Chana Masala (Chickpea and Tomato Curry)

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July 26, 2014 by Dewi

Well, good people of the internet, I’ve just finished the second week in my new job and I can’t believe how much I’m enjoying it. The office, the people, the work; everything there is great. I’m finding, though, that when I get home after a long day that as soon as I walk through the front door I unconsciously head straight for the fridge, feeling absolutely ravenous. For that reason, I’ve revived my old university habit of batch cooking! This way, when I get in from work I know there’s dinner already prepared waiting for me on the fridge shelf.

My dish of choice this week? Chana Masala – a chickpea and tomato curry. I ate this dish last weekend when out at a local indian restaurant celebrating a mate’s birthday. I tend to prefer vegetarian dishes at Indian restaurants; they seem somehow more authentic. 

The textures and flavours with this chickpea curry were superb, so much so that I was totally inspired to recreate it and enjoy it throughout the week.

It’s rather a basic dish: the chickpeas sit in a simple and spicy tomato masala sauce, laced with soft and sweet sliced onions.

Best enjoyed with good friends, hearty laughter, warm flatbreads and cold beer.

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 2 x 400g tins of chickpeas, drained and rinsed (or about 500g cooked chickpeas)
• 400g chopped tomatoes
• 2 red onions, finely sliced
• 2 fresh chillies, finely chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic, crushed and very finely chopped
• 1 tbsp grated ginger
• 1 tbsp tomato paste/purée
• 2 tsp each of ground cumin, ground coriander and garam masala
• 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
• 1 lemon

Method

Put a large pan with a drizzle of oil over a medium heat.

When the oil is hot, add the onions and fry until coloured and softened (about 10 minutes).

Add the garlic, chilli and ginger and fry for a further 3-4 minutes.

Add the ground spices and cook for a minute or so.

Now add the tomato paste with a splash of water and cook for a further minute.

Pour in the chopped tomatoes and the chickpeas, season well with salt and pepper and stir everything together.

Put a lid on the pan and allow the curry to simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Remove the pan from the heat and squeeze in the juice from half of the lemon.

Serve the curry with rice and/or flatbreads (we just used some pittas) along with wedges cut from the remaining half of the lemon.