Chana Masala
for 4 persons
Ingredients
- 500 g chickpeas – from the jar or soaked overnight and cooked until soft
- 2 medium-sized onions
- 2–3 cloves of garlic
- 1 thumb-sized piece of ginger
- 3 tbsp rapeseed oil or sunflower oil
- 3 medium-sized tomatoes or 60 g chopped tinned tomatoes
- Salt to taste
- ½ tsp black pepper, ground
- ½ lime
- fresh coriander
Masala spice mix
- ½ tsp cinnamon, ground
- ½ tsp cumin powder
- ½ tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp garam masala powder
- Chili powder to taste
- 2 tsp coriander powder
- ½ tsp mango powder (amchur) optional
- 3 cloves
Preparation
- Rinse the chickpeas with water and drain.
- Finely chop the onions, garlic, and ginger.
- Cut the tomatoes into cubes.
- Heat the oil in a pan over a medium heat, fry the onions and ginger, then add the garlic and
masala spice mix. Fry for 2 minutes, but do not allow to burn. Add the chopped tomatoes and fry over a medium heat until the oil separates from the spices and onion mixture. - Add the chickpeas. Bring to the boil and simmer over a medium heat for 15 minutes. Add a little water if necessary. Season to taste with salt, pepper and lime juice.
- Hint
- Afer cooking, lightly mash the chickpeas with a potato masher.
- Sprinkle with finely chopped coriander (optional)
- Basmati rice goes well with this dish.
- Hint
Rajive’s little spice lesson – Garam Masala
Garam Masala (Hindi: “garam” means hot or spicy, “masala” means a mixture of spices) is a popular Indian spice mixture. Traditionally, it mainly contains spices that are said to generate heat in the body according to the Indian healing art of Ayurveda. These include black cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, black pepper and cumin.
In the different regions of India, almost every family has its own traditional recipe – Rajive will soon introduce you to his personal garam masala recipe.