No Worries Curries Blog: Homemade

The Versatile Legume - The Humble Chickpea

By Conchita de Souza

The Versatile Legume - The Humble Chickpea

Image: Teatime snacks of gathiya (left) and chaklee (right) as well as channa masala (bottom) are all dishes using the chickpea.

In the last fews years and thanks to the rise of TikTok and Reels on Instagram, there have been popular trends using certain ingredients in ways that we had not thought of before. For example, who would have thought that Zucchini (or courgette) could be used as noodles or spaghetti or as a key ingredient in loafs? And sweet potatoes in brownies? 

In India, the humble chickpea has been and continues to be used in a myriad of forms - sweet and savoury. Today’s post explores its use throughout Indian cuisine and beyond. 


A bit about chickpeas

Chickpeas are said to have originated in the Middle East with traces found in Turkey dating as far back as 7,500 years ago.

The two main forms of chickpeas are the Kabuli Chickpeas, also known as Garbanzo beans and Desi chickpeas which are known as Kala Channa in the Hindi/Urdu languages or Bengal Gram. The former is lighter in colour, almost beige and the latter has a dark brown coating. Desi chickpeas are skinned and split to make channa dal. Green chickpeas (hara channa) is another variety that is sweeter than its counterparts.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), India is the world’s largest producer of chickpeas followed by Australia and Turkey. 

From a nutritional perspective, chickpeas are a great source of both protein and fibre, allowing you to feel fuller for longer. 


Used as a whole legume 

Many states/regions in India have a localised chickpea curry that is a staple in homes. Ours is a favourite of many customers and you can try it here

  • Chole or channa masala is served either with deep fried flatbreads - puri (small and unleavened) or bhature (large and leavened).
  • Ashtami prasad - this is traditionally eaten on the eighth day of the Navratri festival and is a dry dish accompanied by poori and halwa (sweet made from semolina) as an offering to the goddess. Kala channa is used and it is prepared as a dry dish with a combination of spices like chilli powder, cumin powder, coriander powder, raw mango powder (amchur) etc. The south-Indian version is described below.
  • Shondal (temple chickpea salad) - this tangy dish is prepared and served to the devotees in south Indian temples.  Here’s a link to this simple snack/side dish. 

Used in flour form 

In India, channa dal, which is the black chickpea skinned and split, is ground into flour and called besan.  Chickpea flour made from kabuli chickpeas is not the same as besan, which is finer and softer. Both are great gluten-free alternatives to regular wheat flour.   

Besan is used to thicken gravies, bind patties and to dust fish before frying.  It is indeed a staple in an Indian pantry.


Savoury

1. Mains

  • Kadhi - A simple lunch time curry served with rice hails from the North of India.  You can drop in pakoras (see below) to take this to the next level.

     
    Image: Kadhi is a yoghurt-based curry mixed with besan

2. Snacks 

  • Chillas (chickpea omelette) - finely chopped onions, tomatoes and fresh coriander are mixed with besan and water before being cooked in a pan like pancakes. 
  • Murkuru/Chaklee - these are usually spiral shaped snacks that are enjoyed with chai 
  • Ghathiya - thin straw-like crispy snacks that are spiced with chilli powder, turmeric and ajwain. 
  • Pakora/bhajia - our favourite tea time snack in which a batter of chickpeas flour and spices are used to coat vegetables, fishes and even chicken before being deep-fried until crisp.


    Image: A teatime favourite - chai with onion pakora 

Dessert (Mithai)

Many a mithai is made from besan and the reason it works so well is because of the naturally nutty flavour it imparts. More importantly, the besan is ever-so-soft in texture and your teeth sink through it with every bite and it melts whilst sitting on your tongue. 

  • Besan Laddoo - a round-shaped sweet made primarily from three ingredients; besan, ghee and sugar. 
  • Soan papadi (pictured here) is a melt in the mouth flaky sweet that is similar to fairy floss in terms of its lightness and airiness but not form.


    Image: Round cakes of soft and flakey soan papadi

  • Channa Doss - a delicacy that hails from Goa and has a fudge like consistency.
  • Barfi - usually a milk-based sweet but it can also be made using besan 

Other uses of Besan (Beauty)

Chickpea flour is made into a paste and is used in lieu of soap to wash babies after they have been massaged with a vegetable oil. 

It can also be used as a natural face mask to cleanse away impurities. Click here for a homemade recipe that has just three ingredients including the flour itself!

We trust you have been convinced to give Chickpeas and Besan a home in your pantry.

Read more


Types of Oils Used in Indian Cuisine

By Conchita de Souza

Types of Oils Used in Indian Cuisine

In Indian cooking, the flavours and aromas are most often attributed to a masala - a combination of spices used.*  However, the oil in which the spices are tempered and in which the ingredients are cooked, is often overlooked as a contributing factor to flavour. 

Various oils are used in India depending on which part of the country you are from and depending too on the dish that you are preparing. 

Below is an overview of the most commonly used oils:

Read more


Indian Cultured Foods - Natural Sources of Probiotics to Promote Gut Health

By Conchita de Souza

Indian Cultured Foods - Natural Sources of Probiotics to Promote Gut Health
Broadly speaking, the term “gut health” refers to the bacteria that lives in your digestive tract (known as gastrointestinal tract). The bacteria contained within is affected by numerous factors starting from how we were born (c-section or vaginal birth), to the environment we grew up in as well as what we eat.

Read more


A Reflection on my Father - The Chef

By Conchita de Souza

A Reflection on my Father - The Chef
What is (or was) your father like? The kind that dishes out tough love or the kind that always cracks lame dad jokes? Is he into watching his sports or does he prefers to be adventuring amongst nature? Is he a DIY dad or one that can’t tell a spanner from a ratchet?

Read more


Part 1: Five Cooling Indian-Inspired Dishes For A Hot Aussie Summer

By Conchita de Souza

Part 1: Five Cooling Indian-Inspired Dishes For A Hot Aussie Summer
As we sweat our way through another sweltering Aussie summer (wouldn’t have it any other way!), we have put together some Indian-inspired dishes to help you to beat the heat down under.

Read more


The Power of a Freshly Prepared Home-Cooked Meal

By Conchita de Souza

The Power of a Freshly Prepared Home-Cooked Meal

There is nothing like coming home after a long period of travelling and eating out at restaurants, in trains and on the street, and finally tucking into a meal prepared in your very own kitchen.  Even if that meal is as simple as you toasting bread, spreading vegemite and butter on top of it and sitting half naked on the kitchen counter munching on the said creation.


In India, the notion of a home-cooked meal concocts sensations of familiarity, comfort, belonging and security. Whilst there is a huge culture of eating out at the literally millions of places, be they grand as the Taj Hotel or as humble as the pani puri vendor at the end of the street (click here and here to learn more about the deliciousness that is pani puri), there is also an unsaid recognition and appreciation for the meal that is prepared at home, with love and tenderness, usually (but not always, as things are changing) by the mother. This meal is sacred and wasting it, a big sin.


A common sight in India is bringing home-made ‘tiffins’ to work. ‘Tiffin’ means lunch and, until I lived and worked in India, I can honestly say I never really had a proper ‘lunch’.  In Australia, it is common for us to bring sandwiches or something cold for lunch packed from home.  Every now and then leftovers that can be heated up, is more of a treat than the ordinary salad sandwich.  In India, home-packed tiffins are taken to new heights with spicily-prepared vegetables and hot, soft roti made at home in the morning and packed just in time for hubby, kids and self to take to school and work.  Can you imagine waking up early enough to not only prepare breakfast for the family, but also hot lunch, and then get them and yourself ready to be out of the house? Well it happens, and all for the love of a home-cooked meal.


I remember when I first started working in India and it was my first office lunch, I went to the canteen to order food whilst my colleagues accompanied me with stylish and compact bags.  Whilst I waited for my food to be prepared, they opened their bags to reveal an assortment of tiffin boxes, some stainless steel and multi-stacked (like in the image below) and others colourful, like the tupperware they sell at tupperware parties in Australia.  Each box was carefully packed; rice separated from curry; cooked vegetable separated from roti; a special container to make sure the home-made yoghurt wouldn’t leak and; even a small box with a homemade sweet.  All of these tiffins would be spread out amongst colleagues and graciously shared, each colleague boasting about their mum’s amazing pilaf or their wife’s to-die-for jeera aloo (potato and cumin seeds).  On a day your mum prepared a dish that was not one of your favourites; no problems, it was easily exchanged with a colleague who liked what you got in your tiffin and vice versa.  I felt out of place with my canteen food but within no time, the tiffins were pushed to my side of the table and I was asked to taste everything.  After a few weeks of settling in, I too began cooking fresh food in the morning and taking it to work in my tiffin (not as stylish as theirs but nevertheless serving its purpose) and feeling the joy of opening up my tiffin and sharing my cooking efforts with those around me.  There is something about homemade food that makes it taste different, and I put that down to one ingredient - love.  You wouldn’t prepare meals for your loved ones with outdated ingredients, wilting leafy vegetables or unfamiliar additives.  You take pleasure in seeing them enjoy that which you have made and therein lies the love.  Not to my surprise, when I have prepared food in anger, or eaten food prepared in anger, this has reflected in the taste which says a lot about the importance of food preparation!


A tradition that remains strong in India is the notion of cooking fresh and eating fresh.  I have friends who refuse to eat food for dinner that was prepared in the morning.  ‘But it’s stale’ they argue as I guiltily think of eating curries back home that my dad prepared a week in advance (in my defence, certain curries become tastier days after they are prepared).  Before the advent of fridges, freezers and microwaves, food was consumed soon after it was prepared and so this practice continues on in many modern and traditional homes across India. If families do not have the time, they hire a cook to prepare food in their home. Such is the importance placed on the home-cooked meal.


Whilst I can appreciate that eating fresh at every meal is not practical for most, I definitely believe we can prepare homemade meals more often and with greater variety, leaving restaurants and take-out for celebrations, special occasions and those days where cooking anything at all requires levels of energy we cannot muster. That’s where we at No Worries Curries come in.  Indian and Asian cooking can be daunting to someone who loves the flavours but is not familiar with the methods and the delicate balance of multiple spices.  We take the ‘worry’ out of making curry and provide you with authentically blended spices to create your very own Indian feast from the comfort of your kitchen (with recipes on the back of each blend because the love is real for you dear friends).  The most empowering factor is that you are in control.  If you like it hot, then add more chilli.  If you want a vegetarian version, replace proteins with ingredients like tofu or kidney beans.  Our range of spices allows you flexibility in flavour, ingredients and quantity.


Why trust us? We have grown up entirely on spices and we know just how nourishing they are when regularly consumed. We also believe in the power of homemade meals and want you to be able to do the same, even if you are preparing a dish from a place that seems foreign but whose flavours and textures have won your heart (read - tastebuds).  Here’s to homemade food - that it may always replenish us with the love we all deserve and that we may savour it more often than our busy lives permit!


Inserted image: http://www.saurabhsteel.com/tiffin-carrier/clip-belly/53

 

By Conchita A. de Souza 

Read more

Recent Articles

Categories