Name: Sweet and Sour Chickpeas and Kidney Beans (Khatte Meethe Chanay)
Yield: Makes 6 cups
Cuisine: India
Ingredients: ¼ cup finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems; 1 medium-size red onion, coarsely chopped; 3 cups cooked chickpeas; ½ teaspoon cardamom seeds from green or white pods, ground; 2 teaspoons tamarind paste or concentrate; 2 cups cooked kidney beans; 1 teaspoon cumin seeds; 2 tablespoons Ghee or canola oil; 2 teaspoons coarse kosher or sea salt; 2 tablespoons coriander seeds, ground; 2 teaspoons white granulated sugar; ½ teaspoon ground turmeric; 1 teaspoon fennel seeds, ground; 8 medium-size cloves garlic; 4 to 6 dried red Thai or cayenne chiles, to taste, stems removed; 3 lengthwise slices fresh ginger (each 2 inches long, 1 inch wide, and ⅛ inch thick)

Preparation info

Makes
6 cups

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

660 Curries

By Raghavan Iyer

Published 2008

About

Dark brown, hot-sweet, and highly tart, this sauce blankets two kinds of beans, chickpeas and kidney beans, both quite widely used in northern Indian cuisine. I often serve this as an appetizer curry with a basket of naan, either store-bought or homemade, cut into small wedges. Dunk the naan in the addictive sauce, or spoon the legumes over the naan pieces. You will notice that you can’t just eat one, which is fine because this is a healthy alternativ