Pure Vegetarian Chole Masala / Chana Masala

I don’t like eating pure vegetarian dishes. And my husband has the same attitude. So, we rarely have occasions like that when we eat food without onion and garlic. But there are some dishes, some foods which can never go wrong. With which you never feel that bland taste. And of course, we like vegetarian foods like that. Even though that is also a rare occasion, but pure veg satvik food is a delight to eat if you can cook it right.

Chana Masala is such a dish. Blissful vegetarian delight. Actually I wanted to cook ghughni, but then changed my mind and went for the spicier chickpeas curry version, which is nothing but the Chana Masala. It had been long that we have eaten something veg, and I am such a messy cook when it comes to cooking vegetarian. So I wanted to play safe and chose chickpeas to be my saviour for that night.

I also made the chana masala a little tangy by adding anardana / dry pomegranate seeds, lemon juice and aamchur powder / raw mango powder. If you don’t like your chole to be tangy then you can adjust or totally omit them. But I will suggest to add them even in a little quantity because it’s the tang that makes the dish so sooo worth the effort.

Now Chana Masala goes perfect with the Bhatura, but we opted for the healthier version and ate the Chole Masala with whole wheat roti. I made some green salad, with cucumber, onions, tomatoes and carrots, then drizzled some lemon juice over them, and finally sprinkled some rock salt with chat masala. To add a little more jazz to our dinner, I melted little butter and poured them over the roti. Mmmmm.....we ate till we scraped out the last drop of the chickpeas gravy and went to sleep with a fit and full tummy. J

Pure Vegetarian Chana Masala / Chole Masala

Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

1 and ½ cup of chickpeas (washed and soaked into water overnight)

2 tomatoes – pureed

A handful of fresh coriander leaves – chopped

2 green chillies - finely chopped

1 tsp lemon juice (optional)

½ inch stick of ginger – minced / paste

3 tsp turmeric powder

2 tsp red chilli powder

1 tsp cumin powder

1 tsp coriander powder

1 tsp black pepper powder

A pinch of aamchur / raw mango powder

¼ tsp of anardana / dry pomegranate seeds

1 tsp garam masala powder

1 medium cinnamon stick

3 green cardamoms

3 cloves

3-4 medium bay leaves

1 tsp cumin seeds

2 dry red chillies

Salt

1 tbsp oil

Method:

Take the soaked chickpeas and put them into a pressure cooker. Add enough water to cover them up. Add in 1 tsp turmeric powder, salt, 1 cinnamon stick, 3 green cardamoms, 3 cloves, 2 bay leaves, 2 dry red chillies and 1 tsp oil.

Pressure cook them until the cooker blows 2 whistles. Put off the flame and let the steam come out naturally. Then put off the lid and strain the chickpeas. Do not throw away the water. Keep that aside too.

Heat the rest of the oil in a pan / kadai and put the whole cumin seeds and 2 bay leaves.

As they start to splutter add in the minced ginger and sauté for some seconds.

Then add the tomato puree, lemon juice, chopped green chillies and cook till the oil separates. It will take 5-6 minutes of time on medium flame.

Then add in the turmeric powder, red chilli powder, cumin powder, coriander powder, black pepper powder, aamchur / raw mango powder and anardana / pomegranate seeds.

Mix in and stir for 2 more minutes or until the raw flavour of the spices is gone. If the mixture tends to dry during this process add a dash of water.

Now add the drained chickpeas and mix in.

When the chickpeas are well coated with the masalas add in 3 cups of the boiled chickpeas water, that we have kept aside.

Put cover and let it cook for 7-10 minutes more.

Do check and stir in between, so that nothing sticks to the bottom of the pan.

After 10 minutes, uncover the lid. You can keep the gravy dry or thin. If you want thin gravy add in ½ cup of water and simmer for 1 more minute. If you want dry gravy then do not add anything.

Add in the chopped fresh coriander leaves and garam masala powder.

Mix in and put off the flame.

Serve hot with roti / bhatura / naan / rice.