“You don’t have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces – just good food from fresh ingredients.” – Julia Child
The food philosophy that has trickled down to us through our mothers, grand mothers, great-grand mothers is exactly similar to the one I have quoted, reaffirming the fact that food and such age old wisdom blurs the geographical and cultural divide to connect us all. Cooking isn’t intimidating but applying the principle ‘less is more’ and keeping the dishes simple is always challenging for most. The everyday food that we all eat at home is one fine example of simple cooking that honours the fresh produce that is seasonal and local. Our mothers have taught us to buy vegetables that are in season as not only are they cheap but also of better quality . The seasonal produce also have another important role to play; they fulfil the nutritional needs of the body for that particular season. Coming back to the current times, it is wise to eat seasonal and local food because it automatically reduces the chances consuming unhealthy levels of chemicals and fertilisers.
Gujarat, a predominantly arid and hot land literally comes to life during monsoon and winters, offering some best grains and vegetables. One is spoilt for choice and it is hard to keep hands off the fresh vegetables that are on offer making it impossible to return empty handed from a trip to the food market.
During a recent trip to Saurashtra, we came across this gentleman separating the fresh Desi Chana/chickpeas or the poppa as we call them, from its plant using this ingenious tool that seemed very common to the region, I assume it must have evolved in the region as well because Desi Chana or the Bengal Gram is a prominent crop of Saurashtra. It is consumed as a vegetable as well as fodder for livestock who absolutely love to munch these healthy greens.
The dried chana is milled to give us ‘Besan’ one of the most celebrated flours of our cuisine. Most Gujarati farsan/snacks are impossible to make without the Besan flour and we all know how much we love our farsans!!
Sadly though, the fresh green chana which is a good source of protein and fibre does not enjoy the spot it deserves in our cuisine. At the most the chana is added to all the other vegetables to make a mix subji..where these green and fresh beauties lose their colour. I remember my Ba slow roasting the unshelled chana in sand on an earthen skillet and enjoying the shelled chana under the tender winter sun..
I wanted to cook the fresh chana that we had bought from the gentleman featured above in a manner that allowed the beauties to shine and not muffle it with all the masala…a sambharo or a stir fry seemed like a best option. Sambharo is stir-fry in Gujarati and our cuisine have some best varieties of Sambhara to offer, be it with whole peppers, beetroot, cabbage, carrots etc. The minimum spices and cooking that goes in to making the crispy stir fries do justice to such wonderful produce, when you can actually taste the vegetable and not the over powering spices.
The stir-fried Fresh Green Chickpeas or Lila Chana no Sambharo makes an ideal side dish for any flavoured paratha or masala thepla.
Stir-fried Fresh Green Chickpeas
Serves -3
Ingredients
- 2 cups fresh green chana/chickpeas, shelled
- 2 medium tomatoes
- 2 green chillies
- 1 inch ginger
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 teaspoon peanut oil
- 1/4 teaspoon rai/mustard seeds
- a pinch of hing/asafoetida
- salt to taste
- chopped coriander to garnish
Method
- To begin with par boil the Chana in a deep pan. If you desire cook them completely. Do not pressure cook or cook in a covered pan. Care has to be taken to maintain the bright colour of the Chana.
- Give the tomatoes a rough chop, if you want remove the seeds and pulp.
- Finely chop the green chillies, ginger and garlic.
- Now that the preparations are done we begin with making the stir fry. Keep rest of the ingredients ready.
- Heat oil in a kadai/wok.
- Add mustard seeds, asafoetida and the chopped chillies+ginger +garlic.
- Cook for a few seconds and add the tomatoes. Cook for a minute.
- Add the boiled chana and mix them well.
- Add the salt.
- Cook for a minute or two.
- Remove from fire, transfer it to the serving bowl.
- Serve garnished with freshly chopped coriander.
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