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I love love love visiting an international food store once a while. Sometimes with no purpose, no recipe in hand. I just go in and kind of wait for certain foods to pick me!

That’s what I did on my last visit to Mr. India ~ a local Indian grocery store. I picked up another bag of chickpea flour, fenugreek greens, roti flatbread for the mr. (wish it had no wheat!) And then I also found these cutie-pie babies in the frozen produce section : Green Channa, Green Bengal Lentils ~ and then I though they look kind of familiar ~ yes! They are fresh green Chickpeas! Yes. Score. A new ‘cool’ food to experiment with.

Channa Lentils are Fresh Green Chickpeas!

Being Vegan/ Vegetarian will make you run on empty quick if you don’t fill up on big protein packed foods. That’s why I love cooking with beans and lentils so much – they are so good for you and they pack in great protein! And we’re always ‘starving’ for new inspirations, right?

This is a great recipe that isn’t authentic to Indian food ~ but rather ‘borrow’s’ a little flavour and makes it just a great dish that has a lot of versatility in the tastes. Besides anything with yams…. is just a great dish for the early fall. I like the baked cheesy yams with the freshness of the channa chutney – most ingredients are kept fresh in this chutney/salsa, if you will. Kind of a good merge between Summer and Fall cooking.

BAKED YAMS WITH CHANNA LENTIL CHUTNEY

Cheesy Indian-spiced Yams

2 large equal sized yams/ sweet potatoes

about 1/2 cup of vegan cheddar cheese (optional

dash of turmeric

dash of cayenne pepper or chili powder

seas salt and pepper

olive oil or mustard seed oil

Directions to make the Baked Yams : Clean, dry and slice the yams lengthwise into two equal parts. (look for parts that are more flat for the top and bottom when slicing so they stand straight – if they don’t slice off a bit from the bottom to make them sit better). Massage them with OO (olive oil) or mustard-seed oil, then sprinkle them over with spices and rub them into the surface. (You can also make a ‘dressing’ by mixing the spices with the oil in a little dish then, basting this dressing all over the yams – works great if you’re doing a large serving).

Bake at 350 in a pre-heated oven, for 20 minutes covered. Remove from the oven, spread vegan cheese on top, bake for another 20 minutes uncovered this time.

Channa Lentil Chutney *or* Green Chickpea Salsa

1 cup frozen or fresh Channa Lentils/ Bengal Lentils/ Fresh Green Chickpeas
(yes, they are referred to with all these names ;))

1/2 onion, diced very small

1 large tomato, diced into small chunks

a few springs of fresh cilantro, roughly chopped

sea salt & pepper to taste

dash of turmeric

dash of curry powder

dash of cayenne pepper or chili powder

(these spices can be adjusted for as little or as much as you like)

Directions for the Channa Lentil Chutney : Cook the channa lentils/ green chickpeas as per directions in water. (This will be close to an hour!) Check if they are softened, drain and let cool. (Great to do one-day in advance).

In a bowl, mix all the ingredients together, adding the spices just a bit at a time until you like the flavour combination.

If you’re a fan of Indian spices, by all means, don’t be shy but we like a hint of these strong spices like turmeric and curry so we take it easy ;)

I think Yams ~ Sweet Potatoes are such a fall staple, although we do eat them year round. I loved pairing the yams…. with a cheesy spicy twist… (hello, you could eat these on their own just like that! ;))… and with this fresh and flavourful chutney. The little green chickpeas were so good and very different in taste than what I expected. You would have to try them to see what they taste like ;) Very earthy but subtle enough to go well with a variety of dishes and be mixed with lots of flavours. (kind of like their mature buddy! ;)

So these are chickpeas before they become chickpeas! These are the fresh green babies that get picked, then they are dried and turn a yellowy colour – what we are used to seeing. The flavours are very different though and I already loved chickpeas so much – that this, naturally was a *must try* on my list ;) Till next time, Mr. India…. till next time ;)

Do you sometimes feel experimental with different ingredients?
Yes!? I think I see a Potluck Party with an experimental twist one day ;D Stay tuned.

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