In Season: Fresh Amaranth with Green Chickpeas
May be it was the long gap of time we had or may be it was the long and tedious journey they did, but they looked much tired than we had expected. Our visual for my parents-in-law is almost four years old now. When we last saw them, they were very energetic and much stronger. I think it was the long tiring journey they had from India. After about ten days, they are now refreshed and active again. More than anything we are happy to see them after a long time and to be with them here. They are also enjoying the new home, place, and people around.
They have also given us hope that it is possible to age gracefully by living happy and eating healthy. That makes us feel better. Well, everything is related to food by some degree. One of the recipe techniques I have learned from them at Nandyala during my one year apprenticeship some ten years ago is pairing green leafy vegetables with some kind of legumes/beans. You can find countless recipes of this type at my old website. Here is one more. This time it is seasonal fresh amaranth leaves and fresh chickpeas. The recipe is simple, tastes great and makes a filling side dish for chapati or rice and dal combination.
Fresh Amaranth Leaf with Green Chickpeas
Amaranth with Chickpeas 1 bunch fresh amaranth
1 cup fresh chickpeas, shelled or frozen
1 red onion and 2 green chillies
1 tablespoon grated coconut, fresh
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste
From Masala dabba: tadka ingredientsWash amaranth and finely chop leaves and tender stems. Chop onion and green chillies to small pieces.
In a large skillet heat a tablespoon of peanut oil over medium heat. From masala dabba, add a pinch each – cumin, mustard seeds and couple of curry leaves. Saute few seconds to fragrance. Add onion, green chilli. Saute for couple of minutes till onion becomes translucent. Add amaranth and fresh chickpeas. Cover the skillet and cook the leaves until they collapse and chickpeas are just tender, for about 6 to 8 minutes.
Add the coconut, salt and turmeric. Cook and stir for two minutes or more.
Serve warm with chapati or rice and dal. Makes about 4 to 6 side dish servings.
© Recipe and Photos Copyright 2009 Indira Singari.
Amaranth and Chickpeas Kura with Chapati ~ Meal Today
Looks good Indira.Are they from your kitchen garden.
Chick peas look so fresh!
wow!!! Looks so fresh and appetizing! Very nice and different recipe!
Masala dabba – a pinch of this and a pinch of that.. thats exactly how i do tadka.. and its hard to measure it when writing a recipe.. 🙂
Dear Indira:
First congrats on your new home :)and loved seeing those garden.. keep updating them. Hope you are having great time with your parents-in-law, have fun and keep your recipes coming, though i am not commenting I am an loyal visitor to your blog… A very happy healthy meal 🙂
Indira, I have seen these greens in the market and wondered how people cooked it. Now I know it’s Amaranth and got a simple yet yummy looking recipe.
Lovely post Indira…time and again you inspire us to eat healthy….by the way any blog visitors here who could update me with any info on the availability of amaranth leaves in the UK please…
it looks so fresh and a very different recipe …… Thanks indira…..
i know Indira it feels so great to see parent-in-laws and they do teach us all the good things in life and that includes aging with grace ,my in-laws moved in to live with us and they seem to be much happier now than they used to be …
amarnath chick peas stir fry looks so great and delicious..
Indira, recipe bagundi, opens me to ideas to try combine greens with other ingredients rather than usual dals. Enjoy time with in in-laws.
This looks lovely – and all these ingredients are fresh in the market now!
I know what you mean about being surprised in the changes in our elders as time goes by. My parents come and stay with me for a few months every winter, and every time I see them I am surprised at how they seem more aged since last I saw them. They are still vital people, but the changes always surprise me. I love cooking for them and having them here.
Indira,
You do not know me, but you have helped me make my first prasadam (and impress my then friend and now husband) for Sankranti some 2 years back. I see ‘Amarnath’ recipes on your blog, but I can’t spot them in HEBs. Are these same as chukka-kura (not that i know how they look, but i know the taste). Are they labelled ‘Red Swiss Chard’? I have been trying to try them out. Please let me know.
very nice traditional reciepe… goes pretty well with chappathis or rice…
Hope you have a great and blessed time with your parents-in-law. Each time I go back home and see my parents, I feel as if they have aged twice as much. It is a hard feeling to aceept, but atleast they are aging gracefully.
Loved the combination of chickpeas and the amaranth leaves.
Nice recipe Indira, I can eat it out of a bowl directly without any accompainments 🙂
An eye catching recipe! Book-marked!!
Got to look out for green peas though.
I hear when you talk about aging parents. I visit or my parents visit me every year and I am surprised at how they changed in just 1 year. Honestly I am scared to go to airport anymore to receive them.
Nice picture and good combination. Anything with chick peas I can eat without any accompaniments by squeezing lime juice.
Indira, my mother visited me from India a few months back, I saw her at airport after 4 years..couldn’t believe my eyes..brought tears in my eyes..still can’t digest the fact that parents are aging..
Thank you all for sharing such good comments about parents. Appreciate the kindness.
Lavanya: they are from local Indian grocery shop.
Dear Karthi Kannan, so good to read your comments after such long time. How are you and your cute son? Where are you now? Are you still in Lancaster? Miss Kitchenmate!
Priti: Try Chinese grocery shops. Usually they are sold as red spinach.
Vichika: Congratulations on your marriage! Happy to be of help.:)
Red swiss chard is different from amaranth and I haven’t seen amaranth at HEB. I bought mine from local chinese grocery shop called Well Farm. Try Chinese or Indian grocery shops at College Station. Red spinach, Chinese spinach, Keerai, Thorakura/koyagura are other names for Amaranth. Checkout this photo of whole bunch for easy identification. Hope this helps.
I bought a bag of green chana the other and have been on the lookout for an interesting recipe. Thanks, bookmarked!
Thanks Indira:)
Still near lancaster..but there is a additional member in the family Vinay.. So life is keeping me busy still:) Yes, i miss kitchenmate too, someday soon Indira.
Howz is life…
Now I know where I picked up this habit of adding greens to beans… All your pictures and recipes were making an effect subliminally, I guess. Thank you! 🙂
And so glad to hear that you are having a good time with your inlaws. My ammamma aged so gracefully, so does a really nice aunt I met (we are from different cultures, ages in life, but I guess, we kind of adopted each other), I can only hope to age like these two ladies someday.
Thanks Indira!I will check them out.
I prepared this recipe with frozen spinach as i did not have fresh amaranth on hand. It tastes good and is very nutritious. Its also different from my usual Keerai Masiyal and other Tamil style recipes. Thanks!
looks great…i’ve never cooked with amaranth but will pick some up next time i’m at the store. i also love pairing any leafy green with daal or legumes – such an easy, healthy meal, which we also love taking as lunch. better than fast food junk any day.
Indira, Where do I get these greens? In what name do they sell these in USA? Any idea/
I think this is what they use in Kanda-Bachali, if am not wrong. I would like to try that and not sure if I ever spotted this greens in the market…
Indira, thanks for sharing these wonderful teachings!
I was so curious about amaranth greens, to taste them and see what they looked like, how they grow. So I brought home a bunch of amaranth leaves from “Little India” on Lower Lexington Avenue here in N.Y. last summer or early fall. I asked for them, the vendor disappeared into the back of the shop, then returned with several wonderful large fresh bunches of these greens. They were not in the refrigerated cabinets, not losing their vitality. I cooked them, they were delicious.
This spring I thought I would sow some using amaranth grains. I sprouted the amaranth then threw them in the pots on the terrace during the winter. Now after the fact I’ve learned that there are dozens of different kinds of amaranth greens, my “grain” greens grew with vigor and abandon, but they soon became infested with little green insects. If I ate insects, I would have really had a feast! Instead now I have a new respect for commercial planters!
The insects on my plants weren’t easy to wash off even after three, four, and more washings in my bathtub. I am a “new” balcony gardener, so this is part of my successes and failures. Fortuneately, I’ve noted that you mentioned mustard greens which are easily available at uptown markets, so I’ll go for them again until I’m able to bring home more of the cultivated amaranth greens. Thank you so much again for sharing this wisdom. In my eighth decade, I feel so fortunate to keep learning. ~ chana ~