Chana Masala, Chanay, Spicy Stewed Chickpeas
Indian food amazes me. There are a few cultures in the world that can take bland, cheap ingredients and turn them into rich, hearty dishes bursting with flavor and spice. I have never had much use for cauliflower, potatoes, or chickpeas. They have always seemed bland and mushy and I didn’t trust any cuisine that presented them front and center and expected me to be satisfied. Until I learned to love Indian food. The chickpeas here are almost irrelevant. The texture is nice but you could serve almost anything with this spice combination and you would find me sucking down spoonful after spoonful (and sweating from the heat). The chickpeas are important because they are healthy and inexpensive. The chickpeas also mean you can keep all of the ingredients for this dish in the pantry, to whip up at a moments notice. So, thank you chickpeas, I will try to be more respectful from now on.
Chana Masala, Chanay, Spicy Stewed Chickpeas
serves 6, prep 10 min, cook 60 min, adapted from for the love of yum- 2 tbsp oil
- 1 onion, chopped (reserve some for serving)
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 can diced tomatoes (or diced tomatoes and chilies), drained
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp coriander
- 1/4 tsp turmeric
- 1/2 tsp cayenne
- 1/2 tsp garam masala
- salt
- 2 cans chickpeas (or 3 cups soaked and cooked)
- water
- jalapenos or serranos, thinly sliced
- fresh cilantro, minced
- Heat oil in a medium pot. Add onion and saute until soft, add garlic and cook briefly.
- Add tomatoes and spices and cook until spices are fragrant.
- Add chickpeas and about 2 cups of water.
- Simmer chickpeas, adding more water as needed, until soft and gravy is uniform, about an hour, start checking texture after 45 min.
- Serve chickpeas topped with onions, peppers, and cilantro with bread or rice.
January 17th, 2011 at 6:39 am
Thanks for this recipe. I always have chickpeas in the pantry, so things like this are awesome. I’ll be trying it for my hub’s lunch!
January 17th, 2011 at 7:36 am
I just recently tried chana masala for the first time. It’s always great to check out another recipe. Thanks for sharing!!
January 17th, 2011 at 9:21 pm
Chickpeas are the ingredient of the day-I have seen them featured on three other sites too! Maybe it is a sign to try them….
January 20th, 2011 at 11:27 pm
Wow, your chana masala looks amazing! Chickpeas are super easy to make and very cost efficient. I’m glad the recipe worked for you! 🙂
February 27th, 2011 at 10:31 am
Love your writing and recipes….a go-to site for me. One question – what is the best way to print your recipes from your blogs? I usually copy and paste into a word document to print – I must be missing something! Thank you for comraderie on good, easy food for us!
Lisa, the best way I have found is to highlight the portion of the post you want to print: the recipe, comments, explanation or whichever parts you want to have on hand. Then right-click your selection and choose “Print.” On the printer selection pop-up chose “Selection only.” That way the parts you want to print will print and the extraneous stuff-photos, comments, ads-doesn’t print. I hope this helps! -Katie
April 3rd, 2011 at 11:35 am
I have really gotten into Indian food this past year and am still experimenting at home. This is definitely something I want to try. It looks so amazing and I bet tastes absolutely wonderful!
May 6th, 2011 at 1:20 pm
I’m making this soon. I love chickpeas, and the hubby loves spicy. I’m sure it’ll be a keeper!
*By the way – it’s my first time at your blog, and I look forward to reading more posts in the future!