Ingredients
For the onions:
2 tablespoons oil
1 large or 2 medium chopped onions
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons black mustard seed
2 tablespoons whole cumin
For the paste:
3 tablespoons lemon juice
10 cloves garlic
2-3 inches ginger
2 teaspoons turmeric
1 1/2 tablespoons coriander
2 tablespoons garam masala
8-10 thai green chilis, tops and stems removed (can substitute serranos if you want, but it won’t be as hot)
1 large tomato, top removed, roughly chopped
For the rest:
3 14 ounce cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 1/2 – 2 pounds red potatoes, diced
1 cup of water
salt and pepper to taste
Directions
Take everything for the paste, and throw it in a food processor or blender. And, you know, blend it in to a paste. Set it aside.
Heat the oil in a pot with a cover or dutch oven, and add the onions, baking soda, mustard, and cumin once it’s hot. What you’re going to do here is caramelize the onions really hard. Ordinarily that would take about 40 minutes, but the baking soda cuts that time in half. Stir it every few minutes. If you go to stir it and it’s sticking or burning a little, add a generous splash of water to deglaze the pan and stir it all up. Maybe 2-3 tablespoons of water if you want to be specific.
After about 20 minutes, the onions should be getting brown. If you try one, it should taste almost sweet and buttery. That’s how you know it’s done. At that point, add all of the paste from the food processor to the pan and turn the heat up to high until it starts to boil. Be warned that it’s very thick, so when it gets hot enough it may…I don’t know, burp?…and make a little explosion. So watch it while you’re heating it up this way.
Let it simmer for a minute or two, then add the chickpeas, potatoes, and water to the pot. Bring it back up to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and mostly cover it. Leave it a little cracked so steam can escape. Simmer it like this for half an hour or so until the potatoes are cooked through.
Remove from the heat and set aside, because it’s done! Enjoy.
eatbensmeat 