Butter Chickpeas

Rich, creamy, spiced but not spicy curry with chickpeas and mushrooms.

Butter Chickpeas

Serves 5 - 6

Inspired by butter chicken and all its flavors but without the chicken. To achieve this I roasted the mushrooms in most of the same seasonings the chicken would normally be marinated and then grilled in. The curry base itself is simple with lots of whole spices in addition to the ground ones then simmered so the flavors can meld. Unfortunately, I realized I forgot to order the dried fenugreek after the curry was already simmering so at a later date I’ll update this with the dried fenugreek amount. The chickpeas and mushrooms go into the curry base and everything cooks together before being finished with heavy cream and sugar to balance the flavor. I served this with rice and two bright vegetable sides to counter the rich heavy flavors of the curry. It’s not quite traditional but this is one of the best chickpea curries I’ve made in a long list of chickpea curries.

“Recipe Tips:

*1. 4- 439g (15.9 oz) cans, drained can be used instead.

**2. 1 cucumber, seeds removed and diced, ground cumin, Greek yogurt and salt to taste. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

***3. 1 onion, sliced thinly with the grain, salt and chili powder to taste tossed with lemon juice to coat well. Refrigerate until ready to serve.”

Ingredients

Chickpeas

*500g (2.5 c) dried chickpeas, soaked overnight

1,600ml (8 c) water

12g (1 T) kosher salt 

Mushrooms

6g (2 t) ground coriander

6g (1.5 t) ground cumin

3g (0.75 t) kosher salt

2g (0.50 t) ground black pepper

1g (0.25 t) ground cardamom

1g (0.25 t) ground clove

1g (0.25 t) ground cinnamon

0.25 t ground ginger

1/8 t ground nutmeg

680g (1.5 lbs) king oyster mushrooms, cut into 0.50 in chunks

30ml (2 T) vegetable oil 

Curry Aromatics

15ml (1 T) vegetable oil

600g (2 medium) onions, roughly chopped

15g (1 T) ginger, roughly chopped

8 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

2 cheongyang or serrano chilis, roughly chopped

150ml (0.75 c) water 

Curry Base

42g (3 T) butter

10ml (2 t) vegetable oil

5 green cardamom pods, crushed

5 whole cloves

2 bay leaves

1 cinnamon stick

30g (1.5 T) gochujang

8g (2 t) garam masala

4g (1 t) gochugaru

2g (1 t) turmeric

150ml (0.75 c) water

80g (0.25 c) tomato butter (recipe here) or tomato paste

15ml (1 T) yondu

10g (1.5 t) mushroom bullion 

Curry Finishing

150 – 200ml (0.75 – 1 c) water

15ml (1 T) yondu

48ml (3 T) heavy cream

7g (1.5 t) dark brown sugar 

Serve

Basmati rice or Garlic naan

Chopped cilantro

**Cucumber raita

***Quick onion pickle

Method

1.      In a large pot bring the water and chickpeas to a boil, covered.

Keep an eye on the pot so it does not boil over.

• Remove and discard the scum that arises.

• Reduce the heat to low and add the salt. Stir to dissolve and cover.

• Simmer for 60 – 80 minutes or until cooked through.

Chickpeas are cooked through when the centers are creamy and the skins are tender.

After 60 minutes, I like to test a bean from 3 or 4 different areas of the pot. If one is not cooked through, I continue to cook testing every 10 minutes until all the tested beans are tender.

Continue to Step 2 while the beans cook.

2.      Preheat oven to 200 C / 400 F.

• Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil. Coat lightly with vegetable oil and set aside.

3.      In a small bowl combine the spices for the mushrooms.

4.      In a large mixing bowl toss the mushrooms with the vegetable oil and spice mix to coat well.

• Pour onto the prepared baking sheet.

• Roast for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Continue to Step 5 while the mushrooms roast.

5.      Heat a large pot over medium-high heat.

• Add the vegetable oil from the “curry aromatics” and heat for 30 seconds.

• Add the onion, ginger, garlic and chilis with a pinch of salt.

• Saute for 7 – 8 minutes or until the onions begin to soften and color slightly.

• Add to a food processor or blender and allow stand uncovered for 5 minutes.

DO NOT wash the pot.

• Add the water and puree until smooth. Set aside until needed.

6.      Return the pot to medium heat and melt the butter and oil from the “curry base”.

• Add the whole spices and saute until aromatic and the cinnamon begins to unfold, about 60 – 90 seconds.

• Add the gochujang and saute until beginning to darken, about 1 minute longer.

If using tomato paste instead of tomato butter, add here and saute with the gochujang adding an additional 20 seconds to the saute time.

• Add the ground spices and cook stirring constantly for 30 seconds.

• Add the water, tomato butter, bullion, yondu and reserved puree of aromatics, scraping the fond from the bottom of the pot.

• Bring to a boil.

• Reduce to a simmer and cook covered on low for 20 minutes.

Continue to Step 7 while the curry simmers.

7.      Remove the mushrooms from the oven when ready. Keep warm.

8.      Test the chickpeas.

• If cooked, drain and reserve the chickpeas.

• If not yet cooked continue cooking. If the chickpeas are still not cooked through by the time the curry is ready, keep the base warm until the chickpeas are done.

9.      Add the cooked chickpeas and mushrooms to the curry.

• Add the water and yondu from “curry finishinig”.

For a drier curry use the smaller amount of water and for a saucier curry use the greater amount of water.

• Simmer covered for 20 minutes longer.

Make the serving accompaniments being used.

• Add the heavy cream and sugar.

• Simmer for 5 minutes longer.

• Taste and adjust seasoning as desired.

10.  Serve.