Chickpea Curry Indian Style Over Basmati Rice Recipes

In summers, I'm always inventing dinner ideas that are healthy yet are quick and easy.... So, I can serve homemade dinner in no time and keep my family's health in-check.Served with side of lite-cooked (do check notes on this one) Basmati Rice, easy Chickpea Curry makes flavorful and protein-rich vegetarian main course. Plus just 25 minutes quick cooking promise, always encourages me to serve this on weekdays!Now before I get carried away with the detail of just how fabulous this recipe tastes, let me clarify a few things...Curries are staple "dinner" in my home. Ranging from Indian Daal (lentils) to Chicken Curries, we Indians, LOVE our "Curry Dinners"! Generally speaking, looking at restaurant food outside India, you might think.... "Curry Dinner! So Heavy!! Everyday!!!" That's not true, AT ALL! Indian, everyday curry dinners are very lite and easy on stomach. And, they are not called curries! Curry is, European originated name, given to spiced-Indian-food. In Indian Cuisine, we actually have a name for each of these curries but no one will address it as "curry"....... Like for this one, if you ask: "What's for dinner?" It is, Channa Chawal or Chickpea Rice. As you can plainly see in the images, this is not a heavy-on-masala kind of Chickpea Curry. And it has cooling touch of yogurt, mixed-in at the end of cooking, for a very balanced and mild curry flavor, and subtle tang of yogurt.Oh... I should probably mention as well, that Yogurt and Rice is one staple meal, in Indian cuisine, for a very lite and easy-on-stomach meal. Often, when we eat out or when it's very hot and humid... You know, kinda days when it does not feel great to eat heavy food..... On such days, yogurt-and-rice is most popular "lite meal", in many parts of India. Mixing yogurt into Chickpea Curry provides a light balance to this traditional curry. Also, I used fresh tomatoes and onions to keep the traditional Indian flavor, then added a mild curry powder to spare you from using/buying a long list of Indian Spices. If you fan of Indian cuisine, I'm sure you'll have some curry powder in your pantry. However, don't worry, if you don't want to use/have curry powder. I have simple fix for you. Just mix equal amount of ground turmeric, paprika, coriander powder, cumin powder and half amount of garam masala, then use 1 tsp out of this mixture. Keep rest in an air-tight container to use in next curry dish. :) It is that simple!What's all about Lite Cooked Rice?Before we get into details of lite-cooked Basmati rice, I must tell you that Basamati Rice are long grain and thin rice which cook in 10-12 minutes vs regular thick and short-grain rice need about 20 minutes to cook. So, if you not using Basmati, make sure to adjust the cooking time accordingly.Now, about lite cooking method. Traditionally, a cup of rice use 2 cups of water to cook fully. At end of the cooking, water will be fully absorbed by rice. I do that when I'm making any kind of one-pot pilaf. However, for my everyday dinner-rice, I use 3 cups of water instead of 2 cups, and at end of cooking, I drain the excess water just like you would drain extra pasta water. Draining rice water reduces starch-content of cooked rice and makes'em lite and fit for everyday consumption. So, if you really like to keep your starch-intake in-check, always cook rice with extra water and drain the excess starch water. Trust me, rice don't really need fancy rice-cookers or much attention to cook. Just water and rice... vigorously boiling until rice are cooked and then draining excess make fluffy and much-lite rice for every day consumption!Diet Info: Chickpea Curry Dinner is Gluten Free and can be vegan with just one simple change. To keep this Chickpea Curry dairy-free... just replace yogurt with a mild and low-fat Coconut Milk. Vegan, Gluten Free, or just on tight schedule... Whatever you're weekday eating need, you can enjoy a little bit of Indian comfort without a side dish of guilt... that too in just 25 minutes!

Provided by Savita

Categories     Curry     Main Course

Time 25m

Number Of Ingredients 14

• Ingredients

This recipe was inspired by a dish I received in my "Meatless Monday" weekly emails. I changed it around ALOT by adding a few more interesting spices and served it over basmati rice simmered with turmeric. I often make Indian curries using chickpeas, but this recipe added a couple tsp of peanut butter, which I thought sounded really interesting. Please adjust the heat according to your tastes. One small red chili can be substituted for the red chili powder (please note the red chili powder is like cayenne pepper, not the spice blend for making Mexican chilli!)

Provided by Kozmic Blues

Categories     Curries

Time 30m

Yield 4 serving(s)

Number Of Ingredients 17

• Ingredients

Nutrition Facts : Calories 575.7, Fat 9, SaturatedFat 2.8, Cholesterol 7.6, Sodium 1055, Carbohydrate 107.9, Fiber 13.2, Sugar 3.7, Protein 17.7