Trini Chana and Aloo Recipe (2024)

Would recommend adding fresh water rather than the soaked or cooking water. Beans contain pentoses (5 carbon sugars) which are not digestible by human enzymes - hence the reliance on gut bacteria to digest them with attendant auditory and olfactory consequences. When soaked and cooked some of those sugars leach out and dissolve in the water and when discarded reduce the load that the body must deal with.

I wouldn't fret about finding the cilantro. Cilantro and culantro is pretty much interchangeable. However copy and paste this link in your browser to see what the culantro looks like:http://www.specialtyproduce.com/sppics/2723.png

On the West Coast, I had a real hard time finding Culantro in Latin markets... apparently, Mexicans and Central Americans don't use it very much - it's more of a Caribbean/Puerto Rican thing. However, the Vietnamese use this herb regularly and saved the day. Culantro is fairly easily found in Vietnamese or Chinese markets.... in Vietnamese it's known as Ngao Gai.

Since cilantro and culantro don't last very long fresh, make them into sofrito and freeze it: grind them up the herbs in a food processor with some tomatoes, heaps of garlic cloves, a bit of sweet and hot peppers for kick, some salt/pepper and olive oil into a sofrito paste. Daisy Martinez has a great sofrito recipe. Portion it into 1/2c ziploc bags, freeze it and use one or two portions in whatever recipe you desire. It's great for flavoring beans/chickpeas. Sofrito will last for months frozen.

When I prepare beans, I almost always boil them for about 3 to 5 minutes and then set aside to soak for 3 hours to overnight. I then pour off the initial soaking water and finish cooking the beans with fresh water. This approach removes most of the problems with those flatulence producing sugars and still enables you to use the leftover, second, cooking water to good effect.

Made this tonight and thought it very tasty. But my dish was very green and had little visual appeal. The recipe says to combine all the ingredients and thus the color. So, I must ask.....how is it that the picture in the mag section has the potatoes a very appealing golden yellow?

Made it last night, with parsley and cilantro, two cans of chickpeas, and whatever kind of curry powder I had left in the jar. Forgot to do rice or anything with it. It was still delicious, and the house still smells wonderful today.

Actually, if you buy very fresh cilantro, you can make it last for quite a few days if, when you get it home, you make a fresh cut to the ends under water and then place the freshly cut cilantro into a glass of water - same temp as the water in which the ends were cut. Make certain that none of the leaves are under water. Place in the refrigerator, bottom shelf, with a plastic bag over everything. I can usually keep around 5 days without any wilting, browning or other signs of age.

I used Yukon Gold potatoes and they worked well. I added an onion and, at the end, spinach, and can imagine trying okra next time. It would be a shame not to serve with roti and pepper sauce; that's how we eat it in my Trini family. Maybe—all Indo-Trini differences aside—nan in a pinch. Don't fear about the water. It will simmer off quicly. I buy chutneys from Dual on 1st Avenue in Manhattan and really enjoyed this recipe with the coriander (spicy) and tamarind (sweet) chutneys they sell.

I made this with the cilantro/parsley substitution, and it was delish, and easy, and vegan! Which I don't personally care about, but it was a good opportunity to have a vegan friend over for dinner. I'll make this again because it so easy & tasty.

I added half sweet potato and that added a nice color/flavor to the dish.

Just a simple but very useful tip for saving cooking time for chick peas. Before I soak them I add 1/4 of a teaspoon of soda bicarbonate; mix it well and leave it for at least 6-8 hours if overnight is not possible. When you boil them remove the foam and let them simmer. The time would be 25-30 minutes.

Any grocery that carries Latino produce. It will be labeled "culantro" as noted in the article. Try Inwood/Washington Heights, East Harlem, LES--any neighborhood that has a concentration of Latinos. And, dare I guess, Whole Foods if you don't want to explore.

Used the substitution and it worked well. Didn't have a habanero so used a small bird's eye chili pepper for heat. Nice over basmati rice with greens on the side.

Can probably halve or skip the turmeric altogether….

I find chadon beni in Mexican markets in my area labeled as recao or recaito.

I thought culantro was a typo. First time ever encountering the word! Now to see if I can find it at my international grocery.

Followed the recipe using dried chickpeas and it took closer to 2.5 hours. Doubled the recipe, used cilantro and added some frozen chopped spinach at the end. Delicious flavor and absolutely would make again (but maybe instant pot the chick peas for the first step of cooking)

This was so easy and delicious! I used canned chickpeas so stoked step 1 and it was still delicious indeed. Added kale at the end, which really added some ice texture,’colour and substance.Paired with coconut rice and jerk chicken

Like another reviewer mentioned, my version did not resemble the picture and turned out brown. Tasty but next time I will use less curry powder as 2.5 tbs was too much for the portion of chickpeas and potatoes (and I love all things curry.)

Used only parsley, cut out chiles

@PBGVNinja - Culantro (cilantro) is very easy to grow, even from seed - I have 2 big pots in my garden in Oregon. It tastes so much better when you grow your own, plus it is always available. My next big experiment will be trying to grow it in the winter in my family room - in spring, summer, & fall, I will continue to grow it outside. Good luck!

"I’ve made Trini channa and aloo with, basically, none of the proper ingredients, substituting frozen cilantro and fridge-dried parsley for the culantro, random potatoes for the russet, hot sauce for the habanero, canned chickpeas for the dry ones called for, and omitting the turmeric because I haven’t had any for months."

For leftovers, I added some makeshift raita (sourcream, cucumber, cumin), and a bit of spinach, wrapped it in a tortilla and panini-pressed it. I was my favorite lunch of all time.

I was surprised at how delicious this was! Had cauliflower and sweet potatoes on hand and they were a great addition. Very simple, vegetarian dinner that even my picky teen loved. Served with brown rice and a faux raita made with yogurt, garlic, lemon juice, cucumber and fresh mint. Super yum. Thank you for this recipe!

used 1 can chickpeas, 2 small potatoes, a bunch of extra cauliflower, and some leftover greenbeans. Tripled the turmeric to make up for the additional veg. Also, 2tbs of better than bouillon. Used 1/2 a scotch bonnet– perfect spice level in dish, absolutely torturous when I attempted to taste before adding! Subbed cilantro and around 1/2 cup watercress– I had it around. Overall, one of the most savory and delicious dishes i've had from NYT! Fun to make with rotis, and the timing works well.

This was better the next day, MUCH better.

I am anti-potato-peeling in general, but especially in this dish, when the color is hidden, why peel? https://www.chefwillrece.com/why-should-we-peel-potatoes/

Culantro seed can be purchased from Nichols Nursery in Oregon. Can be grown in containers which may be best as it doesn't tolerate cold. Biannual likes shade, keep moist. Keep flowers picked. Good for summer "cilantro" flavor as flowering doesn't spoil plant.