A healthful bowl of spicy chickpeas with onions, tomatoes, and spices, served with fragrant turmeric rice and garlicky sauteed Swiss chard.
Outside India, when people think of chickpeas in association with Indian food, often the only recipe that comes to mind is Chana Masala, a spicy, tangy dish popularized by Indian restaurants and food blogs.
But in my childhood home in Maharashtra along India's west coast, my Maharashtrian mom, and later my Goan stepmom, rarely, if ever, made Chana Masala, which is a north Indian dish. What we did eat quite often was Chana Usal, made by cooking deep-brown chickpeas in a coconut, spice and onion sauce. It was so delicious, the flavor of my mom's Chana Usal still lingers on my tastebuds decades after.
I evoked that memorable flavor and richness for the chickpeas in this spicy Chickpeas Bowl with Turmeric Rice and Garlicky Chard.
If you love chickpeas in coconut-based curries, like this chickpea curry, you will fall in love with this usal-style curry.
When usal is cooked in Maharashtrian homes, the legumes used in it are always sprouted. I used the traditional brown chickpeas, which I find here at the Indian store and online, but regular chickpeas are a fine substitute. Sprout them as you would any legume, by soaking them for eight hours and then placing them in a colander.
Rinse the sprouts twice a day and keep them covered in a dark place until sprouts appear. It took me just about two days to get my chickpeas to sprout in these crazy warm temperatures we've had this winter. Keep in mind that any Indian recipe does not require very long sprouts, the way some Asian recipes do. A tiny little shoot, about a millimeter or two long, is all you need.
To layer into my chickpea bowl, I made a rather simple and pretty Turmeric Rice scented with cumin. You can make this with brown rice, but factor in added time and water for cooking the rice to tenderness. (Also check out my turmeric rice recipe with fresh turmeric root. It is delicious in this bowl).
And finally, to complete this healthy picture, I sauteed some Swiss Chard, one of my favorite greens, with some garlic and mustard seed.
Altogether, the saucy chickpeas, turmeric rice, and the garlicky chard made for a great-looking and delicious meal, and they went down rather famously with my little one too who loves chickpeas in almost anything.
Hope you try!
More vegan bowl recipes
- Vegan Caribbean Bowl
- Kadai Paneer Tofu Bowl with Spinach and Quinoa
- Sesame Soba Noodle Bowl with Spinach and Tofu
- Vegan Crack Chili Tofu Noodle Bowl
Chickpeas Bowl with Turmeric Rice and Garlicky Chard
Ingredients
For chickpeas:
- 1 cup dried chickpeas (You can use 3 cups canned. Or use kala chan , which are brown chickpeas. Soak the chickpeas overnight, then sprout and cook until tender. Pressure cooking is best for this -- cook up to two whistles or 10 minutes after building up pressure in a cooker that doesn't whistle. If cooking on a stovetop, cover the chickpeas with water to cover by an inch, bring to a boil, cover, lower heat so the water just boils, and cook until tender.)
- 1 medium onion (finely chopped)
- ¼ cup coconut (grated)
- 2 cloves garlic (minced)
- ½ inch ginger (grated or minced)
- 2 dry red peppers (like Kashmiri chiles)
- 2 teaspoon coconut oil
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- ½` teaspoon cayenne
- 2 tablespoon cilantro (finely chopped)
- Salt to taste
For turmeric rice
- 2 cups basmati rice (or any other long grain rice, soaked for 30 minutes, then drained)
- ½ teaspoon coconut oil
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- 3 cups water
- Salt to taste
For sauteed garlicky Swiss chard
- 2 bunches Swiss chard (about 12 leaves)
- 6 cloves garlic (thinly sliced)
- 1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
- ½ teaspoon coconut oil
- Salt to taste
Instructions
Make chickpeas:
- Heat 1 teaspoon of oil in a saucepan. Add the onions, dry red chili peppers, ginger and garlic, and saute until the onions start to brown. Add the grated coconut and saute another 3-4 minutes, or until the coconut starts to color slightly. Be watchful and don't let the coconut burn.
- Remove the onion, ginger-garlic, coconut mixture to a blender, add 1 cup of water, and blend into a smooth paste.
- Heat the remaining 1 teaspoon of oil in a large saucepan. Add the cumin seeds and as they begin to color, add the turmeric, cayenne and garam masala. Almost immediately, add the blended onion-coconut paste and the chickpeas. if you have the cooking water with the chickpeas, don't add it all at once-- use as needed to get the correct thickness for your sauce. Stir everything to mix.
- Cook the chickpeas for 10 minutes over medium heat so all the flavors merge together. Add salt, and stir in cilantro.
Make turmeric rice:
- In a large saucepan, add the coconut oil and heat. Add the cumin seeds and wait until they begin to change color and darken. Add the turmeric, stir quickly, and add rice and salt to taste.
- Stir-fry the rice for a minute or two until it starts to turn opaque. Now add the water, salt to taste, stir, bring to a boil, and then cover and cook over low heat for 15 minutes. Let the rice stand an additional 10 minutes before opening the lid and fluffing with a fork.
Make garlicky chard:
- Heat oil in a skillet. Add the mustard seeds and when they sputter, add the garlic. Let it turn very lightly golden, stirring, and then add the chard. Stir-fry until the chard is wilted. Add salt to taste, cover, and cook another 3-4 minutes or until the chard is as tender as you want it to be.
- Now layer the curried chickpeas, rice and chard in bowls and serve hot.
Hazel
Deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelicious 🙂
i have heaps of greens growing in my garden .. the latest addition to The Green family is a magnificent Malabar Spinach plant .. rich dark green leaves ..
thank you SO much for the recipes .. when your emails arrive it is like your Best friend yelling at your gate .. 🙂
Vaishali
Hi Hazel, awesome to hear! 🙂 Thanks for the kind words. I love Malabar spinach and can only occasionally find it at the grocery store. If you're looking for a recipe, I make this one mainly with Malabar spinach-- https://holycowvegan.net/one-pot-garlicky-spinach-dal/
georgie @ georgieeats
Yasssss! This look SO incredible.... I have to give it a go!! Have pinned the recipe for later! Thanks for the inspo, G x
charity
is it ok to use canned chickpeas?
Vaishali
Yes!
Zoe
This is probably one of the nicest curries I've ever made! I would definitely start the rice first though as I followed it from the start of the recipe and the curry was ready for 25 mins before my rice was! I also find there was far too much rice so I might cut it by a 1/4 next time and the rice was overcooked after 15 mins cooking and 10 mins steaming so il probably cut that down too. There also wasn't a lot of greans so I used a whole bag. I've been reheating it all week in the microwave and it keeps well! Can't wait to make it again 🙂
Denise
Thank you! I've not made chana sprouts before. Unseasonably warm weather here as well, so they sprouted a bit longer than you recommended. It was still all good. Great, in fact! I did not have fresh coconut, so used rehydrated unsweetened flakes. I loved the blended paste. I made the greens also and served it with a side of diced avocado. Dee-lish! Thank you!
Vaishali
Denise, so happy you enjoyed it. Thanks for letting me know!
Ambica
Hi Vaishali,
Can I just say how much I love seeing everyday recipes on the blog! This is a great idea for a week night meal. I am tempted to make the mango pilaf with the usal for a weekend dinner.
Vaishali
Hey Ambica, the mango pilaf would be an awesome combination with this usal. Hope you try!
Kim
How much turmeric do you put in the rice? It doesn't list it in the rice section!
Vaishali
Half a teaspoon -- added now! 🙂