Chick Peas / Chanas…almost like a summer salad
Foodie blogs are buzzing with activity these days with lots of tags & events showing up to mark the appreciation of recipes tried from each others blogs. Tried and Tasted (T&T) is one such monthly event in appreciation of other blogs, hosted by Zlamushka @ Zlamushka’s Spicy Kitchen…provides an opportunity to thank fellow bloggers for sharing their recipes by re-creating them. As Zlamushka says, Starting the very first edition of T&T, Cynthia of Tastes Like Home has agreed to be the first “laboratory rat”. Cynthia’s blog is beautifully weaved with pictures of dishes mainly from her homeland – Barbados and Guyana. It rarely features actual recipes (this is because she is writing a book), but she is more than willing to share them. All you need to do is to drop her an e-mail….which is what I did back in the first week of April, & cooked these wonderful chick peas from this post HERE. In Cynthia’s words, “Channa is chick peas that’s sauteed with white onions, green onions, hot pepper, and the star of the dish – freshly ground cumin.”
Dal (Lentil) Parathas
This DAL PARATHA is off to Srivalli @ Cooking 4 All Seasons for her ‘Roti Mela‘…
Onto the dal paratha…I make a semi dry dal with red split masoor dal & yellow split mung dal (see dals in picture) in a proportion of 2 parts re to 1 part yellow. It’s a simple dal… saute some sliced onions in 1-2 tbsps of oil till brown, saute some ginger-garlic paste, add the dal + turmeric powder + salt + red chilli powder, give it a good stir. Add a little water (we don’t need a watery dal here) & cook until done. Should be semi-dry or the paratha tastes quite plain. I love eating spoonfuls of it at this stage…it’s a yummy dal like this & makes a great side dish to an Indian meal!
Now take some wholewheat flour + lots of chopped fresh coriander + chopped green chilies + some salt in a large bowl. Mix well together & then add the dal & knead to a nice firm but not too hard dough. Allow to rest 30 minutes for the flavours to mature & gluten strands to develop.
Thank you Cynthia, for this wonderful & flavourful recipe, & thank you Zlamushka, for affording a platform to showcase it on!!