Chana Masala

The chickpeas are soaked overnight and amchoor is what sharpens the sauce.

Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains dairy (ghee).

Ingredients

• 300 g dried chickpeas
• 500 g tomatoes, chopped
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon ginger-garlic paste
• 2 green chillies, slit
• 2 teaspoons amchoor, dried mango powder
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 teaspoon ground red chilli
• 3 tablespoons ghee
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 20 g coriander leaves, and lemon wedges, to finish

Method

1. THE CHICKPEAS ARE SOAKED OVERNIGHT AND AMCHOOR IS WHAT SHARPENS THE SAUCE. Its article says both. The preparation is given as RAW CHICKPEAS SOAKED OVERNIGHT in water, drained, rinsed, and cooked with onions, tomatoes and spices -- not a tin, and not a quick soak. And its spice list leads with AMCHOOR, dried mango powder, ahead of coriander, cumin, garam masala and turmeric. Amchoor is a sour powder, and in a chickpea curry it does what a squeeze of lemon cannot: it goes in during the cooking and the sourness ends up inside the chickpeas.
2. THEY ARE COOKED IN THEIR SOAKING LIQUID'S PLACE, IN FRESH WATER. Drained and rinsed, which its article says, then boiled in fresh water for an hour to an hour and a half until a chickpea crushes between finger and thumb.
3. NO SALT IN THE BOILING WATER. Salt early keeps the skins tough and an hour will not fix it.
4. THE COOKING WATER IS KEPT. Starchy and grey and it is what thickens the finished sauce. Thrown away, you end up loosening the curry with plain water and it tastes thinner.
5. THE ONIONS GO TO A DEEP BROWN AND THE TOMATOES COOK OUT. Twelve minutes, then twelve more, until the fat separates.
6. A HANDFUL OF THE CHICKPEAS IS CRUSHED INTO THE SAUCE. Pressed against the side of the pan. The dish should not need flour or cream to have body.
7. THE AMCHOOR GOES IN WITH THE OTHER GROUND SPICES, NOT AT THE END. Twenty minutes of simmering is what gets it into the chickpeas.
8. IT SIMMERS AT LEAST TWENTY MINUTES AFTER THEY MEET. Chickpeas boiled and then dressed in a sauce taste of two things; given time they taste of one.
9. ITS ARTICLE NAMES EXACTLY WHAT IT IS EATEN WITH. Bhatura, as on its own page -- the pairing its own article calls chole bhature -- or Puri, as on its own page, or Kulcha, as on its own page. Garnished with coriander and a wedge of lemon.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under India · All recipes