Last Updated on December 7, 2020
Chana Masala is one dish I would love to try different recipes with variations. I loved this easy method of pressure cooking everything together which I learnt from my aunt recently. I have already posted chana masala with coconut a while back and this is another version without coconut….Now you have your choice of choosing between the two 🙂 This goes well poori , rotis or even any mild pulaos.
Chana Masala Recipe – Ingredients
Prep Time: 10 mins | Cook time: 20 mins | Serves: 2
Chana – 3/4 cup
Big Onion – 1 small sized chopped finely
Red Chilli Powder – 1.5 tsp
Coriander powder – 3/4 tsp
Garam masala (or) Chana Masala powder – 1 tsp
Coriander leaves – just to garnish
Lemon juice – from half a lemon
Water – 2.5 cups in total
Salt – to taste
To saute and grind:
Oil – 2 tsp
Tomatoes – 3 medium sized chopped roughly
Big Onion – 1 medium sized chopped roughly
Ginger – 1 inch piece
Garlic – 6 cloves
Fennel Seeds – 1 tsp
Pepper – 1/2 tsp
To temper:
Oil – 1.5 tbsp
Cinnamon – 1/2 inch piece
Cloves – 2
Bayleaf – 1/2
Method:
- Soak chana overnight or atleast for 8 hours.Pressure cook chana with enough water(say 1.5 cups) for 5 whistles or until soft,Set aside.In a pan heat oil – add onion, tomato, ginger, garlic and saute till mushy and raw smell of tomatoes leaves. Allow it to cool, then add fennel seeds and pepper corns along with this in a mixer.
- Grind it to a fine paste.Set aside. In a pressure cooker heat oil – add the items under ‘to temper’ then add onions and fry till golden brown.Then add the tomato onion paste.
- Add the spice powders, mix well.Once the raw smell of masalas leave add chana along with the cooked water to this mixture and pressure cook for 1 whistle in medium flame.Add required salt.
- Once done, open and add more water if the gravy is too thick – I added remaining 1 cup water and allowed it to boil in sim for 5mins.Once oil seperates and desired consistency is reached, Garnish with coriander leaves,lemon juice and switch off.
Serve hot with bhatura / rotis!
My Notes:
- Adjust water according to the consistency you want the gravy to be.
- Pressure cook chana until soft as in the last stage we are going to cook for just 1 whistle. This way I find the masalas blend very well with chana.
- I dont usually add chana masala powder, always use homemade garam masala powder instead.
- Adding pepper is purely optional, if you dont like the flavour then just skip it.
Yum,I can have the channa masala by itself.Simple recipe,I am definitely trying this soon:)
Delicious and mouthwatering chana masala.
Deepa
Yum yum yummy channa, love the rich color and the texture. Lovely clicks.
yummy one ! lovely combo too !
chole masala looks too yummy….
Gravy looks so creamy and thick….love your pics too.
gravy looks so thick and yumm..love it,,
Wow! looks so yumm that too without coconut…lovely texture…
It looks do yummy, very tempting.. I am definitely going to try this once at home.. http://www.psocial.in/category/food-and-recipes
Very creamy looking curry…
simply irrestible. bookmarked
I too love this channa masala a lot no need to cut veggies yet can get a healthy dish for rotis..you have made it so beautiful sharmi..
One of my friend makes channa in this way. Smooth gravy perfectly suitable for kids. Nice clicks
I have tried this recipe,came very well and evryone liked it..followed the procedure as it is…Everyone should this….:) Irresistible taste..
Tried this recipe and it turned out very tasty.
Thanks for this yummy Channa Masala recipe !
Anusha
Tried this and loved it.
Thank you for this delicious Channa Masala recipe !!
mouth watering…:)
It's my favourite .lovely texture and ur recipe is very simple to understand too
I am going to try this out. I don't make the onion-tomato paste and also don't do the last step pressure-cooking. What I do is take some channa, grind it in the mixie and add it to the gravy. That way the gravy is thick.
I tried your recipe and the family loved it! Thank you 🙂
-Nandini
I tried your recipe and the family loved it! Thank you 🙂
-Nandini
This came out awesome! I usually make less than average chole masala..but this time! Wow! I cannot wait to get great complements from my hubby!!
HI sharmi,
u r simple awesome at ur work…… iam big fan of urs…. whenever i am in confusion what to cook … ur blog is SOS for me…. whatever i tried from ur recipe index did wonders for me…… thanx….. n keep postng n teaching me…..
regards yamuna
Sharmi, the 6 garlic cloves that you add to temper just stay there? I don't want to eat a whole clove thinking it's chick pea!
I used the garlic for sauteing and grinding along with onion and tomato so it will not stay as whole….Please check the method again 🙂
superb recipe.,i did this., it came out very well.thank you.
hi.. I have cooked channa many time, but the idea of using fennel is a good idea and am sure will enhance the taste and aroma of the channa
hi.. I have cooked channa many time but the idea of adding fennel is very nice as im sure it would enhance the flavor and aroma of the dish itself
Referring to the ingredients section….. do you mean 3 or 4 cups of chana or 3/4th cup of chana ? Also 3/4 of soaked chana or unsoaked chana because the size differs after soaking it.
It is 3/4 cup..And please go through the first step…I have clearly mentioned to pressure cook…so is 3/4 cup uncooked chana
Just tried the recipe… Loved it…
I had to make modifications as my chana to gravy propotion was not right as my maid had put in the chana for cooking and i dumped the whole chana from the cooker into my pan..
But none the less.. it turned out Good.. and i am sure that with the right proportions it would have been a winner..
Thank you soo much for the wonderful recipe.. 🙂
I tried this recipe today al my family member liked it 🙂 it came out very wel ::)
Thanks sharmiee 🙂
wow looks yummy
I tried out. The outcome was excellent. Im new to Indian cuisine. Its very much easy to follow the steps.
I tried this recipe yesterday and it came out so well…..I am basically very bad at cooking and could'nt believe it came out so fine…. I am going to try all your recipes going forward…. Thanks a lot Sharmi… this is going change my life
After grinding the masala to paste should i use again the garlic cloves ,fennel seeds and pepper again while tempering will it not have a strong masala taste.
For tempering its a very small quantity so it will not give a strong flavour….
Thanks for sharing this. This turned out wonderfully yummy!!
i love it thankq
Tried this 2nd time. It was awesome. My daughter n husband both enjoyed. Thanks a ton!
Sharmi u added gariic , fennel seeds and pepper in tempering instead of adding it in saute and grind . Change it .
Thank you Priya, have changed it now
I too had cooked chana, yet to post…but your method is different…nice post
Hey sharmi, my hubby loved it 10/10 🙂 Thanks for sharing. I used marati moggu, star anise, black elakkai while seasoning, jeera powder and little kasoori methi for the final boil..
Hey sharmi, colourful channa, give the onion and tomotto in grams
Thanks!! this was really nice!
Thanks so much! It was lovely
Hi..may i know-2nd method add 'the temper items' and then add tomato onion paste.how many onions and tomatoes do u need for this actually?
You can search for channa masala for other recipe variations……..
Hi, I tried this today and it turned out very tasty dish..my in – laws liked it too.. The masala smell is mouthwatering. Thank you!!
Tried the dish twice, turned out good both attempts..yummy and healthy!thank u for the recepie
Great chole recipe! This has become my favorite chole recipe now. Tried making it twice, using canned chickpeas and both times it came out good. Thanks for the recipe!
tried this once it is very tasty and very easy cook, thank you for the recepie.
Great recipe. Restaurant like channa masala. Tried twice.. Thanks!!
Thank you
It turned out yum
Made it today. Awesome. My daughter had an excellent breakfast
I tried ur recipe…came out very well dear…
Thanks Sharmi, dish came out very good. Today is the first day I packed lunch for hubby and tried this dish came out good in 1st attempt itself. This rocks!
Hey thanks for the receipe, first time this dish has come out nice n yummy, did many times before, but no luck
Hey thanks for the receipe, first time this dish has come out nice n yummy, did many times before, but no luck
Nice post, I liked it and enjoyed reading it, Thanks for sharing this information.
cooks in chennai
i tried it. It tasted super yummy yummy…i followed exact recipe… everyone loved it… thank u
Here Channa is boiled 2 times in Cooker.
I think it will over cook in cooker for 2 times???!!
No it will not, I have divided the whistles.Cooking chana along with gravy gives a great flavour and taste
In your notes, you mentioned you use home made garam masala instead of chana masala.Could you please share the ingredients with the quantity?Thank you.
Please check garam masala recipe post
Can we add panner instead of channa in this recipe
yes you can, toast and add it after the gravy is almost done
How much panner needed for this measurement
1 cup cubed paneer
Sharmilee, tried this recipe today, came out really well and it was easy too. Thanks a lot! So far I never had success with channa masala but I made it and the whole family enjoyed it today. You are awesome!!!
looks yummy and tasty …your recipe is great and easy to make