What is this flavor/sauce?

Question

I have an Indian friend and her grandmother makes the most amazing food.

There is one dish in particular I really want to learn how to make,

it's chickpeas in some sort of sauce,

but my friend only knows the name of it in Indian (or Hindi, I get it all mixed up).

It's orange,

and sometimes the sauce is by itself and you eat it with white rice.

I can't explain the flavor but it's delicious.

Oh, and in Indian/Hindi, it sounded like it started with a J sound...

does anybody know what this is?

I'm sorry it's so vague, but I'd appreciate any help!

Answer 1

The first thing that came to mind was chickpea curry or chole.  Here are two recipes, the second being less authentic, but a heck of a lot easier!!

Indian Chole

Ingredients:

2 cans of chickpeas (400 gm each)

2 tbsps vegetable/ canola/ sunflower cooking oil

2 bay leaves

5-6 cloves

3-4 green cardamoms

5-6 peppercorns

3 large onions sliced

2 large tomatoes chopped

2 tbsps garlic paste

1 tbsps ginger paste

2 tsps coriander powder

1 tsp cumin powder

1/2 tsp red chilli powder

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

2 tsps garam masala

1"piece of ginger julliened

2 tbsps fresh coriander leaves chopped fine

Preparation:

Grind 2 onions, the tomatoes, ginger, garlic together into a smooth paste.

Heat the oil in a deep, thick-bottomed pan on a medium flame.

Add the bay leaves, cloves, cardamom and peppercorns and fry for 1/2 a minute.

Add the remaining sliced onion and fry till light golden. Add the onion-tomato paste and fry till the oil begins to separate from the paste.

Add the dry spices - cumin, coriander, red chilli, tumeric and garam masala powders. Fry for 5 minutes.

Drain the water in the can from the chickpeas and rinse them well under running water. Add the chickpeas to the masala. Mix well.

Add salt to taste and water to make gravy (about 1 1/2 cups).

Simmer and cook covered for 10 minutes.

Use a flat spoon to mash some of the chickpeas coarsely. Mix well.

Garnish with juliennes of ginger and finely chopped fresh coriander leaves

Chickpea Curry  

Yields: 8 servings

"Chickpeas are simmered in a fragrantly spiced curry sauce mixture and garnished with fresh cilantro."

INGREDIENTS:

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 onions, minced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 teaspoons fresh ginger root,

finely chopped

6 whole cloves

2 (2 inch) sticks cinnamon,

crushed 1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

salt

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

2 (15 ounce) cans garbanzo

beans

1 cup chopped fresh cilantro

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium heat, and fry onions until tender.

2. Stir in garlic, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, cumin, coriander, salt, cayenne, and turmeric. Cook for 1 minute over medium heat, stirring constantly. Mix in garbanzo beans and their liquid. Continue to cook and stir until all ingredients are well blended and heated through. Remove from heat. Stir in cilantro just before serving, reserving 1 tablespoon for garnish.