Topic: Pre-cooking chickpeas for chana masala

[Sverige]

Does anyone have info or observations from a real BIR of how dried chickpeas are prepared for chana dishes?  Standard would be to soak overnight in plenty of water then boil in salted water for an hour or so to get cooked chickpeas, but do we think they follow this route or typically use canned precooked chickpeas?

If they are prepping their own from dried, would spices be added to the water when the chickpeas are being cooked, or are they cooked in plain water so they are added to the final dish without any curry flavours already cooked into them?

[littlechilie]

I often see my local Chef in town, he buys everything simple day by day from Lidl. The coriander comes from our market at 2xbunch for

[chewytikka]

Even the best BIR will use Tinned/Canned Chickpeas
Ive been in plenty of restaurant storerooms and always canned.

Important to note, its a minor ingredient and under used in most
restaurants, but like any BIR menu, its customer driven.

I do quite a few different Chana Masala dishes at home, but simply not
popular in most BIR I know.

cheers Chewy

[Bing]

Hi hi

Thanks Chewing Tikka  :

[chewytikka]

Flaming again passive aggressive.
The plot thickens :

[Sverige]

Thanks CT for your insight.

[ELW]

Does anyone have info or observations from a real BIR of how dried chickpeas are prepared for chana dishes?  Standard would be to soak overnight in plenty of water then boil in salted water for an hour or so to get cooked chickpeas, but do we think they follow this route or typically use canned precooked chickpeas?

If they are prepping their own from dried, would spices be added to the water when the chickpeas are being cooked, or are they cooked in plain water so they are added to the final dish without any curry flavours already cooked into them?

Regarding the canned chickpeas Sverige, I find they vary in quality, and not just through undercooking. The KTC brand being one of the worst culprits.
 I can't imagine them taking on too much flavour from precooking,  except for salt and maybe turmeric for colour. I've tried whole spices, whole garlic and never noticed much difference to be honest. They do work great in a sauce though.
 Vegetarian options are the new rock n roll here, but the Indian veg dishes are imo the best of all of them, and are growing quickly, by that I mean dishes that stand on their own, rather than cauliflower slung into a patia or whatever

Napolina brand chickpeas are pretty good

ELW

[littlechilie]

Hi ELW

Spot on post the cans vary massively in quality and taste, this is something I have discussed with my local spice merchant.

Not an issue with (Bir) but if I was making Hummas it would be something to consider.

[chewytikka]

Subjective opinions, 
I use a lot of chickpeas and KTC brand are very good canned products, their chickpeas are just fine.
Their bean selection is also good, Red and White Kidney Beans and Borlotti Beans I use regularly.
One of the Big Boys at supplying the BIR market, expanding through to the big supermarkets.
At one time I used to buy KTC only at Asian Stores, now the likes of Morrisons are stacked high.

cheers Chewy

[ELW]

Subjective opinions, 
I use a lot of chickpeas and KTC brand are very good canned products, their chickpeas are just fine.
Their bean selection is also good, Red and White Kidney Beans and Borlotti Beans I use regularly.
One of the Big Boys at supplying the BIR market, expanding through to the big supermarkets.
At one time I used to buy KTC only at Asian Stores, now the likes of Morrisons are stacked high.

cheers Chewy

Chewytikka, sure I see that ktc are priced slightly below the supermarket  own brands, but are placed in the tiny world foods section of the supermarket, 3 for a quid stuff, to sell to a certain market, like the big bags of rice, For bir purposes ktc are  good to go definitely, They're not the best quality chickpeas though

ELW
ELW