Spring is in the air in the Bay Area and I am craving something warm and filling yet light. And by light, I mean something that won’t remind me of winter. It seems almost impossible but then I remembered the perfect answer – Chickpea and Cucumber Curry.

Cooking Indian Food used to intimidate me with what seemed like a million ingredients per dish and mostly spices that I didn’t have in my pantry. But that’s just my fear talking and specifically my fear of venturing outside of my (cooking) comfort zone. We all have those fears in one way, shape or form but it doesn’t have to rule us or me, rather. So I jumped in the cold water. Once I selected a recipe and made a quick trip to Jai Ho Indian Grocery Store to buy the spices, it was easier than I thought and fun.

I cooked a lot of Indian dishes when I was on a temporary vegan diet a few years back through the advice of a nutritionist/esthetician who helped me through a severe skin breakout. It was a personal experiment that lasted 4 months and was successful.  During that time, I lived on a variety of vegetable curries, daal, lentil soups, etc, and it was all very yummy. It really made me appreciate Indian cuisine even more and how well all the spices blended together to make a meal with a lot of depth and complex flavor.

The other interesting discovery was that not all Indian dishes need to be complex in order to be delicious. This is one of those recipes. I recently cooked it for Antony and he LOVED it. It’s so good.

Recipe notes

I adapted this recipe from one of Meeru Dhalwala and Vikram Vij’s cookbooks, “Vij’s At Home: Relax, Honey” which is an awesome cookbook, by the way.

This curry is very versatile. If you want something hearty, eat it with rice and if you want something lighter, enjoy it as a warm salad. We’ve tried it both ways and it’s delicious both ways. I substituted lemon juice for the mango powder to give it that same sour tanginess but if you have mango powder, by all means, use that instead. The cold cucumber topping adds a wonderful freshness and crunch that complements every warm tomato-gingery bite perfectly. It’s filling yet light and some nights that’s what satisfies my craving.

This is an unbelievably easy and delicious curry dish that has become one of my favs as well as a recent hit with Antony. It’s also pretty inexpensive to make which makes it an all-around winner in my book. Enjoy!

Chickpea and Cucumber Curry

Prep Time 10 minutes Cook Time 30 minutes Passive Time 10 minutes

Servings 4-6 Total Cost $8.65 Cost per Serving $2.16

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Ingredients

Chickpea curry

• 1/3 cup olive oil ($0.72)
• 1 large onion halved, sliced thinly ($0.59)
• 2 tbsp ginger thinly chopped ($0.42)
• dash cayenne pepper ($0.03)
• 1 cup pureed tomatoes about 2 medium tomatoes ($1.00)
• 1 tsp lemon juice or 2 tsp mango powder ($0.00)
• 1 tbsp paprika ($0.60)
• 1 tsp turmeric ($0.16)
• 1 tsp salt ($0.02)
• 2 cups water ($0.00)
• 4 cups chickpeas cooked ($2.25)
• 1/2 cup cilantro chopped ($0.45)

Cucumber

• 1 long english cucumber cut in 1/2-ince dice ($1.69)
• 1/4 tsp black pepper ($0.01)
• 1/4 cup red onion finely chopped ($0.25)
• 2 tbsp lemon juice fresh ($0.00)
• 1/2 tsp salt ($0.01)
• 1/2 cup cilantro chopped ($0.45)

Instructions

1. Prep your ingredients. In a medium bowl, combine cucumber, black pepper, onion and lemon juice. Stir well, cover and refrigerate until ready to use. (This can be made ahead of time)
2. On medium-high heat, heat the oil in a medium pot for about 1 minute.
3. Add onion and saute for 8 minutes until lightly browned. Make sure not to burn the onions.
4. Stir in ginger and saute for 1 minute.
5. Add tomatoes, lemon juice, paprika, turmeric and salt. Combine well and cook for about 5 minutes until oil glistens on top.
6. Add water and cooked chickpeas. Combine well and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, add cover and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add cilantro and cool for 10 minutes. (You can cool longer - 30 minutes- if you want to eat it warm)
7. Take cucumber out of the fridge. Add salt and cilantro and mix well.
8. When ready to serve, top chickpea curry with cucumber. Serving suggestion: Serve curry with bowl of rice and top with generous serving of cucumber.

Instructions with photos

1. Prep your ingredients. In a medium bowl, combine cucumber, black pepper, onion and lemon juice. Stir well, cover and refrigerate until ready to use. (This can be made ahead of time)

   
2. On medium-high heat, heat the oil in a medium pot for about 1 minute.

   
3. Add onion and saute for 8 minutes until lightly browned. Make sure not to burn the onions.

   
4. Stir in ginger and saute for 1 minute.

   
5. Add tomatoes, lemon juice, paprika, turmeric and salt. Combine well and cook for about 5 minutes until oil glistens on top.

   
6. Add water and cooked chickpeas. Combine well and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, add cover and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add cilantro and cool for 10 minutes. (You can cool longer - 30 minutes- if you want to eat it warm)

   
7. Take cucumber out of the fridge. Add salt and cilantro and mix well.
8. When ready to serve, top chickpea curry with cucumber. Serving suggestion: Serve curry with bowl of rice and top with generous serving of cucumber.

   

Recipe Notes

* Note regarding pricing: The lemons used in this recipe are from my garden which is why there is no price listed. The price for the pantry items such as salt takes into account the cost of the amount used for the recipe and not the cost if you had to purchase the entire jar.

** All prices in US dollars.