"So... What'd you guys have for supper?"

That's what our friend, Troy, asked us when he got into the car with us to go see fireworks put on by the Pyrotechnics Guild International.  Yeah..  We had some really, really great tasting Indian food!

Our friends, Mona and Utpal, invite us over and cook for us all the time.  It's seriously so good that I begged them for cooking lessons!

They have a cooking kitchen in their house with a venting hood leading outdoors and windows that we can open so the smell doesn't get strong.  In our apartment we have a cooking hood that doesn't filter outside so it got a little strong.  If you had a grill with gas burners on them, you could definitely make this outside.

For Mona's chickpea dish you'll need:

2 - 2-1/2 tbsp Vegetable/Canola Oil (do NOT use EVOO, it changes the taste of the dish)

Pinch of WHOLE Cumin seeds

Toast the seeds in the heating oil and add 2 chopped White Onions (medium/large)

Brown the onion after toasting the seeds so it's slightly brown and becomes partially transparent

Meanwhile, drain and rinse 3 cans of Chickpeas; add them to the browned/cooked onion

Add 2 (grated/crushed) cloves of Garlic

2 tsp grated, Fresh Ginger

Pinch of Salt

2 cups of Water

Stir in 1/4 tsp Turmeric

1-1/2 tsp Red Chili Powder

1 heaping tsp Coriander

1 heaping tsp ground Cumin

2 chopped Roma Tomatoes

From here, you either cover it and simmer until the chickpeas are softened or put it in a pressure cooker and let them cook for about 10 minutes (we bough a pressure cooker just so we could make this dish :)  )

In the meantime, while the chickpea mixture cooks down, peel and chop 2 Medium Potatoes (pieces should be about the size of the chickpeas), salt lightly, and cook in a covered, microwave safe dish until tender.  Cook potatoes in the microwave, otherwise they get too soft in the pressure cooker.

After the chickpeas have softened, add the potato to the mix.  Stir in 1-1/2 tsp Chana Masala, then garnish with chopped Cilantro.

Chop the onion in half then chop so as to make "slivers" of onion.

Toasting the cumin seeds.

Finished product (with Utpal's Fried Rice - recipe below)!!!!!!

We always accompany the chickpea dish with some fried rice.  It's really delicious.  You can either use Jasmine or Basmati rice.  We cooked up 3 cups of dry rice, yielding 6 cups, as this rice makes fantastic leftovers.  Cook it ahead of time and either let it sit and cool to dry out, or make it the day before and refrigerate it.

What you'll need:

2 - 3 tbsp Vegetable/Canola Oil

2 handfuls of Raw Cashews

          Cook on high in a large pot or wok

2 Small/Medium Onion (chop it just like you did for the chickpea dish)

Add onion to cashews and cook until brown and soft.

          Turn stove down to med/low

Add 1 handful of Raisins

Add 1 bag of Mixed Veggies (previously cooked in microwave in a microwave safe dish)

          (We used the bag that has the peas, corn, carrots, green beans and lima beans)

Add 1/4 tsp Turmeric powder

1 tsp salt

1 Tbsp White Granulated Sugar

Mix well!

Add rice and mix well with mixture so the yellow color from the Turmeric covers all of the rice.

If you'd like, you can add pineapple chunks/tidbits, too!

Raw cashews - I used the whole bag, I love them in this dish!

AND!  Even if you don't like raisins, I recommend adding them anyway, they add a hint of sweetness to the rice dish that can't be beat!

Finished Rice!  :)

Many of the spices can be found in specialty Asian American grocery stores, especially the Chana Masala. I also found the raw cashews in the specialty store, however, you can usually find them in the bulk section of your grocery store.  I have noticed that many ingredients you find in the specialty grocery stores are very reasonably priced!  That's why I bought such large containers of spices and cashews.

I really love these dishes and I recommend trying them.  If you're afraid of onion, (Mom) DON'T WORRY!  It cooks down and you seriously can't even taste it.  Brent and I aren't huge fans of onion and we eat it simply because we can't taste it in these dishes.

These make a great amount of leftovers and it's so good.  You've probably noticed that these dishes are completely vegetarian.  It's incredible how full you get off of the proteins in the chickpeas!  You can make the chickpea dish with shrimp.  Just buy raw, deveined shimp and instead of using Chana Masala you'll use Garam Masala.  They're completely different spices.  Also, if you're a fan of spicier food, add a little more chili powder.