Chole – Indian spiced chickpeas

If you look at my latest posts, you will see I took a little detour from my Indian food cravings to post about my love for Caesar salad. Goodness, food is so delicious. And speaking of delicious food, I was dreaming about making this Chole (pronounced CHO-LAY) again, after I tested it over the weekend.

This is another amazing suggestion from my neighbor and I hope they just keep coming. She sent me a text with a name (chole) and a list of ingredients – onions, garlic, ginger, tomatoes, chickpeas, cloves, turmeric, cumin…it was the perfect text. I knew I had to figure it out on my own. I love recipe development, best part of my day.

I did a little research on this dish and it’s traditionally served alone without any rice, but I love the addition of rice, but you could also serve this with naan or just eat it plain.

The dish itself is super simple and comes together quickly, so it’s perfect for a weeknight dish. It’s the spices though – those spices just turn tomatoes and chickpeas into this delicious and warm meal that you are going to wish you made double. Actually I suggest it, make double. This will give you 4 portions if you pair it with rice, but only 2-3 if you don’t. So, your choice.

Let’s talk for a second about the stunning nutrition right here though. I really only have a handful of vegan main dishes that I rave about and let me tell you, there is nothing else needed with this one. It really is the good of the good stuff – it’s official (as if it wasn’t before), I’m in love with Indian food!

My two big nutrition winners in this dish are the antioxidant power of the onions, garlic, ginger, and turmeric and the fiber from the chickpeas. Don’t leave out the black pepper, it helps your body absorb the turmeric.

If you are not accustomed to eating beans, I would probably split this between 4 servings. You never know how your body will react to you exponentially increasing your intake of beans. They are so good for you, but our bodies do unpleasant things when consuming larger than normal portions of food, even healthy foods. And I know there are some of you out there who don’t like onions – this may not be the dish for you – they are essential and you can’t leave them out. I absolutely love the flavor of onions!

I hope you try this, I have a feeling this will make it into the monthly rotation of family dinners.

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