True Tales

Kirpal Singh and I were in charge of evening langars in L.A. for a couple of years. As you know, critics abound. Someone was always suggesting that we add more salt or heat etc. One day I had had it! Instead of making cholay the proper way, I decided to change the recipe. We cooked the onions, garlic and tomatoes. We used oregano and basil and added olive oil. Kirpal and I cooked everything for a long time, so the onions and tomatoes cooked down until they were sweet and the garbanzo beans were soft and well cooked. We brought it to Gurdwara and served it. There were several people from the Indian community who complimented us on our cholay and everyone else really enjoyed it. Only one person figured out it was Italian instead of Indian!