Chana masala is a Northern Indian dish with chickpeas braised in a beautifully balanced, aromatic sauce of tomatoes, onions, garlic, ginger and myriad warming spices like coriander, cumin, cinnamon, turmeric and cayenne.
Chana Masala
The resulting dish has a wonderful blend of flavors and fragrance. The golden color imparted by spices like turmeric and paprika is beautiful as well. It is typically served garnished with chopped fresh coriander.
Ingredients
- 250g chickpeas, soaked overnight
- 1 teabag of black tea
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil or ghee
- 4 medium onions, diced
- 2 tsp chopped garlic
- 1 tbsp ginger, chopped
- 3 green chillies, sliced
- 5 tomatoes, skinned, seeded and chopped
- 2 tsp coriander powder
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- ½ tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp red chilli powder
- 2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
- ¼ tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp toasted cumin seeds, crushed
- 1 tsp toasted coriander seeds, crushed
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
Directions
- Wash chickpeas in cold water and then put them into a container with plenty of fresh water. You do not need to refrigerate this.
- Bring 1L of water, chickpeas, teabag and salt to a rapid boil, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for at least 2 hours until the chickpeas are quite tender.
- In a large pan, put your oil and onions over medium heat. When things start to happen, lower the heat so that the onions don’t burn, just brown and go translucent.
- Add in the chopped garlic, ginger and sliced green chillies and simmer for a few miuntes.
- Add in the chopped tomatoes, coriander powder, cumin powder, turmeric powder, red chilli powder and 1 1/2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves. Raise the heat up enough to bring things to a simmer.
- Using a slotted spoon or a ladle, put the chickpeas into the pan, plus about 1 cup of the water. Let it simmer for about 20 minutes. If the mixture looks dry, ladle in more of the cooking water as necessary.
- In a new pan, put the cumin and coriander seeds over low heat and squash them. Add them and the remaining spices into the chana and turn the heat off. This includes the coriander leaves you reserved.
- Add the lemon juice and mix it in.
- This dish keeps really well and you can freeze it and easily reheat it. It’s perfect with naan or roti.
- Tamarind water can be substituted for lemon juice