Chana Masala Recipe

An easy chana masala recipe (chhole or chickpeas or garbanzo beans)

Indian cuisines are world famous for their spices and heat. Today I will share chana masala recipe. It is a very popular side dish originally from Punjab, and is eaten with flat Indian bread such as bhatura, kulcha, or poori. It is also served with rice and various chaats such as aloo tikki, samosa etc. This spicy curry is prepared from kabuli chana or chickpeas. This popular street food is easy to make, and very filling.

I have learnt this chana masala recipe from my mother. I have shared recipe of making dry spice powder to add to the dish. This dry masala is easily available in market, and you can use that too. This dish is very popular in my home, and in winters I often make chana masala, also popularly called chhole, with bhature. I will share recipe of making bhatura in my future post.

Chana masala with paneer kulcha

In India, we usually make it using dry chickpeas. They have to be soaked overnight before boiling, as they take time to cook. You can also use canned chickpeas. Since they are ready to use, you can straightaway add spices, and prepare the curry. Once the beans are cooked, it does not take much time to prepare the curry. Sometimes I cook it without using oil. In that case, I add onion, ginger etc. while boiling the chana, and later add dry spices and let it simmer for some time. It tastes good, and is healthy as well.

It can be taken as side dish in main course, or can be eaten on its own, or with  bread loaf in breakfast.

If you want to try paneer kulcha without oven, click on the link. You can also try spinach and corn curry or chana rajma lobia salad. Rice kheer or Indian rice pudding is also worth a try.

Spices for chana masala recipe

Chana Masala Recipe

Print Recipe

I have used chickpeas soaked overnight in water. You can also use canned chickpeas if you want.

• CourseMain Dish
• CuisineIndian, Punjabi, Street Food

Servings	Prep Time
4	15 minutes

Cook Time	Passive Time
1 hour	8 hours

Servings Prep Time 4 15 minutes

Cook Time Passive Time 1 hour 8 hours

Chana Masala Recipe Print Recipe I have used chickpeas soaked overnight in water. You can also use canned chickpeas if you want. CourseMain Dish CuisineIndian, Punjabi, Street Food Servings Prep Time 4 15 minutes Cook Time Passive Time 1 hour 8 hours Servings Prep Time 4 15 minutes Cook Time Passive Time 1 hour 8 hours

Ingredients

For Chana Masala

• 2 cups kabuli chana/chickpeas/garbanzo beans
• 5-6 cups water
• 1 tea-spoon salt (or according to taste)
• 3 tea bags (optional)
• 1 onion finely chopped or paste
• 1 inch ginger finely chopped
• 2-3 cloves garlic finely chopped
• 1 green chili finely chopped
• 1/2 tea-spoon cumin seeds
• 1 table-spoon cooking oil
• 2 medium sized tomatoes finely chopped
• 1 tea-spoon amchoor (dry mango) powder

For dry spices

• 1 inch dalchini/cinnamon stick
• 1 tea-spoon cummin seeds
• 1 tea-spoon coriander seeds
• 3 black cardamom
• 4-5 black pepper corns
• 2 tej patta/bay leafs
• 3 laung/cloves
• 1 tea-spoon anardaana/dried pomegranate seeds
• 2 dry red chillis

Servings:

Instructions

For Dry Spices

1. Slightly roast all the whole spices on medium heat in a heavy bottomed pan.
2. Grind all the spices in a grinder till fine powder is formed.
3. If made extra, store in an airtight container.

For Chana Masala

1. Soak chana in water at least for eight hours. Quantity of water should be three to four times, as chana expands on soaking. Add some salt in this water. If you do not have this much of time, soak these in warm water with some soda bicarb for at least half an hour.
2. Add teabags in soaked chana, and boil in a pressure cooker. Tea bags helps in changing the color of chana to blackish brown. Once the pressure is made, lower the heat, and boil for half an hour. If you had not soaked the chana, add sufficient water, and teabags, and boil for about 1 hour.
3. Heat oil in a pan. Add cumin seeds. Then add onion, and saute till it is softened. Add ginger, garlic, and green chilies. After 2 minutes, add chopped tomatoes, and saute till it is softened. Now add dry spices, and saute for two minutes.
4. Remove teabags from boiled chana, and check whether the chana is properly cooked. It should be soft on pressing with fingers, and there should be no bite in it. Take out two table spoons of chana, and keep aside. Add rest of the chana along with water to the sauteed spices, and let it simmer. Using a masher, or table spoon, mash the chana, that you had kept aside, and add it to the rest of the chana.
5. Now is the time to taste and check the consistency. The dish should be thick, with no watery gravy. Add salt, spices, or water, if needed. Cover and allow it to simmer for 10 minutes.
6. Remove from gas, and garnish with ginger julienne, and fresh green coriander leaves (cilantro). Serve hot with chopped onion and pickles (suggestion)

Recipe Notes

• If you are using canned chickpeas, skip steps 1 and 2. Add tea bags to canned chickpeas, and allow them to rest, and start with step 3.
• You can make dry spice mix in advance. Also, you can increase the quantity, and store it in an airtight container to be used later. This can be used in various curries or dal preparations.
• If you do not get dry pomegranate seeds, increase the quantity of amchoor (dry mango) powder. You can also use lemon juice or tamarind paste instead.

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