Tender Chickpeas in Coconut-Yogurt Sauce

This recipe for Kabli Ghana Usal was offered in a 1983 issue of Back to Godhead magazine, alongside an article by Vishakha Dasi about the popularity of chicken in the Western diet. She offered the chickpeas (garbanzo beans) as a great substitute in your diet, being a good source of protein and iron, as well as fiber, vitamins A and b6, riboflavin, thiamin, niacin, calcium, phosphorous, sodium, and potassium.

When you combine legumes and whole grains, you have a 'complete' protein, with all of the amino acids necessary for your healthy body. So you don't need to eat meat or other animal products to have a proper meal. If you include legumes (peas, lentils, beans, peanuts), as well as whole grains (oats, brown rice, barley, quinoa), in your diet with plenty of fresh fruit and veggies, you don't even need to think about meat!

Because this recipe calls for dried chickpeas rather than canned, and also makes allowances for having a pressure cooker, please look over the instructions and cooking times carefully. For example, the total cook time for standard method is 2 to 3 1/4 hours, plus the over-night soak, but using a pressure cooker the time is only 30 to 40 minutes.

[We're also publishing the alternate chickpea recipe called 'Savory Chickpeas in Tomato Glaze' or Tamater Kabli Ghana Usal separately. Both are shown in the picture above. This one is the lighter chickpeas.]