Chana Masala
Hi, I've decided to create a little cookbook on my website with recipes I love. It's mainly Indian cuisine, but every now and then a recipe for some other Asian treat will show up too. Czech food is great, but my whole being leans towards Asian countries, and I'm guessing there are plenty of people who would love to make some of these dishes at home.
To ground you in reality, I don't cook the kind of Indian food you get served in a restaurant. I learned these recipes from my Indian ex, who learned them from his mum. He comes from the state of Punjab. Why am I telling you this? Because you need to know that some recipes can differ from state to state. A little, or a lot…
A word about the way I describe the steps. If you're as hopeless in the kitchen as I am, you'll understand what I mean when I say most cookbooks fall short. It's nice that they tell you in a nutshell what to do, but the steps in between are usually missing for me. That's why my instructions will be extremely detailed.
Today I've got a meatless dish for you, Chana Masala.
What do I need for it?
Water
1 whole cardamom pod
2 bay leaves
2 cloves
1 tsp Indian black tea (in a tea infuser)
2 red onions (regular onions work too)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp masala spice mix
1 and ½ tsp red paprika (it doesn't matter which kind, it's mostly there for colour)
4 cloves of garlic
A piece of ginger
2 green chillies
2 tsp tomato paste
1 can of chickpeas (dried ones in a bag work too, but the method is a little different)
1 tsp Kitchen King Masala
1 tsp Chana Masala
How do I make it?
First I take a pot to cook the chickpeas in. I fill it halfway with water, pour in the contents of the can including the liquid, and add the tea in the infuser, 2 bay leaves, 1 whole cardamom pod and 2 cloves (nothing bad happens if you add more). Let it cook. I cook it for about 15 minutes, because the chickpeas are already soft and just need to soak up the spices.
While the chickpeas cook, I prepare the rest of the ingredients. First I take two red onions, one bigger and one smaller, and chop them both finely in a blender. I pour oil into the bottom of the pressure cooker (you can swap it for ghee, we like that better) and when it's hot, I add the cumin. Once the cumin starts to smell lovely, I add the chopped onion and stir. I let the mixture fry on a lower flame. (The onion needs to be soft and lightly browned, but not completely.)
In the meantime I put 4 cloves of garlic, a piece of ginger (I use a slice about 2 cm thick), two teaspoons of tomato paste, 2 green chillies and a little water into the blender and blend everything into a paste.
Back to the pressure cooker. I add 1 teaspoon of salt to the now lovely onion (test your own salt, everyone salts differently), a teaspoon of turmeric, a teaspoon of garam masala and 1 and ½ teaspoons of red paprika, and stir. It turns into a nice looking mixture, and I pour the prepared paste over it.
I stir for a while and then top it up with hot water to about a quarter of the pot. On top I add 1 teaspoon of Kitchen King Masala and 1 teaspoon of Chana Masala.
I close the pressure cooker and let it cook on a low flame. Our pressure cooker whistles nicely, so that's how I keep track. After it whistles three times, I take it off the heat, and once it cools down I open it, lightly mash some of the chickpeas (not all of them, just enough to thicken the sauce a little) and serve. I'd guess it cooks for about 15 to 20 minutes.
We eat it with chapati or rice. I put chopped raw onion on top of the sauce on the plate.
CAREFUL
If you're using dried chickpeas, the method is different. You need a pressure cooker. Pour in a quarter of a pot of water, add the chickpeas (half a bag) along with the spices and the tea. Close it and cook. It depends on the type of chickpeas, but I usually cook them for about 30 minutes, until they're soft.
Meanwhile I prepare the onion, spice and paste mixture in a pan, and once the chickpeas in the pressure cooker are done, I simply add the mixture to them. From there the method is the same.
I stir for a while and then top it up with hot water to about a quarter of the pot. On top I add 1 teaspoon of Kitchen King Masala and 1 teaspoon of Chana Masala. The difference is that I cook it with the lid open for about 10 minutes, then lightly mash the chickpeas and it's ready to eat.
I hope you enjoy cooking from my recipe, and I'd really appreciate your feedback!
Yours, Mimosa
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Mimosa Confiante
By day, I work somewhere between marketing, copy and campaigns; by night, I usually end up somewhere between fanfiction, cosplay and yet another “what if” that refuses to leave me alone. I write mainly in the Harry Potter and Mo Dao Zu Shi fandoms, most often Snarry, Snamione, HarryLu and WangXian. My healthcare background means that anatomy, medicine and far too much research occasionally find their way into my stories. Cosplay is another way for me to play with the characters I love, whether I stay close to canon or turn them into my own fanfiction and AU versions. In Diary of a Slytherin Girl with ADHD, I write openly about life with a brain that usually has far too many tabs open at once.
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