When we first started thinking about starting a food blog, one of our primary reasons was to demystify Indian cooking to those just beginning to explore our wonderful cuisine! Don’t get us wrong – we definitely have and use spice mixes that our grandmothers and mom’s stock our kitchens with, BUT you don’t need them to make some seriously delicious Indian food. This recipe is one of them  – you can find almost all the ingredients at your favorite grocery store and we would bet you probably have about half the ingredients in your pantry already.

In COVID times, its definitely easy to get into a food funk, we hope that this recipe makes it into your menus when you’re craving some hearty comfort food! Serve it with any long grain rice or naan. Leftovers make a fantastic taco filling! 

Tips & Tricks

• McCormicks makes a great garam masala that you can find at any grocery store – we usually buy it at Target.
• You want to let the tomatoes cook through to get rid of some of their acidity and mix with the spices, taste your tomato mixture and cook for at least 5-7 min before you add in your beans.

Recipe Information

• Prep time: 15 minutes
• Cook time: 20 minutes
• Yield: 4-5 servings 

Ingredients

• 1 can petite diced tomatoes
• 2 can chickpeas / garbanzo beans
• 1 onion diced 
• 2 serranos seeded and diced 
• 2-3 tsp garam masala
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp chili powder (to taste)
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• Salt
• 3 cloves crushed garlic (can use frozen, 3 cubes)
• Ginger (2 cubes frozen or 2 tsp powder) 

Directions

1. Sauté onion and serrano in oil until onion softens ~5 min.
2. Add crushed garlic and ginger and continue to cook on medium ~2 min.
3. Add canned tomatoes and spices and let simmer for flavors to meld ~5-7 min.
4. Rinse chickpeas in a colander and add to tomato mixture.
5. Adjust spices & salt to taste and continue to simmer until mixture thickens another ~5 min.
6. Garnish with cilantro and serve with Basmati Rice or Naan.