Chole palak ~ Ham Pie Sandwiches

31 January 2013

Chole palak

chole palak chickpeas and spinach

The quest for making good Indian food at home is well and certainly on. This week we made Manjula's chole palak, aka chickpeas and spinach, and it was good.

The recipe itself is fairly simple, and follows a pattern I've started to see as I learn to actually cook Indian food instead of relying on restaurants all the time. (Not that we've stopped frequenting the buffet up the street from our house. NOPE.) The secret appears to be frying the spice mixture in oil, so the flavors all leap out dramatically in the finished dish. Sounds good to me.

chole palak chickpeas and spinach

My only problem was that I hadn't thought ahead and made a yogurt sauce, so I just spooned some straight plain yogurt over my plate to give it some extra creamy dairy action. This worked well, but some additional cucumber and cilantro would have worked even better.

This was filling enough that John and I couldn't eat it all, even with no supplementary sides. Isn't that always how Indian food works out, though? You go to a restaurant, notice that your entree looks pretty tiny, and then can't eat more than half of it without feeling like you're going to burst. Well, that's what happened here as well. So we had leftovers! Hooray!

chole palak chickpeas and spinach with fried egg

For my leftover breakfast, I quickly sauteed my chole palak with basmati rice and yogurt, then slid a fried egg on top. This worked amazingly well. I just broke up the egg and stirred everything together, so the yolk melded in almost invisibly and the bits of white provided a nice texture contrast. Who wouldn't want to boost the richness of a fairly austere bean-and-veg dish with a beautiful runny yolk? I ask you.

What new cuisines are you guys taking on?

9 comments:

Jes said...

Chole palak breakfast? Oh man, I take back my bagel request--send me that!

And now I'm craving Indian food...

Looks seriously good!

foodfeud said...

Looks fantastic. I don't eat eggs but I'm sure that added a whole new layer of flavor. It's not often that I eat Indian food but that should change...

Eileen said...

Touché--it's true, vegans are obviously not going to go for that runny yolk! But the great thing is that this is fantastic both with egg & dairy and without. Especially for breakfast! :)

Joanne said...

I think all the spices tend to make you feel fuller than you would eating a blander dish. One of my goals in life is to learn to make good indian at home! This looks like an awesome place to start!

Gintare @Gourmantine said...

It looks great, seriously, and that running egg yolk... heaven! :)

Monet said...

Wow! This looks fantastic. And I loved that you used this for breakfast too. Thank you for sharing...and for your kind and generous words. I hope you have a beautiful weekend with good food and friends.

Michelle said...

This looks divine. I've been dying to make more Indian food [or y'know, actually start making it]. So you're the perfect inspiration!

Caz said...

This looks so good. I too need to do more experimenting with Indian cooking at home. Would never have thought to try this for breakfast though! That egg looks so perfect too. :)

Manu said...

looks great. thanks for sharing.