Chickpea curry love – Channa Masala

After experimenting with different dishes, I’ve found that my favorite Indian dishes are mostly vegetarian. I don’t know if it’s because I find that they’re not as heavy as others, but I fell in love with Channa Masala when I ordered it a few weeks ago from an Indian restaurant in Alexandria.

Channa Masala is chickpeas cooked with tomatoes, onions, ginger, and your typical Indian spices (tumeric, coriander, garam masala) and sometimes includes potatoes as well. I decided to try making it at home and I can’t believe how good (and easy to make) this is! And it’s gluten free!

Channa Masala – adapted from Cooking Light (obviously this is an Americanized version, but it’s still really freakin good)

Ingredients

• 1 1/2  cups  fresh chickpeas (I used canned beans that I rinsed well to rid off the salt)
• 2  teaspoons  olive oil
• 1  cup  chopped onion
• 1  tablespoon  minced peeled fresh ginger
• 1  garlic clove, minced
• 1/8  teaspoon  salt
• 1/8  teaspoon  ground cumin
• 1/8  teaspoon  ground red pepper
• 3/4  cup  organic vegetable broth (I used low sodium veggie broth)
• 1/2  cup  chopped seeded tomato
• 2  tablespoons  chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/8  teaspoon  garam masala (I’m fortunate enough to live in an area where they sell spices such as these, but you can always order these spices from places like Penzeys.com)

Preparation

Sort and wash the chickpeas, and place in a large saucepan. Cover with water to 2 inches above chickpeas; bring to a boil. Cook for 5 minutes or until tender. Drain.

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onion, ginger, and garlic to pan; cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in salt, cumin, and pepper; cook 1 minute. Add chickpeas, broth, and tomato; cook 5 minutes or until liquid almost evaporates. Remove from heat; stir in chopped cilantro and garam masala.

I served this with brown Jasmine rice. I really like brown jasmine rice because it doesn’t TASTE like brown rice, so you still get the authentic flavor with the all the health benefits of brown rice.

 

So good. I spent so many years of my life being scared of Indian food, and I’m kicking myself for waiting so long.