Chana Masala (Indian Chickpea Curry) Recipe

I just made this tonight. I made some modifications…used a can of tomatoes, 1/2 can diced green chiles, used 1/4 tsp. powdered ginger, added 1/4 tsp. of cayenne, and left out the coriander because I didn't have any. This recipe only took me maybe 15 minutes to make because of the canned ingredients (oh, the canned tomatoes made it so that I didn't have to add water at the end). This tasted wonderful! I go to Indian restaurants often and it definitely rivaled the chana masala I've had there. My husband also loved it. There was enough sauce that I probably could have added another can of chickpeas and it would have still been fine. Thank you for the great recipe!

I used dry chana soaked overnight and pressure cooked, three medium roma tomatoes, 3/4 a large white onion. The green chili I used was a small thai chili and the chili powder hot Indian pepper. I also used a pinch of hing. Very good! Thank you so much!

First off, I'll make this agian. Easy to make. Simple ingredient list. Very pleased with the results. Thank you. Substitutions: small can of salt free tomato sauce instead of a tomato used Cumin and allspice in place of garham masla cooked chickpeas first in shallow water, saved the water to ad back if necessary.

Very delicious and very easy. I too substituted 1\4 tsp ground ginger. The garlic, onions, and chili I just cooked down in olive oil so it would disappear into the gravy. In place of the tomato I just used an 8 oz can of unseasoned tomato sauce. Between the sauce and the water in the can of chickpeas the gravy came out perfectly without the need to add any water. I then added some additional diced tomato and diced onion as the chickpeas were simmering for texture.

It's not EXACTLY like the restaurant chana masala I am used to, but it is very good. If you want chana masala in a pinch and don't have the special ingredients like chana masala spice blend and amchur powder, this seems like a great go to. We ate it with basmati rice and naan. I will probably make this again, though I may keep tweaking the spices to get the perfect flavor! I mostly followed the recipe but I made a few little changes 1) I probably used less ginger because I doubled the recipe but only had one inch and a half-sized knob. 2) I used roma tomatoes, which were small, so I doubled the amount of tomatoes 3) for the spices, I added a teaspoon of cumin and cut the chili powder in half because I wasn't sure it was the right kind. 4) like other reviewers pointed out, the paste didn't cook as fast as the recipe seems to say it will, so the chickpeas were in a sort of crunchy gravy. My canned chickpeas were also sort of too firm, so I simmered them in the gravy for 20 minutes which cooked down the paste and made the chickpeas more tender (and melded the flavors a lot more). 5) I added a dash of sugar, 6) I used some veggie broth instead of water because I had it opened in the fridge and it made more sense. 7) It seemed like it was missing some acidity, so I added a few good splashes of lemon juice. Overall, very yummy and definitely worthwhile!

We loved it- with a couple of exceptions.. I did not make the paste- just finely chopped the onions, garlic and ginger and cooked til soft, added the dry seasonings and let cook about three minutes. Added water to make the gravy and then drained chick peas and three cups of cooked cauliflower. After testing I went back and doubled the cumin, chili, coriander and turmeric- PERFECTION!

I did not use oil but just used water to sauté the bay leaves. I used 2 cans of chickpeas (with the juice of only one can) and added a half teaspoon of cumin. Oh, I also used a jalapeño instead of a chili pepper! I like my foods spicy spicy, so this worked out perfectly. I didn’t have to add any extra water in addiction to the juices from the chickpeas. Absolutely delicious!

I made this for a (large) family dinner, so I tripled the recipe. My daughter-in-law is Indian and she has a recipe, but it takes hours to cook down, and this was ready in about 45 minutes and tasted just as good as hers does (she said this). Several of the family are not good with a lot of heat, so I left out the peppers, and I made a mistake and added a heaping teaspoon of cumin thinking it was the chili powder, but it didn't ruin the dish, it just added a bit of complexity to the sauce. I puréed the onions and tomatoes in my blender, and they came out almost the perfect consistency (I did have to add a little bit of water). This was a big hit with young and old.

Nice tartness and complexity. I made with canned chickpeas for a quick side for Indian dinner. I've made many chana masala recipes and have mostly been disappointed. This is my favorite so far. Only negative is the slightly gritty mouth feel the pureed onions, ginger and garlic give to the sauce. I think it would be a better texture to saute the aromatics, add the tomatoes and cook down. THEN puree for a nice smooth texture.

Nice recipe but takes lot of time. To quicken the process should use 2-3 tomato without the skin and grinded together in grinder along with 3-4 onions, 2 green chillis, coriander, ginger garlic paste. Once the thick paste is created, fry it in a pan with some oil, cumin seeds and after 5 min add boiled chickpeas and 30 grams of paneer, spices(to taste) along with some water. Then let it simmer for 10 min. Once smell the spices are cooked, let it sit for 5 min. Garnish with more coriander and you are good to go.

I modified this slightly... Used 3 roma tomatoes) that's all I had) I omitted the chilies because I didn't have any, I used nearly 2 inch knob of ginger and grated in fresh turmeric. I added cubed sweet potato with the the chick peas and a block of frozen spinach. I sautéed for about 10 minutes until it was no longer vibrant red and really until it dried up all the moisture from the tomatoes. Added about a cup of water as needed and simmered. Oh my goodness it was absolutely delicious. Wanted to swim in the pan! Perfect dish for whole food plant based lifestyle.

super awesome recipe! I recommend adding another 1 green Chile if you like it medium spicy, and 2 if you like it spicy spicy. You do not not need a a food processor by any means, a blender works just fine!

My wife and I made this recipe. We used it as a side dish for Bangladeshi beef curry.

Excellent protein dish. Cooked it for the first time, I cooked the recipe exactly and It wasn't too. spicy.

I make this with eggplant and boneless chicken thighs. Not vegetarian but oh so good!

The flavors were spot on.

EASY to make, SIMPLE ingredients NOT SPICY at all but you can sense that it's spicy. Maybe it was the garam masala that I got but the recipe didn't have a strong flavor. If you don't like spice and you prefer MILD TASTE, this recipe is great but I wanted to taste the spices for a more authentic Indian cuisine taste and a mild spice that makes me sweat a little and this recipe wasn't it for me

It is kind of bland so I added more spices (curry leaves, paprika, cayenne pepper, a pinch of brown sugar, and more salt). It still wasn't right in taste like Indian food I've had in restaurants. So I went a little further and added sour cream. A little better. It could be because I didn't use canned beans which have salt, and I didn't follow my mind and toast the seasonings before putting in the tomato sauce. I'll be looking for other Chana Masala recipes to try because this one didn't give me the taste I expected.

So easy. No changes except I doubled the chilli accidentally but I like it hot so it worked well. Oh and I used ghee instead of oil. Thank you for a great supper!

This recipe totally hit the spot.