Channa Masala recipe – A classic, most preferred side dish most to eat with all Indian flat bread types. It is made using white kabuli chana, known as Chickpeas or Garbanzo beans in English. This is also a rich source of protein.
My kids love to have this especially with chola puris, bhature and naans. Every household have their own way of making channa and follow different methods. This is how I make channa masala at home.
The North Indian version or rather the Punjabi style of making Channa Masala basic veggies like onions, tomatoes and other North Indian spices to make this masala a lip smacking protein rich side dish for chapathis or rotis.
The South Indian style curry is loaded with the flavors of coconut and freshly ground spice paste, you can check out this Kadala Curry recipe.
Make sure that you do not add more salt while pressure cooking the channa, as it will harden the bean and it will have trouble absorbing the spices and the gravy when you cook it later along with the masalas.
Apart from eating this Channa masala as a side dish, you can use the same recipe to make other lip smacking, quick recipes like Bread Channa and Chana Masala Sandwich that bound to make your children very happy. They also make a healthy snack box option.
Channa Masala Recipe details below:
Channa Masala
Ingredients
- Kabuli Chana or Chickpeas – 1 cup
- Onion – 2
- Ginger – 1 inch piece
- Garlic – 5 pods
- Tomato - 4 medium
- Cinnamon – 1 inch stick
- Cloves – 2
- Cardamom – 2
- Red Chili powder – 2 tsp
- Coriander powder – 3 tsp
- Channa Masala Powder – 1 tbsp
- Cumin powder – 1 tsp
- Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
- Coriander leaves – 2 tbsp
- Salt – to taste
- Oil – 2 tbsp
Instructions
Preparation:
- Soak the Kabuli channa overnight or for 8 to 10 hours in plenty of water.
- Discard the soaked water and rinse well.
- Puree the tomatoes and keep aside. Chop the onions finely.
How to make Channa Masala:
- Add fresh water to channa, 2 pinch salt and pressure cook over low flame for 5-7 whistles or till they are soft to the touch.
- Tip the contents of the pressure cooker into a colander and reserve the cooked water separately.
- Heat a pan with 2 tsp oil. Add cinnamon, cloves and cardamom. Roast for a minute till the aroma arises.
- Add onion, ginger and garlic and sauté till the onion turns translucent.
- Switch off the stove and immediately add red chilli powder, coriander powder and cumin powder. Fry it in the heat itself. This will prevent the powders from changing color.
- Add coriander leaves and mix well. Let it cool completely. Grind it to a smooth, thick paste using little water.
- Heat the remaining oil in the same pan and add the ground onion paste.
- Keep sautéing this paste till it turns to a light brown color over low flame.
- Add the tomato puree and the cooked water of channa and let it simmer for 5-7 minutes.
- Add turmeric powder, cooked kabuli channa, salt, channa masala powder and mix well.
- If needed add more water and cook over low flame covered with a lid.
- Cook till the raw smell disappears and the aroma arises. This should take 10 minutes. The gravy would also have thickened a bit at this stage.
- Switch off and garnish the channa masala with coriander leaves.
- Serve piping hot with any Indian flat bread of your choice with a lemon wedge.
I love this anytime especially wid pooris..looks delicious..:)
OMG, Mouth watering here.. looks simply perfect and tempting.. awesome preparation dear 🙂
looks soo yummy and superb..:)
Delicious looking chana masala! Thanks for sharing the tip of adding less salt. Will keep this in mind next time 🙂
even i love channa masala with pooris. yummy version of channa
Off late lot of Channa Masala recipes on the blogs…Enjoying all the versions…Your clicks are tempting me to make some for myself..Delicious!
Such a nutritious recipe,luks gr8!The clicks are tempting to give a try.I am hungry now:)
Wowww… Lovely and delicious recipe.. Looks gr8 !!
true, they are my family fav with puris and they look good !
Wow would love to try this yummy recipe:-)
Do participate in my blogs giveaway here
Love to have this with Bhathuras. Yum. Delicious clicks 🙂
lovely recipe.looks delicious too
Very nice colour and texture to the channa masala. and yes, I think most of us hold as many versions possible for this one and tend to use any of those depending on mood and time.
Perfect side dish for chola poori… Looks yum…
very tempting and delicious ….
Mouthwatering preparation!
Looks delicious..perfect with rotis..
Love channa masala with battoras.. Nice one..
chana masala looks delicious…best combo with any pooris/rotis
Tasty looking chana…
love the color and yumm recipe…
One of my favs!! Will go well with anything…very well made!!
super, super yum 🙂
Delicious looking chana masala. Lovely preparation.
Deepa
Looks superb…love with hot pooris…
Channa looks really tempting.. Nice clicks.. Perfect with Pooris..
delicious channa, ur version sure sounds great, shall try it out..
Classic chana goes with dosa,idlis puris,rotis looks delicious.
Mouthwatering chana masala!!! Love it with puris or bhaturas 🙂 A perfect combo meal gor a rainy day 🙂
Prathima Rao
Prats Corner
1 Have never heard to of this;ut am really impressed; great photos.
Rita
Looks so good! Would love to try this. Can I use regular Masala Powder instead of Channa Masala Powder, not sure I’ve seen this before! Thank you for sharing, have a lovely weekend!
Looks YUM! I can taste that for you :).
This recipe looks so delicious!
hi radhika…first time to your space 🙂
bookmarked lotta recipes…will try them soon 🙂
hi radhika…first time to your blog 🙂
you have a lovely space…bookmarked lotta recipes 🙂
Happy to follow you 🙂
Do chk out mine http://cookingwithloveandforlove.blogspot.com/
Looks yummy!
Such a simple yet delicious dish. Yours look simply delish!
Yummy looking channa masala there..
Yummy.. I enjoy chole with anything.. Even with white bread..Looks delicious..With puri’s they taste divine
channa masala looks great ..will be perfect with rotis n puris
Chana masala looks delicious and yummy. Wonderful presentation.
Looks so yummy perfect with those parathas on the side:)
My anytime fav curry…
I never get tired of channa masala. It and rajma are the only recipes my mom wants me to prepare when she visits. I’m sure we would both enjoy your own version.
Thank you, Radhika, for another fine contribution to MLLA.
Slurp… Slurp… Chole Bhatura! 😀
Hi Radhika,
Good Day ! Made this channa masala today, it was very very tasty. I liked the texture too. I have been using the same ingredients for my style of channa masala, but the way you had used them made all the difference. Thank you
Thanks a lot Priya for trying out and letting me know the feedback. Glad you liked it.
Very colourful and delicious recipe.thanks for sharing.
I want to try this please give the onion and Tomotto ingrams.
You can use 200 gms onion and 400 gms tomato. hope you like it.
Thank-you so much for your reply. It’s really useful for me.