1. Soak the chickpeas in 7½ (1.75 litres) cups water for 20 hours.
2. Put the chickpeas and their soaking liquid into a large pot and bring to a boil.
3. Cover, lower heat and simmer gently for an hour and a half or until chickpeas are tender.
4. Strain and save the cooking liquid.

5. Put 2 tbsp of the chopped onions, ½ tsp salt, green chili, ginger and lemon juice into a tea cup, mix and set aside.

6. Heat the oil in a heavy, wide, casserole-type pot over a medium-high flame. When hot, put in the remaining chopped onions. Stir and fry for 8–10 monites or until the onion bits develop reddish-brown spots.
7. Add the tomatoes.
8. Continue to stir and fry another 5–6 minutes, mashing the tomato pieces with back of a slotted spoon.
9. Put in the coriander, cumin and turmeric.
10. Stir and cook for another 30 seconds.
11. Now put in the drained chickpeas, 1¾ cups (400ml) of their cooking liquid, 2 teaspoons of salt, the garam masala and cayenne.
12. Stir to mix and bring to a simmer.
13. Cover, turn heat to low, and cook very gently for 20 minutes. Stir a few times during this period.

14. Add the mixture in the tea cup. Stir again to mix.

15. Serve hot or lukewarm.

Notes

• From Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cooking, Barrons, 1982, p. 129
• I like it with more lemon juice than is called for here. It might be that the lemons I have used are not sour enough.
• I prefer more hot pepper, but I am not sure if the pepper here is the same as cayenne.

Jeff Finger