“Travel changes you. As you move through this life and this world you change things slightly, you leave marks behind, however small. And in return, life — and travel — leaves marks on you”.
Quoting Bourdain, and especially now when I miss travel so much, what comes to mind next is obviously food! That’s another way to relive your good times and these days with the online treasure of recipes, cooking and experimenting has reached another level.
As I am thinking on the pulses, lentils, it occurred to me the most obvious beans were yet to be explored: the chickpeas or the garbanzo beans, chole, Kabuli chana. Agreed the dried ones need planning when deciding to cook; but the tinned ones can easily be used, and the different recipes explored to the heart’s content with different flavours or textures or layers. 
Just toss the drained tinned beans with some oil, salt and chili powder/flakes and roast them and they serve as a snack which pairs well with a cup of tea, or even a beer or wine. These same roasted beans could go in a salad with onions, cucumber, tomatoes and feta or paneer/cottage cheese if you want to give a nice Greek touch to it. Even the normal tinned beans taste great in a salad, and since I like them a bit warm, I just steam them for a while before tossing them with chopped onions, radish, cucumber, tomatoes and then add in salt, pepper, and some lime juice to it.
Hummus and pita bread have made another mark at our home. I love adding roasted garlic to the boiled and ground chickpeas along with cumin, sesame seeds, lime juice and olive oil. Makes a nice spread for a wrap filled with lettuce, onions, and cucumber.
Next on the list is the falafel which has been experimented with in our kitchen from the very beginning. Agreeing with Ranveer Brar, “I think we shouldn’t buckle up our creativity. You’ve got to experiment!” I learnt you could make falafels interesting and healthier by adding grated carrots, cabbage, beans, along with onions, lots of coriander and then the regular garlic, cumin, salt, pepper to the chickpea’s mixture. Worked both ways as the kids loved the hot falafels and I had the satisfaction of having fed them with vegetables. And then in the pita – with the garlic yoghurt sauce, chopped onions, cucumber and tomatoes too found their way in. These days I am back to making falafels following the traditional recipe but then experimented with the bread. Enjoyed it with Lebanese flat bread spiced up with za’atar.
Last but not the least our own chhole puris are the home favourite and I have been serving them to many of our friends and must say they all have enjoyed the dish as well. Chhole, chickpeas cooked in spicy and flavourful gravy, can be paired well with jeera (cumin) rice, puris, bhaturas or kulchas. To make the Chhole, you may use tinned ones or the dried ones (dried ones would need to be soaked overnight or at least a good 5-6 hours). They are then boiled, and I usually add a tea bag to a cup of chickpeas as I boil them. In a pa
n take 2 tablespoons of oil, and as it heats up, add a teaspoon of cumin seeds and one bay leaf, and as the seeds splutter it’s time to add in one medium finely chopped onion. Keep sautéing it till they turn a shade brown, then add in finely chopped ginger and garlic (1teaspoon). As it turns fragrant, add in a finely chopped tomato, and let this cook for couple of minutes till the oil separates. Then add in spices, 1 teaspoon turmeric powder, chili powder and the ready mix chole masala. It is then time to add in the boiled chickpeas but do remember to take away the tea bag out of it. Mix it well and add in salt as per your taste and let it cook well. Usually, I boil the whole thing again in the pressure cooker as the spices mixes well with the gravy and the chickpeas. Garnish it with finely chopped coriander and the chhole is ready to be served.
“Cooking is like painting or writing a song. Just as there are only so many notes or colors, there are only so many flavors – it’s how you combine them that sets you apart” – Wolfgang Puck, don’t you also agree as I do?
Seema Ganoo
Engineer by education,
passionate photographer & food enthusiast from India,
presently based at Burlington, Canada is happy to contribute this column
which combines her love of food & photography.
