Channa Masala / Chole Masala / Kondai Kadalai Masala

Channa(Chole) Masala is a spicy chick peas masala and can be made as mild or hot as you like. Its a famous north indian dish which can go very well with chappathi. This is something my daughter in law cooks in my home. Again, there are many variations in cooking channamasala and this is the one common method which we cook in our home.

Channa Masala / Chole Masala / Kondai Kadalai Masala

Ingredients:

Chole/Chick peas	1 Cup
Onion	2
Tomato	2
Salt	To Taste
Coriander powder	1 teaspoon
Green Chillies	2
Ginger-Garlic Paste	1 teaspoon
Amachur Powder	1/4 teaspoon
Turmeric	1/4 teaspoon

For Seasoning:

Oil / Butter	1 tablespoon
Cumin Seeds	1 teaspoon
Bay leaves	1
Cinnamon sticks	2
Cardamom	1
Cloves	2

Method:

1. Soak the Chole/Channa in water overnight and pressure cook it along with salt. Allow for atleast 4 whishtles. If you get ready-boiled chickpeas which is rinsed in the colander in the market then you can use that as well and you can skip this step.
2. Finely chop the onions and tomatoes and keep it aside.
3. Heat the oil / butter in a pan and when the oil / butter is hot add cumin seeds. When the cumin seeds start to sputter add the bay leaves, cinnamon sticks, Cardamom and cloves. 


4. Add chopped onions and green chillies and saute it for 2 minutes and then add ginger-garlic paste and saute it for another 1 minute


5. To this add the chopped tomatoes and mix it well. 


6. Add salt and mix well and then cover the pan with a lid and cook till the tomatoes are cooked completely and they beccome like a puree. Keep the flame in medium while cooking tomatoes


7. Add the water that is used to cook the chick peas and add coriander powder, red chilli powder, turmeric powder and mix well. Allow it to boil for 5 minutes


8. To this add the cooked chick peas and adjust the salt and keep in low flame and allow the masala to get a thick consistency 


9. Finally garnish with coriander leaves and remove the chole masala from flame


10. The yummy Channa Masala/CholeMasala/KondaikadalaiMasala is ready to serve with hot chapatis.

Channa Masala / Chole Masala / Kondai Kadalai Masala

Note:

• There are many variations for making this. We can grind the onions and tomatoes along with green chilli, ginger and then we can do the seasoning and fry the ground paste and add the chick peas and prepare the masala
• If you need the color to be dark brown as served in the hotels, then you can add a tea bag while cooking the chick peas in pressure cooker
• We can add channa masala instead of garam masala. Channa masala powder has the combination of normal garam masala along with amachur powder along with pomegranate seeds powder