Punjabi Chickpeas with Potato (Chole)

• servings: 4
• total time: 45 minutes

Ingredients

1 large red onion

1 tablespoon finely grated

4 tablespoons grapeseed or fresh ginger

other neutral oil, divided

3 medium garlic cloves,

1½ teaspoons ground finely grated

coriander

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 teaspoon ground cardamom

Two 15½-ounce cans

1 teaspoon sweet paprika chickpeas, drained

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon lime juice, plus lime wedges, to serve

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

¼ cup coarsely chopped

¼ teaspoon nutmeg cilantro leaves, plus more

⅙ teaspoon cayenne pepper to garnish

Kosher salt and ground

Chopped fresh tomato, thinly black pepper sliced bird's eye or serrano

1 teaspoon cumin seeds chilies and whole-milk

Greek-style yogurt, to serve

¾ pound russet potatoes (optional) (about 2 medium potatoes), peeled and cut into ½-inch

cubes

1. Using the large holes of a box grater. grate the onion, then transfer to a mesh strainer and drain. In a small bowl, stir together 1 tablespoon of the oil with the coriander, cardamom paprika, cinnamon, cloves, nutmea, cavenne. 1¼ teaspoons salt and ½ teaspoon pepper.

2. In a 12-inch skillet over medium-high host the remaining

3 tablespoons of oil. Add the cumin seeds and cook. shaking the pan, until the seeds are fragrant and darken 30 to 60 seconds.

Add the drained onion and cook, stirring frequently, until the

moisture has evaporated, 1 to 3 minutes. Add the potatoes, reduce heat to medium and cook stirring frequently. until the onions begin to brown and a fond forms on the bottom of the pan, 6 to 8 minutes. Add the ginger, aarlic and tomato paste. then cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly.

3. Clear the center of the oan. then add the spice paste to the clearing and cook, mashing and stirring until fragrant, about

15 seconds. Stir into the potatees. Add 1% cups water and bring to a boil scraping up all the browned bits. Add the chickpeas and return to a boil, then cover, reduce heat to low and cook until the

Potatoes are tender and the oil separates from the sauce at the edges of the pan, 13 to 15 minutes.

4. Off the heat, stir in the lime juice and cilantro. Taste and seas with salt and pepper. Serve with lime wedges, chopoed tomata. chilies and yogurt, if desired.

Notes

Seasoning blends known as masalas are the backbone of

much of Indian cooking. But they often involve intimidat-

ingly long lists of spices, each requiring toasting and grinding. Buying prepared blends is easier, but they can

taste faded and stale. For our chole (pronounced CHO-

lay) —a chickpea curry popular in India and Pakistan-

we mix our own garam masala, a warm seasoning blend that features cayenne pepper and cinnamon. To make the sauce, we started with onion cooked until it practically melted. Grating the onion before browning helped it cook faster and gave it a better texture. Amchoor powder made from dried green mangoes gives traditional chole its characteristic tang, but we found lime juice was a good- and more convenient-substitute. When preparing this dish, make sure your potato pieces are no larger than ½ inch thick so they cook quickly. Chole typically is eaten with flatbread, such as roti or naan Don't use a nonstick skillet for this recipe; the fond (browned bits on the bottom of the pan) won't form, which will alter the chole's flavor. And don't be deterred by the lengthy list of spices here. Most are pantry staples and are key to producing the dish's complex flavor.