Vegan Kala Chana or "Black Chickpea Curry"

Kala Chana "Black Chickpea Curry"
Recipe from The Indian Slow Cooker.


This one is from page 80 of "The Indian Slow Cooker" by Anupy Singla.  This book is awesome because underneath the title of the recipe, the cooking time and the food yield is also listed.  I was sort of intrigued by this whole "Black Chickpea" thing because I just didn't every recall having them.  I probably have had them at a restaurant at some point, but I just have no reference for it.  So it's pretty exciting being nearly 40 and discovering new types of beans!  The black chickpea never really breaks down like the white one does.  The book mentions that the protein content is very high on these.  Another dump the beans in, put a few things in food processor, add to slow cooker.  A mere 9 hours later you have a beautiful meal.  These chickpeas are so amazing looking!  At first I was slightly put off by the drier  texture.  But by the second bowl I was in heaven.  Love the name "Kala Chana".  Page 82 has a "Dry, Tangy Black Chickpea" recipe of a dish that is served at auspicious Hindu Ceremonies.  That one may be more "dry" than this.  Black lentils and Black chickpeas seem special.  Maybe because of Kali's black hair??  Well, they are very special in our household because they are a beautiful new bean!  Chickpeas rock. And don't forget to squeeze the lemon on top.  That is going to increase the amount of iron you absorb from these black beauties.

Seriously simple.  Dried beans with wet ingredients and spice.
Put everything in at once and push a button.
No excuses for not eating healthy now.

Check out this newsclip!

Black chickpeas show functional ingredient potential: "After purple tomatoes, black garlic and golden kiwi fruit Israeli scientists now propose that rust-colored and black chickpeas are antioxidant-rich and could be functional food ingredient." 


It seems that these guys are even higher in nutrients than their white counterparts.  So they truly are magical.

Kala Chana
Protein Powered Black Chickpeas!

Vegan Chana Dal from the Indian Slow Cooker Book

"Chana dal" from The Indian Slow Cooker  by Anupy Singla

                                                                      

 Today I made the "Chana Dal" from Anupy Singla's  The Indian Slow Cooker 

(which is now back in stock on Amazon).  The recipes in her book list an Americanized name and then the normal Indian name beneath.  The recipe I decide to make each day is nearly 100 percent dependent upon the cooking time.  This particular one took 6 hours on high and yielded 10 cups of food.

Dried Chana Dal

    

          "Chana Dal" This is what the package looks like.

I have the first edition of the book which is nearly perfect but does contain a couple of mistakes.  This happens to be one of them :)  It says to add 33 cups of dried chana dal to the slow cooker but it was pretty obvious that it was supposed to be three.  I think anyone that has ever been in a kitchen could figure that out pretty easily.  Yet, I am reminded of a Belgian roommate that I had.  We were living in a Spanish speaking country and she had gone to buy some asparagus that day.  She didn't cook much and pasta was even a little challenging for her.  She had even melted the entire teapot.  It would get left on for hours.  Well,  she bought this asparagus from the Bolivian woman sitting outside selling veggies.  The woman explained that you need to cut the ends off before you cook it since they were a bit fibrous.  Now, my roommate actually spoke excellent Spanish, so I am thinking it was the cooking part in which she was a little less fluent.  Anyhow, she knocked on my door and said she had made some fresh asparagus and would I like some.  I jumped at the chance as I was living on kilos of apples and oranges there.  I looked in the colander and there were the ends of the asparagus.  She had cut the rough ends off and cooked them!!  So the beautiful tips had been disposed of in the trash.  She kind of thrived on salami and cheese (she's Belgian after all) so there was no picking through the trash.  It was so funny.  She once cooked tofu by taking the whole block and boiling it in water.   My point?  Well, this dear friend of mine just may have tried to put 33 cups of chana in.  But I am confident anyone else with the first edition of this book will look at the page to the left which uses toor dal, and only 3 cups, and will determine that this recipe meant to say 3 cups also.  The "American" description of this dish is "Simple Split Chickpea Curry" and it is on page 63 of this awesome book.  And simple it was.

Just chop ingredients up and dump in pot.

You dump dried chana in with ingredients.  Add water.  And when you get home from work you think that maybe there was an Indian woman cooking in your house all afternoon.

I think it might become a staple in our home.  It had a little spice in it, but nothing overwhelming.  The second night we added spinach.  This dish is sort of "soupy" and you can take a cup out and blend it in the Vita-Mix to create a broth.   And don't be confused by the "Split Chickpea" description.  They are split chickpeas, but black chickpeas.  Split and skinned black chickpeas which are very common in Indian cooking.  She refers to these as "lentils" also, so you just have to adjust your terminology if you haven't shopped for Indian legumes prior.  Black Chickpeas are also called Kala Chana.  The white chickpeas which we use to make hummus here and to make the Indian Chana Masala are called "Kabuli Chana".  Anupy has a whole section in her book (starting on page 39) describing the different legumes and she also has many photos.   Her blog is here.  She is really funny!  "Indian as Apple Pie" is the name of it which is very fitting.  She quit her reporter job at WGN in Chicago to cook Indian Food. She seems like a super progressive gal who has this beautiful blend of two cultures.  What are your favorite Vegan Indian dishes??