Artichokes and chickpeas roasted with garlic and lightly coated with lemon and sesame. Not much going on here, but the salad does offer a full burst of flavor and nutrition.

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Yellow mung dal/lentils are roasted till aromatic and then cooked with spinach and tempered with spices. A comfort food which brings on warm fuzzy feelings.

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Legumes play a big role in the regular Indian diet. Today’s recipe is a simple but fragrant cranberry beans cooked in a sauce flavored with cinnamon, cardamom, coriander and other fine spices.

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Late afternoon – a few jingle of the  Ghungroo/Ghungur ( Images of  Ghungroo) & a holler ” Garam Chanachur” (Hot Spicy Mix) ,would draw all the kids in the neighborhood out of their front door to the iron grilled entrance gates of their houses, the little ones clamoring & climbing over the horizontal bars of the gates for a better view.

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This Fried Chickpeas or Ceci Frito, is a classic Italian fried chickpea appetizer. I have to say, these  are seriously good munchies, very addictive – especially when they are served crisp warm from the skillet. Fried they are, but not deep fried. They are actually sauteed in oil/Olive oil at high heat. Ceci Frito is a close relative to the Indian Sundals (Sundals are beans or lentils stir fried quickly with spices – mostly in the southern parts of India) – the process of cooking being the same but done with different flavors.

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Dal(Lentil) paratha/flat bread is something which I learned from my grandmother. My grandparents lived only a few minutes away from our home. And it would be often that my grandpa would walk by with a bag of hot, freshly made parathas and a bunch of flowers for me.

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