Chana Masala

Chana Masala

A classic restaurant favourite from Punjab, Chana Masala is delicious and healthy too! Cooking up dried chickpeas is key to this recipe because of all the flavour, nutrition and texture they add to the finished dish. Home made Chana Masala Powder, makes all the difference and is worth making from scratch. It can be used in any other Indian recipe as well and keeps for a long time in an airtight container.

1 cup dried chickpeas
1 tsp black or regular salt

Or use 1 can (540 ml) of chickpeas, drained and rinsed and skip the next step

Prepare chickpeas:
Soak chickpeas overnight in lots of water. Drain, rinse and cook in a covered saucepan on low heat, with 4 cups of water and salt, until very soft, tender and mushy. This should take about an hour or longer. You can also use a pressure cooker or Instapot for this step. Reserve chickpeas and cooking liquid for later use in the recipe.

Masala
2 tbsp oil
½ tsp cumin seeds
½ inch piece ginger, grated or minced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 medium onion, finely chopped
4 - 5 ripe tomatoes, canned or fresh, finely chopped
1/2 tsp each: garam masala, ground cumin, ground coriander, dried fenugreek leaves, turmeric, cayenne pepper
Salt to taste
or use 2 tsp Chana Masala Powder
2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
1 tbsp each: ghee or butter, lemon juice
Warm oil in deep non stick skillet over medium high heat. Add cumin seeds and let them sizzle for 30 sec. Add ginger and garlic and brown lightly for 30 sec. Add chopped onions and sauté until lightly browned, about 5 min. Add tomatoes and cook for 5-7 min until lightly thickened and blending into the sauce, mashing and stirring occasionally. Add chickpeas and 2 cups of water or the cooking liquid. Add the chana masala powder, if using or all of the spices listed above, as well as the salt. Cover skillet and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and cook for about an hour or until the cooking liquid has thickened around the chickpeas and spices are mellow. Stir occasionally, mashing the chickpeas lightly to help thicken and flavour the sauce. If there is too much liquid at the end of cooking, uncover skillet and boil off excess. You should be left with a thick sauce clinging to the chickpeas.
Remove from heat and fold in the fresh coriander, ghee or butter and lemon juice.

Serves four