Tikka Masala Chickpeas

This came out great, but can be even better next time, see notes.

I served it over plain white rice. Need to learn to make saffron rice.

• 2 tablespoons oil
• ½ large red onion, diced
• ½ tablespoon fresh ginger (or more…)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• sea salt and ground black pepper, to taste
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 1 ¼ teaspoons turmeric
• 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper, reduce to 1 teaspoon if you can't handle heat (I used a bit more than one tsp and it was pretty spicy, edible, but.. maybe if I had used ALL of the coconut milk and a teaspoon of sugar and my 1.25 tsp cayenne would have been ok. We'll see how it is when we reheat the leftovers)
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 1 tablespoon garam masala
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 ½ tablespoons tomato paste
• 2 teaspoons coconut sugar, optional – to balance out the acidity (or any sugar)(I forgot the sugar and it would have helped with the heat…)
• 28 ounces tomato sauce, jarred or canned or fresh (one can, 29oz)
• 2 cans chickpeas, drained (2 15.5 oz cans = 31 oz)
• 1 cup coconut milk, the thick creamy white part separate from the coconut water (comes in a 13.5 oz can and just use the whole thing next time)
• juice of 1 lime, about 1 tablespoon

1. In a large sauce pan over medium high heat, add the oil.
2. Once the oil is heated, add in the onion, garlic, and ginger. Reduce to medium heat. Grind a sprinkle of sea salt and ground black pepper over the mixture and stir together. Saute until the onions are translucent and the ginger and garlic are fragrant, about 4 minutes.
3. Reduce heat to medium. Add in the ground cumin, coriander, turmeric, cayenne pepper, paprika and garam masala. Stir into the onion mix to combine. Add in the tomato paste and add in a splash of water and saute it all together, heating up the spices to bring out more flavour, for about 3-4 minutes. Feel free to add more splashes of water to keep it moving.
4. Add in the tomato sauce. Stir everything together. Reduce to a steady simmer and let it all simmer together for about 5 minutes.
5. Remove the pan from the heat and carefully pour the contents into a blender. If your blender is a glass blender let it cool much more before blending. Add in your 1 teaspoon of sea salt, ½ teaspoon of black pepper, and the sugar now. Blend for about 1 to 2 minutes until everything is fully blended and smooth. Pour the sauce back into the pan. (with our blender, it wouldn't 'roll' - I had to add a little water - it didn't end up to soupy, but I was careful to add the minimum amount of water needed to get it to blend right)
6. Add the chickpeas. Stir to combine. Bring the curry to a boil, and then reduce to medium-low so that the mixture continues to simmer for 8 to 10 more minutes. Cover slightly with lid but not completely to allow the steam and excess water to escape.
7. Pour in the coconut milk and stir to combine. Allow to simmer for about 3 more minutes. Taste the curry and season with salt and pepper if you desire. Remove the curry from the heat and squeeze the lime over the top of the curry, stirring to combine. Don’t skip this step!!

originally submitted by mike on May 30, 2024