Quick Chickpea Curry

Where This Goes Wrong

Forty-five seconds on the ground spices, watching. This is where the flavour comes from and it is also where it can be lost.

Garam masala off the heat. Simmered, it tastes of nothing within five minutes.

The lemon at the end is not optional; without acid the curry tastes heavy.

Cooking Quick Chickpea Curry

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1. Heat the oil in a wide pan over medium-high and cook the onion 6 minutes, stirring, until softened and starting to colour at the edges.

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2. Add the garlic, ginger and green chilli and cook 1 minute.

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3. Add the cumin, coriander, turmeric and chilli powder and stir constantly for 45 seconds. The oil will turn deep red and the spices will smell toasted rather than raw — do not let them burn.

   Mark done Start 45 sec timer

4. Stir in the tomato purée and cook 90 seconds until it darkens.

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5. Add the tinned tomatoes, chickpeas, water, salt and sugar, and bring to a simmer.

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6. Cook 12 minutes, uncovered, until the sauce has thickened and darkened.

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7. Mash about a quarter of the chickpeas against the side of the pan with a wooden spoon; the sauce will thicken noticeably.

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8. Take off the heat and stir in the garam masala, lemon juice and coriander. Taste for salt and acid.

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Why It Works

A long-simmered curry gets its depth from slowly browned onions, and there is no time for that here — so the depth comes from two other places. Ground spices are fried in hot oil for forty-five seconds, which is enough to release their oil-soluble aromatics and cook off the raw dustiness; and the garam masala goes in at the very end, off the heat, because it is a finishing blend whose volatile top notes boil away in minutes. Mashing some of the chickpeas thickens the sauce without cream or time.

After You've Cooked It

Refrigerated for 4 days and better on day two. Freezes for 3 months.

Swaps and Variations

• Dried chilli flakes can stand in for the green chilli. Heat varies a great deal between chillies and between jars, so start with a small pinch and add more to taste.
• If you only have ground ginger, a quarter-teaspoon for each tablespoon of fresh is the ratio usually given; it tastes warmer and less bright than the fresh root.
• An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.

What to Serve Alongside

• Basmati rice or naan
• Cucumber raita
• Mango chutney

Sides from the same cuisine on this site: Garlic Butter Naan, Chapati (Roti), Gluten-Free Naan.

What's in a Serving

Per serving, an approximate calculation from the ingredient list. Treat it as a rough guide: a drained tin is counted at its full weight, liquid included, so those lines run high. How the figures are worked out.

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