Chana Masala gravy is also known as Chole Masala or Punjabi Chole Masala and is a versatile dish that is almost universally loved. It is basically Chickpeas or Garbanzo beans cooked in onion tomato gravy. This healthy and nutritious packed protein-rich dish is a great accompaniment with rice and rotis or naan bread. There are many ways of making this dish. If you like this recipe do check out a variant of this dish Amritsari Pindi chole .
Chana Masala
Its preferable to use dry garbanzo pre-soaked for 10 -12 hours or overnight, one can also use the canned beans. Tea bags can be added in the water used to soak the beans to get a dark color , but is optional and I skipped that in my preparation.
Ingredients
- 2 cups of dry garbanzo soaked for 10 -12 hours
- 1 medium sized onion
- 2 tomatoes
- 2 tsp ginger garlic paste
- 4 tsp coriander powder
- 1 tsp red chilly powder
- ½ tsp turmeric powder
- ½ tsp amchur powder (dry mango powder)
- ½ tsp anardana powder (pomegranate seeds powdered)
To dry roast and powder
- 3-4 cloves
- ½ inch stick of cinnamon
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 black cardamom
- 2 tsp cumin
Directions
- Soak the garbanzo beans overnight in a big bowl of water.
- Wash it and pressure cook for about 20 -25 minutes or for about 5-6 whistles.
- Grind the onion and tomatoes to a fine paste with minimum water.
- Heat a thick bottomed pan , add the ghee /oil.
- Add cumin seeds
- Add the tomato onion paste.
- Next add the ginger garlic paste.
- Sautée and cook until oil oozes out and leaves the sides of the pan.
- Add the turmeric,chilly,coriander, amchur and anardana powder.
- Add the dry roasted powder (garam masala) and the cooked garbanzo.
- Mix well and add salt to taste.
- Add water to get the desired consistency.
- Mash some beans to get a thicker gravy.
- Boil for another few minutes.
- Squeeze half a lemon into it.
- Garnish with chopped coriander and chopped onions.
- Serve with wheat bread or rice , Enjoy!
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omg i love this recipe! it looks delicious))) and plus masala is a great option for a meal! do you have any specific recommendations for a Indian cuisine starter? never tried to cook any before!
Thank you so much for your comments, I have couple of post on starters , please check https://inspiresn.wordpress.com/category/appetizers/ and I will be adding/uploading the more popular starters like samosa , chicken 65, chilli chicken etc. very soon. Please do check it out when you get a chance.
Oh great! Then I'll follow you here!
Mouthwatering...I just love it..awesome recipe !!
Thank you so much Anshu!
Looks Yummy!! 😀 We made this a few days back.. although i didn't add amchur & pomegranate powder. Will try it next time.
Thanks dear, the amchur and pomegranate gives a nice flavor hope you'll like it 🙂
Great recipe! I have never used pomegranate seeds powder, will try for sure!
Thank you so much, I got this recipe from a friend recently and the pomegrante seeds have a sweet and sour taste which gives a good flavor, hope you like it as well!
One of my favorites
cool, thats awesome!