Pakistani Chickpea Collard Wraps 🍲🍃

My boyfriend is Pakistani and is the spice master ❤. He taught me how to make a tomato based curry sauce that I'm obsessed with. I literally use variations of this as a base for most of my cooked veggie, grain, or legume recipes. When you make your own curry it tastes 100 times better than using a paste, and it honestly isn't as hard as you think. It just takes time chopping everything up. This sauce makes anything you put it on taste more savory so it is great to use on veggies or legumes you are trying to use as meat replacements for dishes.

Ingredients:

Avocado oil

Dried bay Leafs

Dried curry leafs

Cumin seeds

Coriander seeds

Turmeric

Red pepper flakes

Ground coriander

Ground cumin

Salt

Pepper

1 onion diced

3 cloves of garlic diced

3 1 inch pieces of ginger diced

1-2 Serrano peppers diced-depending on your spice level preference

3 roma tomatoes diced

2-3 cups of dried chickpeas (garbanzo beans) or 2 cans. 

1 bunch of collard leafs washed with the stems removed and trimmed down. Can also substitute for swiss chard, romaine lettuce leafs,  roti, whatever your wrap preference is. 

Fresh cilantro and lemon to garnish 

Step by Step instructions

1. Soak 2-3 cups of dried chick peas in water over night or for at least 4 hours. Don't use canned. Fresh tastes so much better!!

2. Heat 2-4 TBS avocado oil medium high heat, then add: 3 Bay Leafs, hand full of curry leafs, 1 TSP cumin seeds, 1 TSP coriander seeds. Then add 1-2 TSP of these spices: turmeric, red pepper flakes, ground coriander, ground cumin, black pepper, salt, garam masala (indian spice mix). I like to just add the oil and all the spices to the pot before I turn the burner on so I can slowly just get everything added and then put the spice jars away. I usually leave out salt, pepper, and Garam Masala in case I think I need to add more spice to it later on.

3. Heat the spices for only 1 min, careful to not burn them. Then add one onion diced to the pot to fry. Once the onions become transparent add in the diced up ginger, garlic, and Serrano pepper.  Once all the spices and herbs have cooked for a few minutes add in the diced tomatoes. Reduce heat to low and cover to steam.

4. While all your spices and tomatoes are cooking, begin boiling your soaked chickpeas. You simply bring them to a boil in a pot of water, then cover and cook on low like rice. Check them every so often to make sure they don't get over cooked. Usually takes about 15 mins. 

5. Return to your tomato spice mix. Use a spatula or other cooking tool to mash your cooked tomatoes and onions so it begins to look like a chunky marinara sauce. This is the time to taste test it too. Add in more salt or more Garam Masala if needed. Usually I add in more salt. Turn off and leave covered while you wait for your chickpeas to finish cooking.

6. Add your drained and cooked chickpeas to your sauce, serve on your collard leafs or with roti. Garnish with fresh cilantro, lemon juice, and a dash more of salt. (I love salt LOL)