Kachumber Cooler and Crispy roasted chickpeas

We recently visited NYC to see a special musical performance by Peter Gabriel at Radio city music hall.  Peter Gabriel was promoting his new album, which is a collection of songs made famous by other musical artists including radiohead, david bowie, the magnetic fields and lou reed.   the album is called "Scratch my back", in which he plays together with a 54 piece orchestra.   (amazing!!).  
It was BEAUTIFUL!!  Lou reed even made an appearance with his rendition of "Solsbury hill".  An incredible night!  
and since we are talking about amazing nights...
I'd like to give a big SHOUT- OUT to my girl Judy ... 
without her ... this night would not have been possible!!!  
Thanks "J" (big time!)  for babysitting honeypie... 
even if it meant me walking in at midnight to see your head on your hands and honeypie wide awake!!!  sorry!!!  
(told you that girl does not sleep!!!)  
you probably could have used that Kachumber cooler... 
^_^
To buy peter gabriel's album you can go (here).
And here is a review of the concert by the New York Times.  (here) 
  
We ate at a delicious Indian restaurant in NYC called Tabla and we loved everything we ate but especially their crispy spiced fried chickpeas and this delicious drink called a "kachumber cooler"!  The chickpeas were addicting but...FRIED.  So thought nutritious, not something i would feel good snacking on on a day to day basis.  So I went home dreaming of spicy chickpeas and how i could make them in a healthy way.  
And here it is ... the recipe!

Spicy baked chickpeas inspired by tabla ny.

You need:

One can a chickpeas (rinsed)

Pat the chickpeas dry on a paper towel 

Put them in a bowl with 2 tb of olive oil 

and add 1 tb of garamarsala spice and 1 tb of curry powder.

Add salt and pepper about a teaspoon each and you can add a dash of cayenne.

Mix well with a spoon and place on an oiled cookie tray.

bake at 350*  for about 40-45 minutes depending on your oven.  

You want them to be crispy but not super dry.

mmmmmm

For those of you who might not know what "garam marsala" is ...

it is an indian spice consisting of many flavours, depending on the area in India it comes from .  It varies.  It can contain white and black peppercorns, cloves, malibar leaves, cardamon, nutmeg, star anise, coriander seed, and cumin.  

As for the Kachumber cooler...WOW!!

Here is my version:

for one cocktail you will need :

3 slices of cucumber ( i love english cucumber... they are crispier)

One small stem of cilantro

and a thin slice of jalapeño pepper (no seeds)

muddle all 3 ingredients with a mortar and pestle 

Add the muddled ingredients into a cocktail shaker  with some ice

Add some plymouth gin (which is what they use at Tabla) about 2 oz into the shaker and a splash of simple syrup. 

Shake well and strain into a martini glass

Spicy, refreshing and delicious! 

Very different indeed.