Chana Masala for date night

Lessons from when I served my boyfriend raw chickpeas

For my recipe lovers:

• What is Chana Masala?

• Chana Masala for 4-6 people

• An important note about chickpeas…

• Make Chana Masala faster with Dolly Mumma

Even though Rushad - my then-boyfriend and now husband - had been dating for five years before I moved to India, in some ways, we were only just discovering one another in the months leading up to our marriage.

Until then, we’d been in a long-distance relationship.

One of the things I really wanted him to know about me was that I was a good cook. Even though I had zero confidence in my Indian cooking skills.

Reflecting back, I don’t know why this was so important to me.

The story that food is the way to your husband’s heart is told quite early on to Indian girls. At 24, I had fully embraced that cultural trope and internalised that I must be a good cook if I am to be a good wife.

So, for date night, I decided to make him an Indian dish I had found online, Chana Masala.

Chickpeas have always been my favourite ingredient for vegetarian cooking. In my mind, if I could impress Rushad - a die-hard non-vegetarian - with my vegetarian cooking skills it was a double love whammy.

The challenge began with finding chickpeas. The blogger whose recipe I was following had helpfully written that chickpeas are referred to as ‘chana’ in India. But, when I went to the local grocery store and asked for chana, I was given something that distinctly did not look like chickpeas. They were too small and yellow!

The other chana he showed me were brownish, which wasn’t right either. I was helplessly googling ‘chana-chickpea gujarati translation’ when an older aunty came up to me and asked if she could help.

From the left: split desi chana (Chana Dal), desi chana, Kabuli chana

Turns out, I needed to be asking for “ghora na chana” or chana the size of horses. Failing that, I should have asked for Kabuli chana!

What the shop owner came back with was not a tin of chickpeas like I had expected but rather a plastic bag filled with large white chana. At this point, his face held such a frustrated expression that I didn’t dare ask for the tin. I decided I’d figure it out myself - how hard could it be?

More googling at home revealed that dry chana - which looked similar to what I had managed to source - had to be soaked before they could be cooked. Overnight.

In my hurry, I decided that soaking the chana for 30 minutes would do much the same thing.

Over the course of the next two hours, I decided to abandon my recipe and cook the Chana Masala a la mum by totally winging it and tasting as I go along.

Bad idea.

First I had too many tomatoes.
Then, it was too spicy.
And, even though I had been simmering the chickpeas in the gravy for an hour they still felt really hard.

I had to cut one with a knife to be able to bite it. Something wasn’t right, but I couldn’t figure out what. Over the course of the next hour, I added more water, more coriander, more salt, and more spices. At one point, I could now bite into the chickpea even though it had a weird, chalky texture to it.

My Chana Masala seemed to have gotten simultaneously better and worse, but I decided it was ready.

My heart was pounding when I dished out the Chana Masala at dinner. I warned Rushad that I couldn’t figure out what was wrong with my dish. But I like to think that we were too much in love. He ate the whole thing and told me it was delicious! He even had seconds.

Me? I ate the Chana Masala too but knew deep in my heart that there was something not quite right with the whole thing.

It wasn’t until the next morning, when I spoke to Mum that I discovered my folly. She was horrified that I had soaked the chana for 30 minutes and then cooked the whole dish in an hour.

It turns out the instruction to soak them overnight was important. As was the step I had missed, boiling the chana in a pressure cooker until they were fully cooked.

Over the course of our ten years of married life, I’ve recounted that date night in many ways.

When I needed reassurance of our love, Rushad loved me enough to eat a plate full of raw chickpeas.

And, when he boasts about an innovation he made in our curry paste business, I remind him that he ate a plate of raw chickpeas, so really, how much does he know about cooking?

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What is Chana Masala?

Chana Masala, also known as Chole or Chole Masala is a Northern Indian dish made of chickpeas. It’s traditionally paired with a fried flatbread known as a Bhatura.

I remember visiting a friend in Delhi years ago, and one of our first stops was having Chole Bhature at Sita Ram Diwan Chand in Paharganj. They’ve been making this popular dish since the 1950s, and it was so delicious that I even packed up some Chole Bhature to take back home with me to Mumbai.

Bhature’s being fried by the hundreds in the back areas of Sita Ram Divan Chand in Paharganj

Sita Ram makes so many Bhature in a single day that the dough in the kitchen is kneaded and kept ready in large repurposed bathtubs! I did a quick search, and you can now also buy their ready-made Bhature on Amazon!

Bhature aside, when you make Chana Masala at home, it’s actually quite a healthy dish that’s also vegan and gluten-free!

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Chana Masala - Serves 4-6 people

Chole made at home doesn’t need to be carb and fat laden! Image courtesy Cooking from heart.

Ingredients

• 20 g chickpea (besan) flour

• 40 g ghee (replace with oil to make it vegan)

• 1 tsp cumin seeds

• 1 tsp fennel seeds

• 300 g onion, finely chopped

• 2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste

• 400 g canned chopped tomatoes

• 1 ½ tsp salt

• ½ tsp chilli powder

• 1 tsp ground turmeric

• 1 tsp ground coriander

• 1 tsp ground black pepper

• 1 tbsp green mango powder

• 1 ½ tsp garam masala

• 20 g lemon juice

• 800 g canned chickpeas, rinsed and drained (approx. 500 g after draining)

Optional garnishes

• 100 g natural yoghurt

• 1 fresh long green chilli, trimmed and cut into thin slices, to serve

• Handful of finely chopped coriander

Method

Important note: If you’re not using chickpeas from a tin, please soak the raw chickpeas overnight and pressure cook them until they are tender before you start this dish.

1. In a small frying pan, place the chickpea flour and dry roast it on medium heat until it’s toasted and turned a bit darker. Set aside.

2. In a saucepan, warm up the ghee until hot. Add in the cumin and fennel seeds and allow them to crackle and brown.

3. Then add onion and ginger-garlic paste. Allow this to cook until the onion is completely caramelised.

4. Add tomatoes, chilli powder, turmeric, ground coriander, pepper, mango powder and the garam masala. Cook on medium heat until the mixture until you can smell the aroma of the spices and the tomatoes turn a deep red. You may want to add a bit of water if the mixture turns too dry.

5. When the tomatoes are cooked (about 10-12 minutes), add in the lemon juice, chickpeas, toasted chickpea flour and salt. Allow to cook on low heat for another 10 minutes.

6. Serve garnished with coriander, a dollop of yoghurt and sliced chillies if you like the heat.

Make Chana Masala faster with Dolly Mumma’s Indian Everyday

Don’t have all the spices at home? You can make this dish faster with our Indian Everyday paste.

Ingredients

• 20 g chickpea (besan) flour

• 40 g ghee (replace with oil to make it vegan)

• 1 tbsp green mango powder

• 20 g lemon juice

• 800 g canned chickpeas, rinsed and drained (approx. 500 g after draining)

Optional garnishes

• 100 g natural yoghurt

Method:

1. In a small frying pan, place the chickpea flour and dry roast it on medium heat until it’s toasted and turned a bit darker. Set aside.

2. In a saucepan, warm up the ghee until hot. Add one bottle of Indian Everyday into the pan.

3. Add half a cup of water and allow the mixture to come to a slow simmer.

4. Add in the lemon juice, green mango powder, chickpeas, toasted chickpea flour and salt. Allow to cook on low heat for another 10 minutes.

5. Serve garnished with coriander, a dollop of yoghurt and sliced chillies if you like the heat.