We then began preparing the main dishes, starting with a chickpea and tomato masala.  Shashi had soaked the chickpeas for about 24 hours to soften them up, and then we just steamed them for about 15 minutes while we prepared the masala.  We got to decide how spicy to make it, and since the food actually hasn’t been as spicy here as I had expected (I think that even when we ask for things spicy, people see our American faces, and take it easy on us), we were liberal with the chilies.  As with a lot of Indian food, there was plenty of oil as we cooked it all up, and then set it aside in a big silver serving bowl covered with a matching plate to keep it warm as we moved on to our next dish. High-res

We then began preparing the main dishes, starting with a chickpea and tomato masala.  Shashi had soaked the chickpeas for about 24 hours to soften them up, and then we just steamed them for about 15 minutes while we prepared the masala.  We got to decide how spicy to make it, and since the food actually hasn’t been as spicy here as I had expected (I think that even when we ask for things spicy, people see our American faces, and take it easy on us), we were liberal with the chilies.  As with a lot of Indian food, there was plenty of oil as we cooked it all up, and then set it aside in a big silver serving bowl covered with a matching plate to keep it warm as we moved on to our next dish.