Kala Channa with Greens and Tomato (No Added Fat)

I loved kicking off the new show So Many Cooks in the Kitchen (the livestream is available online and an edited version will soon be on the Plant-Based Network!) this past Saturday all about beans. I came up with this idea a few weeks ago - I love working with fellow Food for Life instructors; they're all so knowledgeable about food and nutrition. We formed a group to periodically go online and teach in rapid-fire fashion kitchen-to-kitchen.

This time, our topic was beans and next time we'll move on to vegetables. Each of us had about 6-8 minutes to share from our kitchens. I showed how to cook beans and talked about a few varieties.

Today, I made kala channa  (a chickpea variety, also known as black chickpea or Bengal gram; it takes longer to cook but results in a nice, nutty and more textured result). Combined with a few spices, greens, and fresh tomato, it made a healthful, easy, tasty, and colorful dinner. Here is what I did.


Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups dried kala channa (you could also just use dried chickpea - or even canned and skip cooking - and cook for less time)
• 3/4 cup frozen chopped or fresh kale; if fresh, roughly hand tear from stems (composting or otherwise discarding stems) into approximately 1 1/2" pieces
• 2/3 t turmeric
• 1 t ground cumin
• 1 t garlic powder or garlic granules
• 1/2 t lemon pepper (or freshly ground pepper)
• 1/2 chili powder (to taste; can certainly be omitted or increased)
• 1 t salt
• 1/4 cup sweet onion or, if not available, yellow onion, cut into large 1" pieces
• 2T lime or tangerine juice
• 2 medium tomatoes, cut into 1/2" cubes

Process

1. Sort through the chickpeas, removing any debris like leaves or branches, rinse, and soak in ample water for at least 3-5 hours, but ideally overnight. Discard soaking water, and rinse again.
2. Put chickpeas into Instant Pot pressure cooker along with just enough water to cover the chickpeas.
3. Add the kale and spices and cook under pressure for 40-45 minutes. Black chickpeas do take significantly longer to cook than regular chickpeas. If you are using regular chickpeas, cook for 20-25 minutes.
4. While the chickpeas are cooking, put the onion in a cast iron pan with no oil and cook, stirring once in a while, over medium high. Let the onion get nicely charred for a tasty carmelized touch.
5. After the cooking is done, you can wait a few minutes and gently released pressure, or do as I did, and cook at least a half hour in advance and let the pressure naturally reduce.
6. When I was ready to serve, I opened the pot slowly, and added lime juice and tomato. I added the onion at the table since my daughter doesn't like much onion (but she loved how carmelized the Vidalia onion was).

I served with brown rice and an avocado piece.

Results

We all loved dinner. It's been a while since I've made kala channa; it has a stronger flavor than regular chickpeas and is fun to make and enjoy. The spicing was good, though I'd add more cumin or perhaps garam masala for spice lovers, as well as more heat, perhaps including some serrano or jalapeno pepper.

Ideas for the future

Some of my homemade vegan yogurt would go well with such a channa dish; if I did use the yogurt, I'd probably also want to increase the spiciness. I could use more vegetables, such as chopped carrot, additional greens like spinach and, to increase the flavor, mustard greens. Turnip greens would also be good. While the fresh tomato was good, cooked green tomato or tomato paste would also be a nice variation. 

Black-Eyed Peas Stew (No Added Fat)

I was going to make a simple black-eyed pea side dish but ended up focusing on the black-eyed peas. I rinsed about a cup of them, soaked them overnight in ample water, and rinsed them again. I put them in my Instant Pot pressure cooker and added a clove of garlic, minced finely; 1/4 of a bunch of rainbow chard, cut across into 1" or so lengths; a small-medium sweet potato cut into approximately 3/8" cubes; 2 medium tomatoes cut into 3/4" cubes; and 1/2 t ground cumin seed, 1/4 t lemon pepper, and 1/4 t garlic powder. I cooked under pressure for only 5 minutes.

In the meantime, I cooked without oil a little onion and frozen corn just for 2 minutes or so, and then added tricolor quinoa in a ratio, as usual, of 1 part quinoa to 2 parts water, plus a pinch of salt. I brought it to a boil and cooked for a few minutes on low, then turned the heat off and let it sit for 10 minutes.

I got some particularly sweet Vidalia onions last weekend, so quickly grilled some slices. When I was ready to serve, I mixed in to the black-eyed peas fresh squeezed pixie tangerine juice from one small tangerine (I've loved the pixies we're getting and using them instead of lime or lemon juice) and 1/2 t salt. I served the black-eyed pea dish with the quinoa and a salad of cucumber and white carrot, with onion atop.

Results

Pending

Ideas for the future

Pending