Tonight's dinner, Tomato Chickpea Curry, was certainly packed full of flavors and had just enough of a kick to it to keep us warm in the cool basement. The base is formed by sautéing onions, fresh ginger and garlic in a bit of canola oil. Garam masala (an Indian herb mixture of sweet and hot spices), brown mustard seeds and red pepper are added to the mix and allowed to toast until they release their fragrant aromas. Creamy coconut milk along with a jalapeno, sugar, turmeric, chickpeas, fire roasted diced tomatoes and plain tomato sauce are added and allowed to simmer until the mixture thickens. Cilantro is folded in once the pan is removed from the heat to freshen up the flavors. This is pretty saucy, so I served it over brown jasmine rice. I would suggest using the brown mustard seeds as they add a depth to the heat in the dish, but you can use yellow mustard seeds if you can't locate them. While we both did like this dish, Jeff thought it was a little too acidic for his tastes.
EJ - Thanks for the suggestion! I figured it was from the canned tomatoes, but the tomatoes in the market are certainly lacking this time of the year!
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