Whilst this dish may sound complicated it really isn’t. Like most dishes, it’s easy to get put off by processes but this dish is so simple to make and so rewarding.

I’ve cooked a few different versions of a chickpea curry and most authors offer a slightly different regional take on them, they are all great and filling 👍

If you’ve been following my Instagram site at the minute I’m trying to reduce my meat intake, mainly for health reasons.

One of the rewarding parts of this dish is making your own spice mix. A simple dry roasting method then grinding the ingredients up in a mortar and pestle.

Part 1 – Spice mix

Ingredients-

2 black cardamom pods, 1 inch piece of cinnamon stick, 2 cloves, 1/2 tsp of the seeds from green cardamom pods, 1 tsp of cumin seeds, 2 tsp of coriander seeds, 1/2 tsp of fennel seeds, 1 large dried Kashmiri chilli.

Heat a not stick pan. When you can feel the heat add the spices to the dry pan.

After a couple of minutes the kitchen will smell nice and fragrant and the spices will have browned slightly. At that point transfer them to a spice grinder or a mortar and pestle allowing them to cool slightly.

Grind up your spices into a fine powder as much as you can. I did remove the Kashmiri chilli top and the outer casing of the black cardamom powder which I couldn’t break down any further. This will leave you with a spice mix like the below 👇

This whole process takes about 5 minutes if that! Do not be put off by this as it’s very rewarding along with giving you a great understanding of flavours ❤️

Main ingredients –

3 tbsp of rapeseed oil, 1 onion finely diced, 1 bay leaf, 1 large heaped tbsp of garlic and ginger paste, 2 tsp of the pre-made spice mix, 1 tsp of chilli powder, 1/2 of turmeric powder, 250ml of warm water, 200g of chopped tomatoes, 1 tbsp of tomato purée, 1 tin (400g) of chickpeas, good pinch of salt, 1 green chilli slit for cooking and another for final presentation, juice of 1/2 a lemon, 1 tsp of garam masala,coriander leaves, small piece of ginger julienned for presentation.

Method –

Heat the rapeseed oil in a large pan. Once the oil is hot and has those nice swirls in it added the diced onion and bay leaf. Fry the is off for 8-10 minutes until it starts to brown.

Once your onions have reached the colour you want add in the garlic and ginger pastes. mix the pastes around the pan and allow it to cook out slightly for a minute or so.

Lower the heat slightly and add the pre-made spice mix, chilli powder & turmeric plus 2 tbsp or so of the warm water to loosen up the spices and prevent it sticking.

Mix them around the pan and cook for 4-5 minutes. Your kitchen will smell amazing.

Add the tomato purée…..

Quickly followed by the chopped tomatoes.

Give the pan a good stir and allow this to cook for another 4/5 minutes. Make sure you scrape the caramelised sauce from the sides of the pan as there will be lots of flavour here.

Add the chickpeas to the mix. Make sure you e rinsed them under cold water beforehand.

Add the salt, slit green chilli and remaining warm water. Cook the chickpeas in the sauce for 5 minutes.

With the back of a fork or a potato masher break down some of the chickpeas as this will naturally thicken the sauce. Add the garam masala and lemon juice and remove from the heat then give it a big stir.

Add your garnishes – another split green chilli, juliennes of ginger and chopped coriander leaves.

I served mine with pre-made steamed basmati rice.

Inspiration from this dish again was from the wonderful new book by Suki Pantal called Garnish with garam masala ❤️

I didn’t have a couple of the ingredients so I’ve left them out of mine and not listed them, however this was a beautiful dish ❤️

Thank you for reading my ramblings if you have 👍