Chickpea with Spinach aka Palak Chole

Chickpeas, also known as garbanzo, is one of my favorite and is often used in the household to prepare ghugni, a very delicious snack. A quick search will tell you that it is  packed highly with protein and dietary fiber, and importantly, very low in fat.

I had this preparation only recently at a local road side eat out and immediately liked it. It uses spinach and mustard greens, you can use any green leaves of your choice, so it makes the dish a even a little more healthy.

Ingredients:

Chickpea - 1 cup

Spinach - 2 cups, chopped

Onions - 1 medium, chopped

Tomatoes - 2 medium, chopped

Ginger - 1 inch, grated

Cumin seeds - 1 teaspoon

Garam Masala Powder - 1/2 teaspoon

Milk - 1 cup

Oil - 2 tablespoon

Salt to taste

Soak chickpeas overnight or atleast for 3-4 hours. Ofcourse, you can use the canned once. Rinse them well and boil them for 30 - 40 minutes or till tender. I used pressure cooker to boil them and it took 8- 10 minutes.

Add oil to the pan and crack a red chilli to it. Add the cumin seeds and fry for a minute or two. Add the onions and fry them till they are light brown in color.

Add tomatoes to them and a teaspoon of sugar to bring the color out on caramelization. Cook for 3-4 minutes or till they are soft.

Add the chopped spinach (or whatever greens you have) and saute them for few minutes till they are soft. At this point, you can cool and puree the entire things to get a paste of smooth texture . Of course I do not take such pain for my every day cooking.

Add the grated ginger to it.

Next goes the boiled chickpeas and then add the cumin powder and the garam masala powder (usually I dry roast  red chili, green cardamoms, cinnamon and cloves together and grind them well in coffee grinder). Add one or two green chilies to spice it up. Saute for few minutes to mix up the spice well with the chickpeas.

Add the milk, mix and boil till the spices mix together and the gravy turns creamy in texture. You can add few tablespoon of warm water if you wish.

Add 2 tablespoon of kasoori methi (dried fenugreek leaves) to it for a nice flavor, give it a mix, turn off the flame and keep it covered for few minutes.

Your yummy chickpea spinach curry is ready.

We had this for dinner with rumali roti (a flatbread, very thin and supple and can be folded as handkerchief and hence the name ), sliced onions and green chillies.

This is my contribution to this months My Legume Love Affair # 69, hosted by Cinzia of Cindystar. This event was founded by Susan, and is now managed by Lisa.

Also, I converted the above photo to gray mode for this weeks's contribution to Black and White Wednesday, also started by Susan and now taken care of by Cinzia. Deepali of Lemon in Ginger is the host for this week. For participation, click here.

Enjoy!

Egg Muffins - Perfect Snack

It has been a while that I was thinking of silicone bake wares and doing research of whether to buy it or not. I finally decided to get them since mostly I read positive reviews about them. So, these beauties finally arrived in my mailbox yesterday. 

I twisted and turned them and could not find any white filler marks, so I think they are okay to use. I wanted to use them at once, so looked for an easy recipe to try. I decided to try baking egg muffins with these beauties.

These are very easy to make, requires minimum ingredients and packed with proteins. Perfect for kid's snacks, breakfasts or evening treat.

Ingredients (For 6 small muffins)

Egg - 3, medium

Skim milk - 1/4 cup

Grated/Chopped veggies - 1/4 cup

Cheese - 6 tablespoon, grated

Salt and pepper to taste

 I grated carrots and chopped green peppers and mixed them together.

For the first time, a cute little girl helped me in the kitchen. I am planning to get a matching apron for her.

Gently whisk eggs, milk, salt and pepper together. A little munchkin helped me with whisking too.

Pour them in cups, ramekins or muffin tray, or anything that can bear the heat of the oven.

Top it up with a tablespoon of grated cheese on each cup.

Pre-heat oven at 180C. Bake these for 20-25 minutes or till fork comes out clean. It took 25 minutes in my mini oven.

Let them cool before you take them out. Taking them out of these silicone cups was so easy. 

And you have your delicious egg muffins.

 Enjoy!

I converted one of the above photo in black and white and this is my contribution for this week's Black and White Wednesday #120, a wonderful culinary event started by Susan of The Well Seasoned Cook, and  is now managed by Cinzia. This week it is hosted by Susan herself. For participation details, click here.