Channa Masala

Channa Masala (or) Chole Masala is one of the most popular punjabi cuisine. In most hotels, a very tasteful channa masala is served for variety of dishes, ranging from rice, chapathi, poori to chat items. Although it might look little laborious to make this dish, making of channa masala is very easy and enjoyable. When cooked with the right spices and masalas, the flavor that it emanates makes you all set to attack this tasty dish. You just cannot wait for it to finish cooking and once finished, you cannot resist eating this lavishly. There are two types of channas available in the market – White and Black. White Channa is recommended for this dish.

The channa needs to be soaked overnight and cooked the next day for a soft channa in the channa masala. But there is an exception. In case you wanted chole masala for dinner and you realize in the evening that you forgot to soak the channa, here is a short-cut to cook channa with very limited soaking. Place the channa in a hot-pack/casserole and cover it with very very hot/boiling water & close the casserole and keep it like that for atleast/atmost 2-3 hours. Then, cook this soaked channa as normal for 6-8 whistles. Surprisingly a very soft channa is ready for the preparation of channa masala.

Now let us look at a mouth-watering channa masala preparation.

Best Accompaniment for : Chapathi / Roti / Naan / Poori / Chat Items

Ingredients:

1. Boiled Channa – 2 Cups
2. Big Onion – 2 (Chopped)
3. Big Tomato – 2 (Chopped)
4. Ginger garlic paste – 2 tsp
5. Chilly Powder – 2 tsp
6. Coriander Powder – 3 tsp
7. Haldi – 1 tsp
8. Oil – 3 tbsp
9. Cumin seeds– 1 tsp
10. Kasoori Methi – 1 tsp
11. Salt – as needed
12. Chopped Coriander leaves - Handful

Pre-requisite:

1. Soak Channa overnite and cook for about 6-8 whistles and strain & keep the cooked channa separate & keep the channa water separate for later use.

2. Take 3-4 tablespoon of  cooked channa in a separate plate, cool it and grind it into a paste adding little water & keep ready.(Adding this channa paste will thicken the channa masala gravy while cooking).
 

Method:

1. In Kadai, heat oil, season with cumin seeds, then add ginger-garlic paste and fry for few seconds.
 

2. Add chopped onions and little salt,  fry till onions becomes brown.

 

3. Add chopped tomato and fry till it becomes very mushy.

 

4. Then add  chilly powder, coriander powder, haldi and salt and mix well and if needed add 2-3 teaspoon of oil & cook for 5 minutes on low flame & keep stirring in between.

 

 5. Add cooked channa, preserved channa water and add required salt. Mix all the ingredients well and close the pan and allow the channa to cook for another 5-7 minutes on low flame.
 

6. Add this channa paste into the cooking channa masala. Allow everything to boil for about 5 minutes.

 

7. Open & add kasoori methi leaves and coriander leaves and give a mix and remove after 2 minutes.

 

 

Optionally: At step 4, you can add 1 or 2 teaspoon of store-bought channa masala powder and reduce the quantity of chilly powder and coriander powder each by 1 teaspoon.