Chana Masala Recipe Chole Masala Recipe

Chana Masala

I love chana masala. It is my all time favorite, I love it with battura or poori. We make channa masala often because everyone in my house loves it. I make this often, but never do it with store bought chana masala powder. I always use the spices which are available in my house or make my own masala powder. This recipe is something special because I made my own masala powder by roasting and grinding fresh spices. We had it with roti and it tasted awesome. I had some left over, so we had it with plain sponge dosa the next day and it tasted even better.

About Chana Masala

Chana masala, also known as chickpeas curry, chana curry or chole which is a very popular recipe from North of India. It is served in every restaurants all over India. It is one of the most loved and tried recipe around the world. Chole Masala or Chickpeas Curry is made using chickpeas (chana), onion, tomatoes, spices like chana masala powder and whole spices. You can serve it with battura or poori. You will love my 120 Vegetarian Sidedishes for Chapati, Roti, Pulao. Chana masala powder is one of the specially made spice mix that is used in this recipe. You can make it your own or use store bought. I have shared recipe for homemade chana masala or chole masala in this recipe.

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Watch Chana Masala Video

Watch this quick 2 minute video to see how to make chana masala in action!

Chana Masala Ingredients

Whole Spices- I used whole spices like coriander, cumin, pepper to make my own homemade chana masala powder. You can skip this step entirely and use store bought chana masala powder. Onions - Sauteing onions till light and golden makes this curry tasty and gives the desirable sweetness to the dish. Tomatoes- tomatoes is used in the curry to give the tanginess to the curry. Ginger & Garlic - add flavours and taste to the chana masala. Use equal amount of ginger and garlic to make a paste. Kasuri Methi Leaves - dried fenugreek leaves is crushed and used in the end of the curry to gives the unique taste and aroma to the masala. Even though you can skip adding this. I strongly recommend you to use it.

Homemade Chana Masala Powder Ingredients

This is my secret recipe for the best chana masala powder that can be made at home. This combo of fresh spices are roasted and ground into a powder. It makes the chana masala taste restaurant style. For Dhaba style chana masala, add in 1 tsp of Anardana powder and 1 tsp of Amchoor powder for the authentic taste.

1 stick Cinnamon 5 piece Cardamom 4 piece Cloves 1 tsp Whole Peppercorns 1 tsp Cumin Seeds 2 tbsp Coriander Seeds 2 to 4 Dry Red Chilli

Chana Masala made few other ways

Pressure Cooker Method : Instead of cooking chickpeas separately. You can make the curry base in a pressure cooker, add the soaked chickpeas into the curry along with water and pressure cook for 6 whistle for easy chana masala in cooker. No Onion & Garlic : This is a jain version which uses ginger, tomatoes as base. Heat oil in a pot, add whole spices like cumin, cardamom, cinnamon. Add ginger, tomato puree and chole masala. Cook till masala thickens, add cooked chickpeas or canned chickpeas and simmer. Amritsari Chole : The recipe has a special chole masala prepared. The chana or chickpeas is cooked with tea bags for the deep brown colour. Kala Chana Masala: Instead of white chickpeas, brown chickpeas also known as kala chana is used. Chana Palak: a good amount of spinach goes into this makes it more nutritious. Aloo Chana Curry - This delicious chickpeas curry with potatoes is best.

How to Make Chana Masala (Stepwise Pictures)

Cooking Chana

Pressure Cooker Method - If you are using dried chickpeas. Rinse and soak dried chickpeas in water overnight. Strain and take it in a pressure cooker. Cover with water, add in salt to taste. Pressure cook for 6 to 7 whistle. Let the pressure release by itself. Check whether the chickpeas is cooked or not by pressing it together with your fingers. if it easily mash, then chickpeas is cooked. Strain the chickpeas in a colander, make sure you reserve the cooking liquid because we will be using it in gravy.

Chana Masala Powder

2)If you are using store bought chana masala powder. You can skip this step entirely. But I strongly recommend you to make your fresh masala. Measure you whole spices. Take them in a dry pan. Roast on low to medium heat till toasted. 3)Take the roasted spices in a blender and make it into a fine powder. This is your homemade chana masala powder. Pro Tip: if you want the Authentic Dhaba style taste, Mix 1 tsp of Anardana powder (dried pomegranate powder) and 1 tsp of Amchoor powder with this masala.

Making Chana Masala Base

4)Heat 1 tbsp oil in a kadai. Add in ginger, garlic and sliced onions. We are going to grind this, so no need to chop it finely. 5)Saute the onions till it gets light golden and caramelized. Take your time to saute the onions because this steps adds so much taste to your dish. 6)Add in chopped tomatoes. Cook the tomatoes for 4 to 5 minutes till the tomatoes turn mushy. You can sprinkle some salt at this point to make the tomatoes cook faster. 7)Take the sauted onion, tomatoes, ginger and garlic mixture in a blender and make into a fine puree. Pro Tip: Allow this mixture to cool a bit before grinding. Because sometimes if you blend hot stuff in a blender, there are chances of splattering.

Restaurant Style Chana Masala Gravy

8)Heat some oil in a kadai. You can use ghee for more rich taste. Add in the puree onion tomato masala. Cook this for 3 to 5 minutes till it starts separating from the kadai. 9)Once the onion tomato masala is cooked, add in the homemade chana masala powder. Stir fry the powder for 2 minutes. 10)Now add in the cooked chana and the reserved cooking liquid, add as much liquid as you want to adjust the consistency of the gravy. Mix it really well.

Thickening Chana Masala Gravy

Now for thickening the chana masala gravy. Take some of the chana along with the gravy in a blender. Make it into a puree. This paste is going to make your gravy thick. 12)Add the pureed chana paste back into the curry. Mix well. 13)Now cover the pot with a lid and cook on low medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes till a thin layer of oil floats on top.

Finishing the gravy

14)Finally add in salt, a pinch of sugar which balance the taste. Add in kasuri methi leaves. This enhances the flavour of the gravy. 15)Add in coriander leaves and lemon juice. 16)Mix well and serve.

Instant Pot Chana Masala Recipe

Instant pot has become trending recently. Cooking in instant pot has become time saving and easy too. This recipe is particularly very easy. Because you cook chana the day before instant pot. And you can make this curry in just few mins.

How I cooked chickpeas in Instant Pot using Delay Start Option

Wash chickpeas in a bowl and rinse it two to three times. Drain the water. Take it in instant pot bowl. cover with water. Select pressure cook mode, high pressure for 25 mins. Then select delay start and choose the time when it has to start cooking, In my case i did all this at 11 in the night. So i selected 7 hours delay so it will be ready in the morning. Make sure the position is in sealing. Now leave it on its own. When i checked in the morning the chickpeas is beautifully cooked.

Instant Pot Chana Masala Ingredients

2 cups Dry Chana (Chickpeas) 3 tbsp Oil 1 tsp Fennel Seeds 1 stick Cinnamon 4 Cardamom 4 Cloves 1 tbsp Kashmiri Chilli Powder 2 tbsp Coriander Powder 1 tsp Turmeric Powder 1 tsp Garam Masala Powder 1 tsp Amchoor powder 1 tsp Cumin Powder Salt to taste

For Grinding

2 Onion chopped 2 Tomato chopped 1 tbsp Ginger 6 cloves Garlic

Instant Pot Chana Masala (Step Wise Pictures)

1)Cook chana as per above instructions, I used delay start option for cooking chana. Take small amount of cooked chana in a blender and puree. We will be using this to thicken the gravy later. 2)Set instant pot to saute mode. Heat oil and add in fennel seeds, cinnamon, cardamom and cloves. Let the spices sizzle in the oil. 3)I ground onion, tomato, ginger and garlic in a blender till fine. Add this puree into the spices and cook for 4 to 5 minutes till raw smell leaves from the mix. 4)Add in all the spice powders. In this recipe I didn’t use chana masala powder. I used a combination of my favorite spice mix to recreate the chana masala flavour. I used chilli, coriander, turmeric, garam masala, cumin and amchoor powder. Once the spices are added, saute this for 2 minutes till raw smell leaves. 5)Add in cooked chickpeas along with cooking liquid and mix well. I also added in the ground chickpeas. 6)Mix this really well. Cover with a lid and cook on low heat for 10 minutes or until oil floats on top. Enjoy.

Expert Tips

Instead of homemade chana masala powder, you can use store bought. Canned chickpeas can be used. Make sure you strain the water and rinse the chickpeas well before using. You can adjust the spice level accordingly. Chana masala can be garnished with juliened ginger and chopped onions.

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