Curried Chickpeas ~ Chana Masala

This is an extremely flavorful curry. It’s thick, not too spicy, and so easy to make. A perfect vegetarian meal with a bowl of coconut rice. Really comforting!

I served this wonderfully spiced vegetarian curry over brown rice with a side of slow-simmered collard greens. I was initially drawn to the recipe because of its cooking method; I’ve made a variety of curries, but this is the first one I’ve cooked where the recipe instructs you to puree the initial sauce until smooth before adding it back to the pot with the spices and chickpeas. The results were creamy without the need to add any cream. I really felt that the results were restaurant-quality!

The ginger-garlic paste really adds a depth of flavor to the sauce; I used a regular chili powder here.

For the garlic paste portion of the recipe, I tried to make just what I needed for the recipe. I used about 1-inch of peeled fresh ginger and 4 peeled garlic cloves. I actually blitzed it in the mini food processor with about 2 tablespoons of water. This method worked very well. The recipe serves 4 people perfectly.

Overall, this is a lovely recipe and the nice thing is most of the ingredients were already in the house. I recommend serving this dish with a dry Riesling or even a glass of dry bubbly.

I can’t imagine growing tired of eating this EVER. The sauce alone is a dream! So fabulously fragrant, so delicious, and oh so quick to make (permission to use canned chickpeas—thank you). I know in the future making this for dinner will often cross my mind on my way home from work.

It’s such an easy recipe to follow, too, as each step is pretty simple and accurately described.

The only thing I did a bit differently is that I processed the fried onions with 1/4 cup water in a jar using an immersion blender.

For the ginger-garlic paste, I used 2 tablespoons of ginger and 4 tablespoons of garlic (6 cloves). I didn’t add any water since I quickly pounded them in a mortar. I was surprised to see them, especially the garlic, dramatically reduce in volume after being completely smashed into a paste. In the end, I had about 3 tablespoons of paste.

The recipe yielded just over 2 cups of chana masala, not nearly enough for us Indian food enthusiasts. (I’m glad I also made spiced brown lentils with red onion to serve alongside it.)

We enjoyed the curry with basmati rice and naan to savor every bit left on the plate.

I think this is a good template on the mild side. I think without some cumin and maybe more “curry” spicing, this was just a bit bland for us. It can easily be adjusted to the flavor level of the cook and will not scare people away from exploring curry as a good weeknight meal.

I could have been happy using any of my other curry blends (Williams-Sonoma coarse grind Madras is another pantry favorite).

I love making the ginger-garlic paste and the onion sauce (including the blending) ahead of time.

The flavor profile was on the mild side and seemed to need a bit of punch, not heat so much as a little more curry depth. Since we were only eating half the batch, I decided to make adjustments the next night, and just offered some lime sambal and chutney on the side as well as salt at the table.

On reheating the next meal, I added a teaspoon of favorite curry spice, another tablespoon of the ginger-garlic mixture, salt, as well as some more vegetables (half a red bell pepper and half a fennel bulb, sliced and diced). The adjusted seasoning was well received, and I would say pick your favorite curry, or maybe just some cumin, and a bit of salt (unless you are serving with a lime pickle, which is super salty). I look forward to making this again, maybe with chickpeas cooked from scratch.

The Vitamix made a quick and perfect puree in about 15 seconds! I added about ¼ cup water to rinse the last bit from the blender and another 1/4 cup of water when reheating leftovers to thin the sauce with the additional vegetables.

I think blooming the spices in oil is a really good basic Indian cooking lesson that this recipe introduces in a simple manner. When I cooked the veggies, I added them to the added spices I bloomed in oil, then in about 5 to 6 minutes, added the leftover chickpea curry leftovers.

The curry was ready in under 20 minutes and was served with jasmine rice.

Spicy, flavorful, and quick—my husband and I loved this recipe. While we ate it hot, I think it would also be wonderful served cold. It’s a great weeknight meal, and since it’s with a shortlist of ingredients that I always have in my pantry, it’s a good one to have on hand. I’ll definitely be making this again.

My only recommendation to save yourself a bit of time is to forego making the garlic ginger paste. Simply add those ingredients to the onions when sauteing because it all gets tossed in the blender anyway.

Chana masala is one of my go-to Indian dishes when dining with a crowd because it’s simple and not too exotic for my friends that aren’t familiar with Indian cuisine. Plus, it’s vegan and can therefore fit several different dietary needs. I’m thrilled to have a recipe I can make myself at home. This dish was flavorful, comforting, and warming for a cold, grey winter day.

I used regular chili powder and added 6 tablespoons of water when blending the onions. I blended for about 2 minutes total. I would strongly advise using a blender or food processor that is vented somehow so steam can freely escape, otherwise you’ll have a lot of built-up pressure which can be dangerous. Something with an opening that can be opened while the machine is running also allows you to add water as the sauce blends. I used my food processor and it worked great.

Overall, really easy to pull together. You could easily add meat if you like.