SPICY STREET FOOD

A judge on new BBC series, Best in Shop, Nisha Katona owns a thriving chain of Indian street food restaurants, Mowgli (mowglistreetfood.com).

Tea-steeped chickpeas

Chole bhature is one of India’s most common street-food dishes. The tannins in the tea are central to giving a sharp edge to this rich dish.

SERVES 4 PREP 15 mins COOK 30 mins EASY V

4 tbsp vegetable oil

1½ tsp cumin seeds

2 bay leaves

2 small onions, finely chopped 5cm piece ginger, peeled and grated 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 tsp each ground cumin, ground coriander and ground cloves

1 tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp chilli powder

¼ tsp ground turmeric

400g can tomatoes

2 x 400g cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed

4 tbsp strong breakfast tea

1 tsp salt

1 tsp caster or granulated sugar 200g spinach, washed and roughly chopped

1 small bunch of fresh coriander, roughly chopped

1 Put the vegetable oil in a large, heavy saucepan set over a medium-high heat. When hot, add the cumin seeds and fry until dark brown and fragrant, then turn the heat down to medium and add the bay leaves, onion, ginger and garlic and fry for 8 mins until the onions are soft and dark brown. 2 Add the ground cumin, coriander, cloves and cinnamon and cook for 2 mins, then add the chilli powder, turmeric, tomatoes, chickpeas, tea, salt and sugar. Simmer gently for 20-25 mins until thick and tangy.

3 Finish by stirring through the spinach and coriander just before serving.

GOOD TO KNOW vegan • folate • fibre • iron •

3 of 5-a-day • gluten free

PER SERVING 321 kcals • fat 16g • saturates 1g • carbs 26g • sugars 7g • fibre 10g • protein 13g • salt 1.3g Recipe adapted from Mowgli by Nisha Katona, out 19 April (£25, Nourish Books). Nisha is one of the judges on Tom Kerridge’s new BBC Two series Best in Shop, starting in April. Along with artisan food expert Alison Swan Parente, Nisha will be giving amateur food-makers the chance to showcase their products to real customers in a hunt to find Britain’s best fledgling artisan food producers. Nisha will be on the panel of BBC Radio

4’s The Kitchen Cabinet on

21 April at 10.30am.