Insomnia – my life’s biggest problem. It only happens once in a while but when it does, the tiredness seeps in. I function best when I have slept well and any disturbance in that pattern causes great anguish. Today was that day when I woke up at 330. I can’t find the reason. I was tired last night and usually that is a good indication that I will sleep well but that did not happen. After being awake from 330 to 445, I forced myself to go to sleep again and woke up at 6 am tired. So the day at work was spent in that mode!
I had my favourite yoghurt and muesli for breakfast and thought it would give me some energy. It did but that lasted like an hour. I had an external meeting today, so on the way back, I succumbed to a cup of coffee to get the caffeine shot and be awake. That lasted a few hours.
For lunch, my friend Ornella and I went to our favourite joint in Westfield, Cloudy bay fish co. They serve pretty decent sea food dishes. I had the salmon and prawn casserole which was divine. It was healthy and delicious and I got my fish quota off the week. Check out the pic!
Tonight was Zumba night. I was not as energetic and enthusiastic as I usually am coz of my lack of sleep but I still was sweaty and wet by the time I came home. Avi had made chole rice for dinner tonight. Now chole or chickpeas is part of a lot of cuisines. We make it with a lot of masala and you can have it with poori, bhatura or rice. On weeknights, I prefer it with rice. Here is the recipe and pic of the dinner!
Ingredients
- 1 Cup and half chickpeas (Garbanzo Beans, Kabuli Chana or Chole)
- 2 Medium sized onions, finely chopped
- 3 Medium sized tomatoes, finely chopped
- 1 tsp ginger paste or coarsely ground ginger or grated ginger
- 1/4 tsp garam masala powder
- 1/2 kashmiri chilly powder or deghi mirch (if using a hot variety, then just add 1/4 to 1/2 tsp)
- 1 tsp amchur powder/dry mango powder
- 2 green chillies, slit
- 2 Tbsp oil
- salt
- 4 black cardamoms/elaichi
- 1 inch cinnamon/dalchini
- 5 peppercorns
- 3 cloves
- 1 bay leaf/tez patta
- 1 tsp and half cumin seeds (jeera)
- 1 tsp and half coriander seeds (dhania)
- 1 tsp and half fennel seeds (saunf)
- 2 dry red chillies
- Wash and soak the chole (chickpeas) in enough water overnight. Add enough amount of water as the chole increase in size after soaking it.
- In a pressure cooker add the chole, enough water, salt and pressure cook for 5-6 whistles. The chole should be soft when you mash it with a spoon.
- In a pan, dry roast all the spices mentioned above till brown. Don’t burn them.
- On a slow or moderate flame you can roast the spices. Keep on tossing it otherwise they may get burnt. Once they are cooled, grind them into a fine powder.
- Now in the same pan, add oil. Once the oil becomes hot, add the chopped onions. Fry till they become transparent.
- Now add the ginger paste. Once the raw smell of the ginger disappears, then add the chopped tomatoes. Add a little salt so that the tomatoes gets cooked fast.
- Saute the tomatoes till the oil starts to leave the sides of the onion-tomato-ginger mixture.
- The whole mixture would clump together and oil would be clearly seen leaving the sides.
- Then add the powdered spices that we made, along with the red chili powder, garam masala powder and green chilies to the onion-ginger-tomato mixture. Saute for a minute.
- Now add the boiled chole with a little quantity of its stock. You can add more stock if you want more gravy.
- Check the salt first as the while boiling the chole we added salt and we are using the same broth.
- Simmer for 8-10 minutes on a low to medium flame till the gravy thickens a bit and become smooth.
- Finally, add the amchur powder.
- Garnish Chole Masala with chopped onions and coriander leaves.
- Serve the punjabi chole with kulchas, bhaturas, pooris, rotis, or rice along with sliced onions and lime.
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