Channa masala

All you need :

• 2 cups Soaked Chickpeas
• 2 cups Water for Pressure Cooking Chickpeas + Extra as required to adjust gravy consistency
• Salt to taste
• FOR THE GRAVY
• 2 nos. Green chillies
• 1 tbsp Ginger Paste
• 6-7 nos Garlic Cloves
• 3 nos. Onions finely chopped
• 3 nos. Tomatoes (pureed)
• 2 tbsp Oil
• 2 nos. Bay Leaf
• Cinnamon Stick (1/4th inch x 2 nos)
• 2 tsp Garam Masala Powder
• 1 tsp Turmeric Powder or Haldi Powder
• 1 tsp Coriander powder or Dhania powder
• 1 tsp Jeera Powder
• 1 tsp Kashmiri Red chilli powder
  
  
  

Soaking and Cooking the Chickpeas

 The first step for Chana Masala is a little overnight prep work that you have to follow. For Chana Masala, Soaking the chickpeas overnight or for atleast 8 hours is recommended 

The longer you soak, the faster it cooks in the pressure cooker. I wouldn’t recommend cooking the chickpeas on stove top, unless you have a lot of time on hand. It could take anywhere between 45 minutes to an hour to cook the soaked beans on a stove top. Pressure cooker takes just 15 minutes. 

The chickpeas should be soft and mushy when pressed between your thumb and index finger. This will enable the chickpeas to soak up the gravy.

Step 1:

Pressure cook 2 cups of over night Soaked Chickpeas with 4 cups of water. Add salt while pressure cooking so the chickpeas don’t taste bland. After pressure cooking, drain the water and keep aside. The water is used to adjust the gravy consistency. Do not throw this water.

Step 2:

 Finely chop the onions, Puree the tomatoes and mince ginger paste, garlic cloves and green chillies in the mixer grinder and set aside.

Step 3:

Heat a pan or thick bottom kadhai, add oil and whole spices (bay leaf, cinnamon sticks).

Now add the minced ginger-garlic-green chillies paste and saute well until there is no raw smell.

Step 4 :

Now add the chopped onions and cook them on low heat until they are brown in colour.

Add the tomato puree and the spices (coriander powder, turmeric powder, jeera powder, red chilli powder and garam masala)

Cook this mixture (bhuno) well until there is no raw smell of the tomatoes or the spices. It should be dry and leave some oil on the sides.

With the back of your spoon, mash some chickpeas lightly (this makes thegravy thicker)

Once the masala has coated the chickpeas, add the reserved chickpeas water along with some salt to taste. Adjust consistency by adding some more water and let the chana masala simmer for atleast 15 minutes on low heat (covered with lid)

This helps the masala to penetrate the chickpeas and a thick luscious gravy forms. Once you notice the gravy thicken, switch off, add some coriander leaves and serve hot.