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North Indian Chana Masala Recipe
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5 from 9 votes

Chana Masala (Easy Indian Chickpea Curry)

Chana Masala is a popular Indian Chickpea Curry Recipe. Easy North Indian Main Course Vegan and Gluten Free Gravy recipe made with a basic onion tomato gravy and select Indian spices. Tastes best with Basmati Rice and Indian breads.
Course Main Course, Side Dish
Cuisine Indian, north indian
Keyword Chana Masala Gravy, Chana Masala recipe, Channa gravy for rice, Indian Chickpea Curry
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes
Servings 3 people
Author Vidya Narayan

Equipment

  • Pressure Cooker

Ingredients

  • 2 cups Soaked Chickpeas Read Notes below
  • 2 cups Water for Pressure Cooking Chickpeas Extra as required to adjust gravy consistency
  • Salt to taste

For the Gravy

  • 3 Onions medium size, finely chopped
  • 3 Tomatoes medium size, pureed
  • 2 Green chillies
  • 6-7 nos Garlic Cloves
  • 1 tbsp Ginger Paste
  • 2 tbsp Oil use vegetable oil or any neutral oil
  • 2 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 or Cumin powder
  • 1 tsp Kashmiri Red chilli powder
  • 1 tbsp Finely chopped coriander leaves garnish while serving

1 cup is 250 ml, 1 tbsp 15 ml, 1 tsp 5 ml

Instructions

  • 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. This will be used to adjust the gravy consistency. Do not discard.
    Perfectly cooked chickpeas
  • Prep the ingredients while the chickpeas arepressure cooking. Finely chop the onions, Puree the tomatoes and mince gingerpaste, garlic cloves and green chillies in the mixer grinder and set aside.
    Onion and tomatoes
  • Heat a pan or thick bottom kadhai, add oil and whole spices (bay leaf,cinnamon sticks).
    Cooking the ginger garlic paste
  • Now add the minced ginger-garlic-green chillies paste and saute welluntil there is no raw smell.
    Now add the chopped onions and cook them on low heat until they arebrown in colour.
    Cooking the onion tomato mix
  • Add the tomato puree and the spices (coriander powder, turmeric powder,jeera powder, red chilli powder and garam masala)
    Adding spices for Chana Masala
  • Cookthis mixture (bhuno) well until there is no raw smell of the tomatoes or thespices. It should be dry and leave some oil on the sides
  • Once the gravy base has cooked well. Add the cooked chickpeas.
    Adding chickpeas to the onion tomato gravy mix
  • With the back of your spoon, mash some chickpeas lightly (this makes thegravy thicker)
    Mashing the chickpeas to thicken the gravy
  • Once the masala has coated the chickpeas, add the reserved chickpeaswater along with some salt to taste. Adjust water consistency by adding somemore water and let the chana masala simmer for atleast 15 minutes on low heat(covered with lid)
    Dry Chana Masala
  • This helps the masala to penetrate the chickpeas and a thick lusciousgravy forms. Once you notice the gravy thicken, switch off, add some corianderleaves and serve hot.
    Chana Masala is ready to serve

Notes

 
  • Please note that I have measured the chickpeas quantity only after soaking them.
  • No Baking Soda is added to soften the chickpeas while cooking, which is usually a practice in restaurants to even elevate the taste.
  • I have used basic spices available at home to make this recipe.
  • Garam Masala powder can be replaced with store bought Chole Masala too.
  • You can add chopped tomatoes instead of puree. We prefer puree as it leads to a good gravy texture.
  • Kashmiri Red chilli powder is used for the recipe.