Chana Masala

Pin It Now! You know there are times when you make something (by that I mean in the kitchen) and it does'nt turn out really the way you like it. But you still make it the same way because you know no other way to make it... sounds familiar...???

I always made a chickpeas curry like the way other curries are make. Fry the onion,tomatoes add store-bought chole masala and throw in a few other spices.Though the bhaji (curry) did taste good  I always had the onion,tomato on one side of the pot and the chickpeas to other. That is they never really mingled very well.There were other ways to thicken the curry like adding coconut-tomato-onion paste but I never took that route.Thanks to health issues and lack of time(to be read as my laziness). So this was the story of the chickpeas in my home until I read this recipe by the Jugalbandits on Jugalbandi. I love this blog !

Their chef friend revealed the secret to the thick and aromatic chana masala at restaurants. It was the slow-cooking in the crockpot. I did not own one though. Hey but I owned a rice cooker a pretty big one that too.

So the other day I soaked some chickpeas and got down to making chana masala the Jugalbandi way.
As happens many times I did not have some of the ingredients so had to make some inadvertent modifications. But the recipe is so forgiving that it will workout very well even with the minimum of spices.

Chana Masala

Here is my version of it :-

1. Soak 2 cup of chickpeas overnight. Pressure cook them with salt. They should not be fully cooked (Half-cooked you could say).

2. Heat some oil in a pan and add :
    1/2 chopped onion
     1/2 tsp salt
    1-2 cloves of garlic     
    Fry till turns slightly brown and mushy

3. Add the spices as per your tast. I just eyeballed the amount :-chilli powder,kasuri methi,chole masala,coriander powder.

 4. Add the tomatoes and fry till it becomes slightly mushy.

 5. In the riice cooker add : -
      Half-cooked chickpeas
      1-2 cups of water
       onion-tomato paste
       1/2-1 chopped potato
     Stir and keep on cook setting.

6. Watch the mixture in between . Add more water if required. Once the potatoes are cooked,taste and keep on warm for an hour or so.

 7. Then stir in :-
      1 heaped tbsp of tamarind-date chutney
       a handful of cilantro.

8. Let it warm until serving time around 30 min or so.

Though this dish is not one of the fastest cooking ones it tastes great. You can serve it as soon as the curry thickens. The tamarind date chutney imparts its own sweetness which I found very comforting.
This was one tasty curry. The thickness of the curry was something we all loved. The kasuri methi adds that restaurant like taste. I served it with rice and yogurt.

This recipe goes to the Blog Bites event started by Nupur of One Hot Stove. I never thought I would be sending a non-rice recipe for a rice cooker event. Anyways enjoy girl ! I love your blog!


Hugs !