all five senses. Food has that magical power to bridge gaps, blur the borders that divides the countries and its people and above all, it brings joy. And ultimately, food often unites what geo-politics seeks to divide. Take, for example, the history of Falafel; small bite sized fried balls made of chickpeas, herbs and spices, ubiquitous throughout Middle East, is the national dish of Israel.

Middle Easten inspired Buddha Bowl or Hippie Bowl

Middle Eastern Mezze

Despite its strong connection with Israel, the origin of falafel is unknown and controversial. The common theory is that the Falafel originated in Egypt. The history of falafel goes back to the days of the pharaohs and it is believed that the name falafel to come from ‘mefelfel’, an Arabic word for spicy. The Christian Copts, an Egyptian Christian sect, also claim to have invented the ‘ta’amia’, the fava-bean fritter that is parent to the falafel, as a replacement for meat during Lent. Another theory is that falafel invented in Alexandria in Egypt. Since Alexandria is a port city, sailors from all over the world took these delicious little patties home, and eventually falafel became popular fast food all over the Middle East.

Indian Styled Spicy Vegan Sweet Potato, Oats and Chickpeas Burger Recipe | Simple Vegan Burger Recipe

Learn how to make Spicy Vegan Sweet Potato, Oats and Chickpeas Burger ~ Indian styled spicy vegan sweet potato, oats and chickpeas burger flavoured with Indian spices

It’s mid-morning here, in a middle of the week. I am at home, alone, surrounded by the pin drop silence broken by the ticking of the small clock on the table. Tick-tock, tick-tock… The scene today can’t be much different to the one exactly a week ago! Our home was anything but silent, with one energetic 5 year old raising the ruckus and me willingly joining him. He is back in school, after a week-long half term vacation and I miss him terribly. ~sigh~

The silence is unbearable… Making me want to scream! Instead, I decide to focus that energy into writing this post. I always write from my heart; memories of my childhood, stories of my life, my failures and frustrations, joy and success and even my ramblings and rants which may not make much sense to most of you! Writing brings me joy, calms my mind and mostly, helped me in building bonds with like-minded people, even with a complete stranger.

Aloo-Kala Chana Chaat Recipe | Warm Potato and Black Chickpeas Salad

Learn how to make Aloo-Kala Chana Chaat ~ Warm black chickpeas and potato salad with spiced tamarind dressing

It was a cold winter Sunday morning when a teenager was woken from her sleep with a gentle touch of her mother’s hand caressing her hair.

“Open your eyes love. It’s time you learn to make a decent cup of tea!’” said her mother.

“5 more minutes Amma”, the sleepy voice begged.

But her mother knew that these 5 minutes will drag on and it will be 15 minutes or 30 minutes or 1 hour before her daughter finally opened her eyes!

“Oh no! You don’t get 5 minutes!” mother said while literally dragging her first born into the kitchen to prepare 2 cups of Indian Masala tea.

Palak Channa: For the Mother's Soul...

 Palak Channa  

Life’s become one helluva of a roller coaster ride to say the least. Juggling work and home with a clingy baby is no plain sailing. It’s not like I don’t have enough things on my plate. In fact, I feel that my plate is so full and I might drop it anytime and never have the courage to pick it up again! I am trying to do everything in my power to walk on razor thin, tight rope of my life balancing work in one hand and home in another. It’s a delicate process which requires lots of courage, commitment, passion and support from loved ones, especially from one’s partner. Thank god, I am lucky enough to have one such man as my life partner.

Lauki Choley: Complex or Simple?

Lauki Choley

Note 1: Complicated food can have very few ingredients.
Complicated recipe doesn’t mean complex flavours.

Note 2: Simple recipe can have lots of ingredients.
Simple food can have complex flavours.

Confused? Please don’t be… Both the statements are almost same and they prove once again my knack of making things complicated. I had to draw this hypothesis (?!) based on a comment that I received few days back where one of my blog reader left a note saying my recipes always have long list of ingredients and lengthy procedures but they are not as complicated as they seem to be!!! Very interesting feedback… very, very interesting indeed…

So I have decided to clarify few things and come clean ;) Looking back at the recipes I have posted I did notice that some of my recipes (OK most of my recipes, happy?) do have little lengthy list of ingredients and cooking procedure. But most the ingredients in that lengthy list are the ingredients which are used in almost everyday cooking. Well, the ingredients used in simple tadka or tempering itself has minimum of four ingredients and at maximum it can go up to seven ingredients!

At the same time I consider baking to be one hell of complicated recipe to master! (Message to all you wonderful bakers: Would you please stop laughing so loudly and it is not at all lady like to roll on the floor holding your stomach! :P) The simplest bread recipe I had come across has just six ingredients but it doesn’t mean it is easy to make! Does it? Nah… Don’t even try to convince me ;) I won’t be convinced so easily when it comes to baking.

So you see, it’s all the matter of perception as how you perceive all the recipes and also little bit of a thing called practice. If you perceive a recipe to be complicated just by looking at the things then there is a high chance of you avoiding to cook it. But at the same time in spite of that you go ahead and practice to cook that particular recipe then there is a high level of chance of you changing your opinion. Same this applies to simple food stuff…

I am one of those species who can stand on single legs and cook 3-4 varieties of Koftas, Curries and Biriyanis from scratch and still walk away by the end of it instead of crawling. And at the same time I am someone who dives at the chance of baking a bread from scratch just by looking at the TV show where the host made bread looking job something similar to building a castle on sea shore by 2 year old, then there is a high chances of ending up with a smoke alarm waking every dead soul in half a kilo meter distance! Yup, ingredients are not proportional to the complexity of dish or flavour. So it’s highly inappropriate to judge any recipe looking at the list of ingredients and the procedure to cook it. I hence rest my case!!!

Did you get confused again? I don’t blame you… why don’t we forget all my gibberish and come back to the main part of this blog. Yes, let’s talk about food, the glorious food! Today we are having Lauki Chole on our menu. Nah… Don’t twist your nose and roll your eyes. It’s not the same Lauki Kala Channa Masala I had posted few months back. It is Lauki and ‘The’ Channa (chickpeas) I want to talk of. It is your usual Chole recipe except for the addition of bottle gourds which really gives a new dimension to this good-old Punjabi recipe. After my successful attempt at combining bottle gourd with black chickpeas, I was left without any doubt of bottle gourd and Kabuli Channa. So there was no hesitation or second thought when I cooked this curry and guess what, it was just as I thought them to be! Little sweet bottle gourds and nutty chickpeas cooked in aromatic spicy and tangy gravy of onion and tomato is something that needs to be tasted to believe. A perfect marriage made in heaven and happily ever after… and please, don’t keep worrying looking at the ingredients list. I can bet my month’s salary that it is not as complicated as it may sound! Sending this delicious bowl of Lauki Chole to dear Valli who is having a love affair with legumes with My Legume Love Affair 7th Helping, an event started by lovely Susan at Well Seasoned Cook. And Lauki Chole is also my entry for this month’s JFI-Chickpeas hosted at a lovely blog Sometimes Foodie.

Lauki Choley

Print This Recipe

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Lauki Choley Masala (Bottle Gourd with Chickpeas cooked in creamy Onion Tomato Gravy)

Prep Time: 10 mins
Cooking Time: 30-45 mins
Serves: 4-5
Recipe Level: Basic/Easy to Medium
Spice Level: Medium
Serving Suggestion: With any Indian flat bread or flavoured/steam cooked rice

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Ingredients:
1 medium Bottle Gourd/Sorekai/Lauki/Dudhi, peeled and cut into bite sized pieces
¾ cup Chickpeas, soaked in water overnight and cooked or 1 can Chickpeas, rinsed and drained
3 large juicy Tomatoes or 1 canned Tomato, pureed
1 tsp ginger-Garlic Paste
¼-½ tbsp Channa Masala/Garam Masala
1 tsp Kitchen King Masala (Optional)
1 tsp Kashmiri Chilli Powder (Optional, adjust acc to taste)
½ tsp Turmeric Powder
¼ tsp Amchur/Dry Mango Powder or 1 tsp Lime Juice (Adjust acc to taste)
1-2 tsp Sugar/Jaggery (Optional but recommended)
1 tbsp Kasuri Methi/Dried Fenugreek Leaves (Optional but recommend)
1 tsp Jeera/Cumin Seeds
¼ tsp Hing/Asafoetida
1 tbsp Oil
Salt to taste

For Onion Paste:
1 large Onion
½ inch Cinnamon Stick
2 Cloves
2 Green Cardamoms
½ tsp Jeera/Cumin Seeds

Lauki Choley

Method:

Grind onion, cinnamon stick, cardamom, cloves and cumin seeds to smooth paste without adding any water and keep it aside till needed.
Heat oil in a pan and add cumin seeds and hing. When it starts to sizzle and change to light brownish colour, add ground onion paste. Keep stirring the paste till it turns light golden brown and looses its moisture. Make sure that the paste is cooked well or else you will end up with bitter tasting curry.
Add kasuri methi and ginger-garlic paste and stir well. Cook this for a minute or two till raw smell of the paste disappears. Then add tomato puree and mix well. Mix in channa masala/garam masala, kitchen king masala, turmeric and red chilli powder. Cook it for a minute or two for all the flavours to blend well.
Now add about ¾-1 cup of water, sugar and salt to taste and bring it to gentle boil. Mix in bottle gourd pieces and cover the pan. Let it cook on medium flame for about 5-8 mins.
Mix in cooked chick peas and amchur powder. Add little more water if needed and cover and cook for another 5-8 minutes till the bottle gourd is cooked through and all the flavours blend well.
Mix in finely chopped coriander leaves just before serving. Serve this delicious, creamy Lauki-Chole with any Indian flat breads or flavoured breads and enjoy.

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Note:

Add one medium potato that is cooked and roughly mashed to the gravy which will not only thicken the gravy but also enhances its taste.
Replace Bottle Gourd with Ridge Gourd or Potatoes or skip the vegetables and just use chickpeas for different flavours.
Slow cooking of any lentils or legumes gives a wonder flavour and taste to any curry. But since we are using bottle gourd in this recipe, too much of cooking will result in over cooked bottle gourds and that is exactly what we want to avoid.

Chole Bhature

At last my hubby said it openly that I am addicted to blogging. Well… I am guilty of the fact that I am shamelessly, completely addicted to blogging. For every half an hour I check my blog for comments and in between I am busy with checking other blogs. From now onwards I am planning to leave my laptop upstairs. It’s not because I want to stay away from my blog. It’s just because it will help me getting some exercise of running up and down. (I can see my hubby nodding in agreement now). Before blogging came to picture, first thing in the morning I used to get up and have my breakfast. Now all I can think of is checking my blog as soon i get up. Oh yes!!! Sometimes I do this even before I brush my teeth. Ah!!! The power of blogging.
Now a days it’s become a habit to have food once I finish cooking and clicking. Both go hand in hand. It’s become kind of unsaid agreement between me and my hubby. We both are happy as long as I get to click pictures and he gets yummy things to eat;)

Today I am posting a recipe of Chole which I learnt from my Amma. I made Bhatures to go along with Chole. I adapted the recipe of Bhatures from Asha’s Blog. A delicious recipe from Punjab which is served for breakfast has become very much loved brunch and dinner in our house hold. This may not be the authentic way to make Chole Bhature but this is how I make it at home. The soft and spongy Bhatures with saucy Chole is a combination made in heaven.

Chole Masala

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Chole Masala
Prep Time: 10-15 mins (excluding soaking time)
Cooking Time: 25-30 mins
Serves: 3-4

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Ingredients:
1 cup White Kabuli Channa
2 big Onions
3 large Tomatoes/1 canned Tomato
1 inch Ginger
2-3 cloves Garlic
½ tsp Amchur Powder/Marble Sized Tamarind
½-1 tbsp Sugar
1 tsp Garam Masala
½ tsp Kitchen King Masala
½ tsp Channa Masala (optional)
1-2 tbsp Kasuri Methi
2 Cardamoms
2 Cloves
½ inch Cinnamon
2-3 tbsp Coriander Leaves, chopped
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
1 tbsp Oil
Salt to taste

Chole Masala

Method:
Soak kabuli channa over night in enough water with little cooking soda
Drain and wash well and cook it in pressure cooker with enough water for about 15 minutes.
In a mean while, grind onion, ginger, and garlic along with cardamom, cloves and cinnamon without adding any water.
Score a cross with a sharp knife in the base of each tomato and place them in boiling water and leave for 2 -3 minutes.
Drain and allow them to cool. Then peel the skin and make a puree in food processor and keep it aside.
Heat ghee or oil in a frying pan and add cumin seeds to it.
When it splutters add the ground masala paste and fry in medium flame till ghee separates from it.
Add garam masala, kitchen king masala and channa masala and sauté it for a minute.
Now mix tomato puree and keep stirring constantly until the moisture is completely absorbed.
Add salt, amchur powder, sugar and cooked channa with its water and cook till gravy turns thick.
Remove from fire and garish with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with bhaturas or puries accompanied with finely chopped onions and lemon pieces.

Chole Masala

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Bhatura
Prep Time: 10 mins (excluding resting/rising time)
Cooking Time: 10-15 mins
Serves: 3-4

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Ingredients:
2 Cups Plain Flour
2 tbsp Plain Yogurt/Sour Cream
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tbsp Oil
Salt to taste

Chole Bhature

Method:
Mix all the ingredients above and knead well using enough water to make soft dough.
Cover it with wet cloth and keep it in a warm place for 2-4 hours.
Make a lemon sized ball and roll them out to chapatti sized circles with ¼ cm thickness.
Heat oil in a deep frying pan and fry bhaturas till they turn slightly golden and place them on paper towel.
Make sure that you don’t fry the bhatures long because you want them to be soft and light golden.
Serve them with Chole and vegetable salad and relish.

Chole Masala

Also Tried Trupti's and Lera's Chole recipe. Both the recipes are the keepers.