Instructions: In October the festival of Dussera is celebrated with great drama and fanfare. It is a time when women wear their best saris and jewellery and families attend latenight cultural programmes of music dance and theatre. Each state makes special Dussera feasts. In Bengal images of the goddess Durga are worshipped amidst scenes of great pageantry and sweets of condensed milk are distributed. In Maharashtra Dussera is celebrated with community feasting at each of the goddess temples. Here little puffed poories made of rice flour are served with a spicy curry made of black chickpeas and roasted coconut.

how they grow
Found mainly in central and coastal India black chickpeas are referred to as wild peas in many indian languages. They grow in pods like fresh green peas on small shrubs. In winter as the pods mature they are plucked and sun dried until brown.

appearance and taste
A relative of the more commonly seen white chickpea the black variety is dark brown small and hard. The peas are perfectly round and smooth. They have a strong earthy aroma reminiscent of rich black monsoon drenched soil. They have a thick skin and a pleasant nutty flavour.

culinary uses
Black chickpeas need overnight soaking before boiling. To sprout chickpeas soak then drain and hang them up in a damp cloth for 8 hours. They can be cooked in a pressure cooker. Combined with ginger garlic coconut and spices the chickpeas are cooked to a thick soupy consistency and served with bread or mound of plain boiled rice. The curry is made fiery with ground red chillies which are added according to taste. These peas colour the liquid they are boiled in and the resulting curry is nch and brown.

buying and storing
They are sold whole and dried though in the region where they are grown they are also eaten fresh. They are a slightly unusual ingredient not used by all indians but they are worth looking out for in shops. Store in an airtight jar for up to 6 months.

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