9.04.2014

chicken and chickpeas, 25 minutes to a great meal

Some time back, triggered by @TestKitchen's work with pressure cookers, I began and continued my love affair with my Faygor 8 qt pressure cooker.  Last night I winged it and came up with something pretty special.  A hearty and flavorful Indian meal of chickpeas and chicken (thighs).  The key to this dish's success is the chickpeas and chicken thighs cook in about the same time in a pressure cooker.

I happened to make it the night before because I knew I was going to be busy, but it would've been good the night I made it. Also, no pics, we ate it all!  I don't usually post dishes we had for dinner here, but I'm proud of this.

onions/carrots, finely chopped, 1C
ginger/garlic, mix ground or finely diced into a paste (2 cloves garlic, bunch of ginger)
tomatoes, fresh or canned, ca. 14 oz
olive oil 2-4 T
mustard seeds 2T
cumin seeds 2T
paprika, spicy, not sweet, 2T
salt, ca. 1T
pepper, 1T
garam masala, 1T
coriander seed 1T
coriander ground, 1T
boneless chicken thighs, trimmed of fat, 2 lbs
dry chickpeas, 400 g/2C dry, soaked in salted water 2-24 hours, drained
coconut milk, a can

I made this all in the pressure cooker:  Saute chicken a few pieces at a time in olive oil.  Remove chicken when it's browned - I had to tear mine off the bottom of the pan, don't worry.  Add to the pot all spices and saute until fragrant.  Then add onion, garlic/ginger and tomato, this will deglaze the pan.  The whole seed spices will nearly disintegrate on cooking, don't worry about them.  Dump in the sauteed chicken, chickpeas and 1L water.  Bring to boil, cap it, let cook on high pressure a full 25 minutes!  That's a lot in a pressure cooker.  Let it release pressure and gaze upon the magnificence of your dish.  Add the can of coconut milk (or some cream) and serve over rice.  SO GOOD.

Next time I do this, I'll put a pic here.