Tuna, Chickpeas & Potato Salad

Tuna, Chickpeas & Potato Salad

Tuna salad, potato salad and chickpeas/garbanzo beans individually are among my favourite foods. Here, all three were combined with red and orange rainbow peppers to produce a refreshing salad when it's chilled and served for lunch. The dressing is composed of yogurt, mixed with ranch dressing and the salad is garnished with green onions.

Chana Masala with Loads of Rainbow Peppers

Chickpeas, Potatoes & Rainbow Peppers

Chana Masala is a popular item on an Indian menu. I've given it a twist by adding sweet rainbow peppers which pumped up the flavor.

Ingredients:

1 lb. sweet rainbow peppers (small red, yellow & orange peppers)

2 (14 oz.) can garbanzo beans, washed & drained

2 (14 oz.) cans diced potatoes, washed and drained
4 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 cinnamon stick
1 star anise
1/2 tsp. shah jeera or cumin seeds
1 tsp. coriander-cumin powder

2 large onions, peeled & diced
2 medium (Roma) tomatoes, diced
1 Tbsp. ginger paste

1/2 Tbsp. garlic paste2 tsp. tomato paste
1 jalapeno pepper, diced

Directions:

1. Heat oil over medium-high heat and sputter cumin seeds, cinnamon & star anise.
2. Fry coriander-cumin powder, onions & tomatoes until tomatoes break down.
3. Add tomato paste, ginger and garlic pastes & stir-fry until oil resurfaces.
4. Add sweet peppers and stir-fry for 3 minutes.
5. Stir in garbanzo beans & potatoes.
6. Season with salt & pepper to taste.
7. Lower heat, cover and simmer until dry.
8. Garnish with diced jalapeno peppers and remove from heat

Serve hot over steamed Basmati or Jasmine rice or with chapatis.

Stir-Fried Chayote Squash & Chickpeas

This recipe was inspired by one on Facebook with a few modifications. The original recipe used green papaya and kala chana. Neither are available readily, so I used chayote squash and chickpeas/garbanzo beans. It's a very simple stir-fry using very few ingredients and is quick and easy to make.

Ground Chicken with Chickpeas & Potatoes

Keema Cholay

There are so many ways to prepare keema curry, but this one is really delicious because of the addition of Shan Pulao/Biryani mix, which is available in Indian grocery stores throughout the United States & Canada.

There's lots of texture in this main dish because of the ground chicken & chickpeas/garbanzo beans. Hubby requested this some weeks ago - it worked out so well!

Stir-Fried Green Beans & Chickpeas

Green Beans & Chickpeas

My intention was to stir-fry green beans with diced potatoes, but this was made at the tail-end of preparing dinner last night. Feeling too tired to peel and dice a russet potato, I went in search of a can of diced potatoes in the pantry. 

Lo and behold, this can of chickpeas (garbanzo beans/chana) was staring me in the face! I figured the texture was pretty close to cooked potatoes and size similar to diced potatoes which resulted in a delightful stir-fry that was peppery and full of texture. 

The next time, I will add grated coconut for more flavor.

Tuna and Chickpeas Hash

The inspiration for this recipe came from my brother during one of our telephone conversations.  I plan to try his sometime soon, but here is what I came up with. The packaged tuna fish can be replaced with any fish fillets that have been poached and flaked. Generally, a hash is made with potatoes but in an attempt to reduce the carbohydrate content, the chickpeas (garbanzo beans) came in handy. Diced water chestnuts in this hash gives it an interesting crunch.  

Ghoogni (Chana Masala)

Ghoogni
Channa Masala

Ingredients:
2 cans garbanzo beans
1 russet potato, diced
3 oz. tomato puree (Hunt's tomato sauce)
1 large onion, chopped
2 Tbsp. ginger paste
7 oz. thick coconut milk
1 tsp. cumin seeds
1 cinnamon stick
1 star anise
1/2 tsp. coriander powder
1/4 tsp. cumin powder
Chopped cilantro
2 jalapeno peppers, chopped and de-seeded, if desired)
1 lime
1 tsp. ghee
salt to taste

Method:

1. Drain garbanzo beans.  Wash in several changes of cold water.
2. Boil chopped onions in 1/2 cup water, drain onions and place in blender along with ginger paste, pureed tomatoes and coconut milk.  Blend to a thick paste.
3. Heat a saute pan over high heat, add vegetable oil and sputter cumin seeds, star anise and cinnamon stick.
4. Stir in cumin & coriander powder and fry until it browns.
5. Add blended mixture.  Saute for 5 minutes.
6. Reduce heat to medium and add garbanzo beans and diced potatoes.
7. Saute beans, potatoes and blended mixture until oil resurfaces and potatoes are cooked.
8. If it sticks to the bottom of the pan, add some hot water.  Adjust salt to taste.  
9. Stir in lime juice and garnish with chopped peppers, cilantro and ghee.
10. Serve with heated tortillas or parathas.