Description
Our Chana Masala recipe does not use any tomato, tomato paste, ginger, garlic, red chili powder or green chilies. Instead we focus on flavorful sweet spices of cinnamon and nutmeg alongwith balanced sour flavors from dried mango and pomegranate seeds.
Ingredients
Scale
- 0.5 cup dried garbanzo beans or 1 cup cooked garbanzo beans
- 1 tea spoon baking soda
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 inch piece of dried mango (optional)
- 1 black tea bag
- For Spice mix: (Substitute with 2 Tbsp Pre mix chole masala except for the pomegranate seeds)
- 2 tea spoon black peppercorns
- 3 tea spoon dried pomegranate seeds (substitute with 1 tsp pomegranate molasses)
- 0.5 inch piece of cinnamon stick
- 1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
- 1 small mace flower
- 2 tsp coriander seeds
- 0.5 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp dried ginger powder
- 1 Tbsp Ghee
- 1 cup chopped onions
- 3/4 cup yogurt
- 2 tsp chopped cilantro
- Salt or rock salt to taste
- For the mint chutney:
- 1 cup fresh mint leaves
- 3 tsp frsh lime juice
- 0.5 cup cilantro leaves
- 1 chopped green chili optional
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp yogurt
- 1 tsp oil if needed
Instructions
- If using dried garbanzo beans, soak them overnight with enough water to cover them since they will absorb the water and double in size
- Next day add the soaked garbanzo beans to a stock pot and add 1 litre of water or enough water to cover the beans throughout the cooking process
- Add the 1 tsp baking soda and bring to a boil.
- Add the bay-leaf, the tea bag and the dried mango and let simmer for 60 to 90 minutes till the garbanzo beans are cooked and tender throughout. This cooking time is less if using canned par cooked chickpeas.
- Drain and discard the tea bag and spices
- In a pan melt the ghee or butter and when hot add the finely chopped onions and stirring frequently evenly brown it on medium to medium high heat
- Meanwhile roast individually if required/preferred and grind all the spices for the spicemix in a spice or coffee grinder to a fine powder. Then sift it through a sieve. You can re grind the collected pieces again. Make sure to sift since the pomegranate seeds and cinnamon tends to turn up as unsavory hard bites otherwise.
- Mix this with the yogurt thoroughly. Use the pomegranate molasses in this step if you are using them instead of pomegranate seeds in the spice mix.
- Add a spoon of water to the brown onions in the hot pan to deglaze and reduce heat to medium.
- Now add the yogurt paste to the browned onion on medium heat and mix thoroughly stirring constantly as you cook and sort of fry the yogurt paste to cook out the spices.
- The ghee will start to separate out. At this point add the cooked garbanzo beans and mix thoroughly on lower heat and then add water to cover and cook covered on a simmer
- Once the sauce and the garbanzo beans are cooked and integrated in about 20 minutes on covered simmer, you can increase the heat and reduce the sauce down to a slightly thick flowing consistency.
- Mix in the chopped cilantro and season with salt to taste.
- For the minth chutney:
- Finely chop all leaves and grind in a mortar and pestle with little water and chilies or use a blender to blend with a tea spoon of water alongwith a little oil added at a time till you obtain a chutney of spoon-able consistency. Stir in the salt, lemon juice and yogurt.
- To serve:
- Serve the chana masala in a flat dish, spoon the minth chutney over half the portion and add some slivered raw onions on top. You can also add a spoon of ghee or butter to give richer taste. Serve with Naan.
- Prep Time: 60 mins
- Cook Time: 90 mins
- Category: Entree
- Cuisine: Indian