Chaana Masala is one of our family favorite and I make this at least once a week. It is not only healthy and nutritious but also easy to prepare.
Now that I have few years of cooking experience I can now proclaim that it is easy to prepare. This was not the case earlier and I used to stay from such recipes thinking that they were way too complicated. I distinctly remember how I learnt this recipe.
It was about a year and half after my marriage and that was about the equivalent amount of solo cooking experience I had. My cousin was visiting us for a few days and was on her way to Georgia to pursue her dental studies. She is about 6 years younger to me and I treat her like my baby sister. I tried to impress on her what ever half baked cooking I knew, never realizing all the time that she knew much more cooking than me.
Now we had some more family come over and I was stuck wondering what to cook. She came to the rescue and surprised all of us by making Vegetable pulav, Chana Masala and a salad. Needles to say I was astound but also learnt the recipe from her. I have been making it ever since.
Channa masala (also known as chole) is a North Indian/Punjabi dish which consists of chickpeas./Garbanzo Beans. It is fairly dry and spicy with a sour taste and pairs well with Rotis/ Phulkas, Baturas or even Rice. This tastes good when it is cooked ahead of time at least 4-5 hours or even more before serving. This gives enough time for the spices to blend together.
Ingredients:
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1 cup chickpeas/ garbanzo beans(dry or canned)
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¾ cup chopped onions
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2 medium tomatoes / 2 Tbsp tomato paste
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3-4 cloves
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Little cinnamon
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Chilli powder as per taste
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2-3 tsp chole masala (any brand)
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2-3 garlic pods grated
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1 inch ginger grated
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Handful of chopped coriander for garnish
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Salt to taste
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Oil
Method:
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Puree the tomatoes in a blender and keep aside (skip this if using tomato paste). Grate the ginger and garlic and keep aside.
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If using the dry variety, make sure to soak the beans overnight or for about 8-10 hours in enough water.
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Pressure cook the beans using sufficient water. Keep aside.
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Take a heavy bottom pan, add the oil. Next add the ginger and garlic and sauté until the garlic turns light brown.
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Add the cloves and cinnamon and stir for a while. Now add the onions and stir until it turns transparent.
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Add the tomato puree/tomato paste, salt and cook until the raw smell of tomato is gone. Add more oil at this time.
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Add chilli powder, chana masala powder, and mix well. Add more oil at this time if dry.
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Add the cooked beans along with the water and continue to cook covered. Simmer for a while until the gravy blends with the beans.
Finally garnish with coriander leaves before serving. Do not forget to serve some chopped raw onions and slice of lemon. Yumm!
wow.. looks perfect & delicious.. nice click..
Looks delicious, this one is a regular in my kitchen too, great picture !
Channa is our family favourite too. And i am always looking for new ways to make them.
This looks really yumm.
Drooling…..Just need some bhaturas and sliced onions to wipe it off
Beautiful color Supriya. Our family fav. (and a regular) too:-)
Actually I love the color of ur gravy. Sounds perfect confort food for this cold winter days!
Looks delicious RC. It is the dish I fall back on most often when I run of veggies and it does not hurt that is almost always tasty.
This is how I also make. Looks delicious and picture perfect.
ya ur right it is easy to make. Looks nice…i normaly add potato’s cubes. rest is almost same..
One of our fav too, each of us have our own version, like yours RC. I need to try this with cinnamon and clove, for little different Flavour. Very tempting Pics.
Rc this is one of my personal fav looks yum..
Looks yummy… Loved the colour of it..
this looks wonderful….. this is a nice post….:)
First time here and i m drooling.. u have Awesome collections. Chenna is our fvrt.. nicely presented.
I love channa masala too .. thatz a lovely click
Oh that looks perfect RC – it’s a simple dish but makes the meal special
Who doesnt like Chole’….my all time fav’ North Indian dish. Enjoy great time with Chola Poori. If it is raining…this will be my tiffin.
Buddy, I like those veg-patties, besan ka kofta…all ur recipes are inviting, awesome pictures…luv it. Will visit u more often.
One of my favorite dishes. I don’t go too long without making a version. Your sounds and looks just perfect.
I also prepare it in the same method. I think in the first step, you intended to write (skip this if using tomato paste) and not tomatoes.
Thanks all very much.
Thanks Madhuram. i have corrected the same.
RC I made this yesterday with one twist. Inspired by the Sneaky Chef, I was going to prepare Mac and Cheese for my son using white bean (cannellini) puree (simply blended the beans in my Magic Bullet with little water). So I had around 1/2 cup excess pureee, so I added it to the boiling channa masala. The channa was nice and creamy and it did not taste different. Another important thing my son ate the Mac and cheese and was asking for more. But I’m not sure if he would it another day!
Looks yum… Perfect color, too!
picture looks perfect and tempting.This is a common dish at my place too. I too use cinnamom and cloves!
Lovely chole! I make it once a month:) What I like is that it goes well with just anything – toast, rice, pulao or roti!
Cooked this last night, lovely! Thanks so much.
[...] You can find the regular version of Chana Masala/Chole here. [...]
This is one of my favorites I could eat every few days! Looks so delicious!