A Baluchi-Style Breakfast
Servings: 6
Ingredients
For the chickpea curry
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 onion (finely sliced)
- 4 cloves garlic (crushed or minced)
- Thumb-size piece fresh ginger (grated)
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1/4 tsp garam masala
- 400 g tin of chopped tomatoes
- 2 x 400 g tins of chickpeas (drained)
- 200 mls water
- Fresh lime juice (half a lime)
- Salt and pepper (to taste)
- Chopped fresh coriander (to garnish)
For parathas
- 3 cups plain flour (UK standard measuring cup plus extra to sprinkle on parathas)
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 tsp salt
- Water (as required to form a sticky dough in the region of 1.5 to 2 cups)
- Oil or ghee to brush and cook the parathas
For the eggs
- 6 large free-range eggs
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- Salt and pepper (to taste)
Instructions
For the chickpea curry
- Take a saucepan and place it on medium-high heat. Add 2 tbsp oil.
- Add onion and cook until it softens and turns golden. Then add garlic and ginger and stir.
- Once aroma of garlic and ginger starts to permeate, add cumin seeds, ground coriander, turmeric and garam masala and stir. Allow mixture to cook with spices for about 2 mins.
- Add chopped tomatoes and once bubbling lower the heat to low- medium to allow the mixture to simmer. Simmer for 20 to 30 mins.
- Then add chickpeas, water, lime juice, salt and pepper and stir. Leave to simmer for 20 mins minimum until you are ready to serve. Garnish with fresh chopped coriander before serving.
For the parathas
- Add flour, oil, salt, to a large mixing bowl and mix until incorporated and only tiny lumps remain. Initially add about 1 cup water and mix into flour mixture. Then add more water in small increments to form a dough (I usually require 1.5 to 2 cups of water in total to make a dough). Knead dough for about 5 mins and then leave to rest for 30 mins.
- After resting time, the texture should be soft and dough lighter. Take the dough and split into 6 equal amounts and roll into a ball.
- Sprinkle some flour onto work surface. Take one ball of dough and roll to approximately 10cm in diameter with a rolling pin. Brush with a little oil / ghee, sprinkle with a little flour and then fold the dough like a fan. Take one end and roll it along the edge of the dough until it forms back into a ball (like a Catherine wheel). Leave to rest in fridge while you repeat the process with the other balls of dough. This will create the layered, flaky texture for the final cooked parathas.
- After preparing the ‘Catherine wheel’ dough balls, take a frying pan or skillet and place it on high heat. Drizzle some oil / ghee into pan.
- Take dough balls out of fridge. Take the first dough ball and roll it until it is approximately 1/2cm thick. Then cook it in the hot pan for 3 minutes on each side, or until nicely charred. While cooking, brush with a little bit more oil / ghee on each side. Repeat with the remaining dough balls.
- Once the parathas are cooked, turn off the heat and leave cooked parathas to one side until you are ready to serve.
For the eggs
- Add oil to frying pan / skillet and place on medium-high heat.
- Crack eggs into pan, cover with a tight lid and cook for 3 mins or until white is set.
- Season with salt and pepper and serve alongside chickpea curry and parathas.