Chole Chaat

Sort of.

You’ve probably heard the news by now that lovetomtomHQ has a new member, baby Lucille. I started this post while I was waiting for Lucille to arrive but I got rather distracted and never posted it! I can say now that Lucille is here I’m so glad I included this dish in my batch cooking! I hope you like it as much as I do.

I’ve come to that time in my pregnancy where I’m waiting for bubs to arrive and trying to get as organised as possible. Organised for the unexpected that is! One piece of advice most people have given me is to ‘batch cook’ and it is something I’m taking on board.

During the week I attempted to make Chole Chaat, a chickpea based Indian dish from one of my favourite cookbooks, World Kitchen India. It seemed the perfect time for a poll so I asked you if you wanted to see the recipe and the answer was yes so here we are. I always feel a little disappointed cooking Indian food as it is never as tasty as when cooked by a professional but I persisted with the dish anyway. It is one time in the kitchen when I tried to stick to the recipe as much as possible (as hard as that is for me!) and I think I did well as the only change I made was to add some extra vegetables to the dish. No harm I say.

Whether it is a side dish or more of a main meal, what I like about the dish is the flavour combination and the ease of the recipe. The combination of coriander, cumin, turmeric, garam masala, ginger and chilli is unbeatable. Add some chickpeas, onions and tin tomatoes and that’s the dish. The recipe says to serve at the start of an Indian meal or as a side dish but because I added some extra vegetables, cauliflower, broccoli and carrots, I roughly doubled the ingredients to create more of a wet dish. I served it with basmati rice and yoghurt and remember, if you prefer things on the hotter side add more chilli or less if you’re a bit of a chicken like myself.

It doesn’t really matter whether you stick to the original recipe or if like me you like to allow for some artistic license and make variations as the flavour base is the same and so very tasty.  A great dish to make in advance and eat the next day when the flavours are even more fragrant and have really given the dish some depth. Better still it is one that has been included in my collection of meals that have been frozen, ready to go for when I am up to my eye balls in nappies, feeding and more importantly cuddles with my little one.

xo