Chickpea Curry | Ayurvedic Meal 3

I attended a cooking class by Dr Sujatha Kekada in Ubud Bali. Dr Sujatha is an Ayurvedic doctor who owns Amrta Siddhi an Ayurvedic clinic at Nyuh Kuning in Ubud. The five recipes she planned out for us that afternoon was a dosha balancing meal. So far I've only tried out 3 of them.

I never knew it can be so therapeutic cooking indian dishes especially the part where you have to grind your own spices. I learned so much about spices just cooking this one dish.

Chickpea Curry (Channa Masala) Recipe

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Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups chickpea (channa dhal) soaked overnight. Boil for 40mins in 4 cups of water on medium low heat or till soft.
  

PASTE

• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 tbsn fresh ginger
• 1/2 cup shallots

Blend the ingredients together with 1/2 cup of cooked chickpeas until smooth.

SPICES (Garam Masala)

• 1 tspn cumin seeds
• 1/2 tspn fennel
• 2 tspn coriander seeds
• 5 cloves
• 1 cardamom pod
• 1/2 a star anis
• 1/2 stick cinnamon

Grind the spices with a mortar and pastel until it's really fine. Roast in a large pan for 10 mins on low heat till fragrant.

SAUCE

• 2 tbsn ghee
• 4 tomatoes chopped
  
• 1 tspn mustard seeds
• 15-20 curry leaves
• 1/2 tbsn tumeric powder
• a handful coriander leaves
  

Directions

1. Add mustard seeds into hot oil and fry till pop.
2. Add in curry leaves and fry briefly.
3. Add in tomatoes and tumeric powder and cook for 5 mins
4. Add in paste and cook for 5 mins
5. Add in boiled chickpeas together with the broth and cook for 10 mins
6. Add in the garam masala spices and coriander leaves and cook briefly
   
7. Salt to taste
   

Serves 6 people.