Channa Masala

I made this for my planned Channa Bhatura dinner as per my monthly menu. Here's the link to the Bhaturas and my Monthly Menu.

I have to admit - I'm not a great big fan of channa/chole - maybe just because this is so commonly made in all the Indian parties and restaurants - I got bored quickly.

It definitely is healthy - high in protein. And pretty easy to make. So, let's get started -

Soak about 2 cups of garbanzo/dry channa the previous night. Pressure cook the channa just before you start cooking.

You will need chopped onions, fresh chopped ginger, fresh chopped garlic (for people who don't eat garlic, feel free to skip this), fresh chopped green chilli and lots of choped tomatoes.

In a pan, add about 2 tsps of oil, add some cumin seeds and coriander seeds. Add the ginger, garlic and green chillies. Fry for a min.

Now, add the onions and fry till translucent.

Here are my chopped tomatoes.

Add the tomatoes to the pan when the onions are done. Cook for a few mins.

Add some of the pressure cooked channa water in here for the tomatoes to cook. That water is more nutritious than just plain water and besides we don't want to just waste that! When this is done, cool it down and blend/grind it to a smooth gravy.

Here's the channa soaked and pressure cooked. You can use this water for cooking.

To the clean pan, add 2 tsps of oil, add some chopped onions and fry for a min. Add the soaked channa ( drain all the water) and fry along with the onion. Now, to this add salt, haldi, and the masalas.

Now, the way I add masalas is that I don't stick to just one. I add a little bit of garam masala, pav bhaji masala, rajmah masala, and also the channa masala. To me, that tastes better than just the channa masala. Here's my masala dabba!

Once you add all the masala, let it just simmer and cook for a few mins.

Chop up some cilantro finely.
When the gravy is all cooked, switch it off and add the chopped cilantro. At this point, also fry about 1tsp cumin in ghee in a small tadka pan and add on top of the channa masala.

Here's a close up shot - you can see how the gravy has thickened up.

I served this hot with Bhaturas. You can serve this with Puris, or on top of samosas , or just plain old toasted bread!


Enjoy!!