Split Chickpea Stew

Channa, easier to say than “split chickpea,” is one of India’s most common and democratic foods. A smaller variety of what we know as chickpeas or garbanzos, roasted channa is sold by street vendors all over the country and relished by rich and poor alike as a good “time-pass item” (as someone on a train described it—a very endearing way of thinking about munch). Parsis use ground roasted channa in curries to give them richness and body. Husked and split, channa