Chickpeas and Mushrooms in a Carmelized Onion and Tomato Sauce (Meatless Monday)

Well, Well, Well, it is Monday again, and I am all set for posting you a Meatless Monday recipe that happens to also be vegan. This is my homegrown recipe for a Choley Dingri Dopiaza, or Chickpeas and Mushroom in a Caramelized Onion and Tomato Sauce. At this rate, I might actually start getting good at posting on target deadlines, can you just imagine?

This dish is wholesome, easy and bursting with protein and fairly easy to put together. It is something that I can definitely handle without much fuss and fanfare on a Monday evening and looks like the family approved of this homey dish.

The weekend left me unexpectedly without a wisdom tooth as well as feeling traumatized and unwise after the experience. Mental note to self, this is the last time I trust a dentist… He called me in for deep cleaning and sent me home without the wisdom teeth.

Oh well, several hours post Novocain, I realized some activity on twitter, and on exploration I realized that Spices and Seasons was the finalist in the Foreword Review Awards. Now, I do realize that the Indie set of awards are much like a consolation for us little people who cannot dream to make it to the big leagues, nonetheless there is enough of a quality selection there to feel good about being shortlisted by the people who actually wrote my most favorite review of the book.
A weekend when time affords consists of a decent amount of cooking to allow me to get a head start on the week. I had these chickpeas all laid out because I had cooked them for a demo at the New Rochelle library. I was super thrilled at how well the crowds lapped up my rajma and mushroom and chickpea pilaf, even persuaded them to buy some of the books! The rest of the dish is mostly about onions, another basic ingredient that you cannot go wrong with. A do-piazza is a dish of Mughal decent that relies on loads of slow cooked onions for its base, hence the name do-piazza or double onions. Since in this instance, I was cooking it up with chickpeas and woody cremeni mushrooms (also known as Baby Bella mushrooms), I did not add too much else to season the gravy and it had delicate sweet notes, with a touch of smokiness from the cumin and coriander.

The kids do not typically relish the mushrooms but this went down pretty well. What this dish calls for is soft homemade chapattis, the kind my mom makes, I just have to make to with my version, which is getting better every day. I will tell you my story with this essential bread someday
The grow lights are on, the pots are ready even though our daffodils are no-where in sight it certainly is beginning to feel that winter might be on its way out. There is always something about a Monday (after a good amount of sleep) that promises a fresh and new beginning, an opportunity to set things right one week at a time.