Zunka (Toasted Chickpea Flour Curry)

This curry is meant to be served with bhaakar, but I also enjoy it on its own. Especially when topped with fried onion. This also makes a great "everything-free" sort of meal. It's vegan, gluten-free, and nut-free. I believe the lack of meat and dairy also make it halal and kosher-friendly (although I'm not as familiar with these diets, so check before you serve if this is important). The only dietary restriction that it doesn't really play nice with is low-FODMAP. The chickpea base means it's not really compatible with a low-FODMAP diet, so that might be a situation where you give it a miss. Other than FODMAP or maybe an onion allergy though, this curry should be fine for pretty much anyone. It's not fancy, but it's quick, easy, tasty, and satisfying. Definitely something worth having in the repertoire.

Zunka

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1 c. Toasted chickpea flour
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. turmeric
• 3 c. water¹
• 2 Tbsp. canola oil
• 1 tsp. mustard seeds
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds
• 1 (red) onion, halved and thinly sliced
• 4 fresh green Thai chiles, thinly sliced
• 1/4 c. fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1/4 c. fried onions (optional)

Directions

1. Combine toasted flour, salt, turmeric, and water. Set aside.
2. Heat oil over medium-high heat.
3. Add the mustard seeds and cover the skillet while they pop.
4. Once mustard seeds have stopped popping (~30 seconds) add the cumin seeds and sizzle for a few seconds.
5. Immediately add the onion and chiles and fry until onion is brown around the edges (~5 minutes).
6. Add the flour mixture and cook, stirring occasionally, until thickened.
7. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve with bhaakar (or flatbread of choice). Sprinkle with fried onions if desired.

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¹ Iyer has you add the water to the pan first and then whisk in the dry flour mixture just after the water comes to a simmer, whisking vigorously to avoid lumps. I thought this sounded suspiciously similar to the "common wisdom" method of cooking polenta. So I decided to adapt it to my favourite method of preparing polenta. Which involves adding the dry ingredients to the water while it's still cold and stirring only occasionally. This seemed to work quite well, so I'll be sticking with my method in the future. Feel free to try Iyer's method if that's more appealing though. ^Back