Name: Lahori murgh cholay (Chickpea and chicken curry)
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 55 min
Total time: 1 h 25 min
Yield: Serves 6
Cuisine: Pakistani
Ingredients: ½ tsp ground turmeric; 1 kg/2¼ lb chicken, skinned and cut into 4 pieces; 1 heaped tsp cumin seeds; 1 small red onion, finely chopped; ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda); coriander (cilantro) leaves, chopped; 2 hard-boiled eggs, halved (optional); 500 ml/17 fl oz/2 cups water; ginger, peeled and cut into julienne; salt, to taste; 1 tsp garam masala; 1 tbsp masoor daal; 500 g/1 lb 2 oz dried chickpeas; 50 ml/2 fl oz/scant ¼ cup vegetable oil; 1 tsp each of grated ginger and crushed garlic; 2.5 cm/1-inch cinnamon stick; 1 tsp red chilli powder; 1 tsp coriander (cilantro) seeds

Preparation info

Serves
6

Difficulty
Easy
Ready in
1 hr 25

Appears in

Summers Under the Tamarind Tree

By Sumayya Usmani

Published 2016

About

This wonderful curry can be eaten with tandoori naans for a satisfying breakfast or simple lunch. Soaking and boiling dried chickpeas is well worth the trouble for this dish – you can also add half-boiled eggs to the curry at the end of the cooking time to make it even more filling.

Ingredients

500 g/1 lb 2 oz dried chickpeas
1

Method

Soak the chickpeas overnight in a bowl of water. The next day, put the chickpeas, masoor daal and bicarbonate of soda into a large saucepan with enough water to cover and bring to the boil. Cook until the chickpeas are soft (see kitchen secret, below), then drain and set aside.

Heat the oil in a saucepan with a lid over a medium heat. When hot, add the cumin, coriander and cinnamon and