Kala chana, Green chana, and the George Foreman grill

I've been cooking a bunch this weekend, but mostly recipes that I am trying for the first time out of cookbooks, so I don't  have any recipes to report.  I do have a few things to talk about, though.

First, I just discovered two great new ingredients - kala chana and green chana.  "Kala" means black in Hindi and "chana" means chickpea or garbanzo bean.  There is also chana dal, which is a lentil unrelated to the chickpea.  I make a decent amount of chickpeas, as they are a pretty common bean used in India, the Middle East, Europe, and Mexico, among other places. They're good.  They're meaty, they're tasty, they're cheap, and they are easily available.  I can only take so many, though.  Kala chana and green chana are two different version with a bit more flavor that are used in India.  I haven't yet tried the kala chana, but I made some green chana last weekend and it tasted a bit like the cross between a black bean and a chickpea.  A bit firmer, a bit more bean flavor.

They are available from Indian groceries dried and frozen.  Frozen is a bit quicker, though I would guess more expensive (I didn't check).  I bought dried.  I simmered them about 45 minutes after adding 1/4 tsp of baking to accelerate cooking.  I saw a reference to pressure cooking them.  Frankly, simmering 45 minutes is a pretty easy task and I don't own a pressure cooker.

Don't be intimidated by Indian groceries.  They smell funny and they have a lot of stuff you've never heard of.  Don't worry about it.  They got a lot of stuff you have heard of (kidney beans, chickpeas, cumin, coriander, mangoes, etc).  Look around, grab what looks interesting, and pay.  Often their products can be a lot cheaper, fresher, and better than what you find in the grocery store (though not necessarily).

Incidentally, if you are looking for regular chickpeas in an Indian grocery, they are called "Kabuli" chana.  I guess Indians associate them with Afghanistan for some reason.

The other topic on my mind is the George Foreman grill.  I remember when these were big and I still use mine, but I think that I will be putting it away for good.  It is really a pretty stupid device.  It is just a grill shaped hot plate.  It does a shitty job cooking just about anything.  I tossed some veggie burgers on it this weekend and it basically just slowly dried them out.  Stupid.  I ended up just pan frying them and they turned out really good.  The George Foreman just doesn't get hot enough to induce a proper Mailliard reaction, so you don't really get any roasting.  It goes back to that old Burger King commercial about how Burger King cooks their burgers over a flame instead of a hot plate like McDonald's.  A hot plate isn't a grill.  The food gets cooked, but in a bland, flavorless way.  Might as well just throw it in the microwave.  I am pretty wary of the non-stick coating on the George Foreman as well.  Non-stick was invented by Satan to slowly poison us through our food.  Evil, evil stuff.