North Indian
Kala Chana Masala (Black Chickpea Curry)
Print or share this recipe
Kala Chana Masala (Black Chickpea Curry) is North Indian home cooking, eaten at lunch and dinner. On the plate it is the dish at the centre and the protein alongside. Below is what usually sits beside it, what it does and does not contain, and what else to cook once you have made it.
Ingredients
The quantities follow this count.
How to cook it
-
Soak the kala chana overnight in plenty of water. They swell to about twice their size.
-
Drain them and pressure cook with the water and half the salt for 6 to 7 whistles, about 25 minutes, until one presses flat between your fingers. Kala chana stay firmer than white chickpeas even when done. Keep the cooking water.
-
Heat the oil in a pot, add the cumin seeds and bay leaf, then the finely chopped onions, and cook 8 minutes until golden brown.
-
Add the ginger garlic paste and slit green chilies for 1 minute, then the chopped tomatoes with the turmeric, coriander powder, red chili powder and the rest of the salt, and cook 6 to 8 minutes until the masala darkens and the oil separates.
-
Add the chana with about 1.5 cups of their cooking water, mash a spoonful against the side of the pot, and simmer 10 minutes until the gravy coats a spoon. Use less water if your family likes it sookha, almost dry.
-
Stir in the chole masala and amchur, simmer 2 minutes more and finish with cilantro. Eat it with roti or rice, sliced onion and a wedge of lemon.
Serve it with
A North Indian dinner is a plate rather than a single dish. These are the courses that normally sit beside Kala Chana Masala (Black Chickpea Curry), read from the same composition Dinejot builds a real meal from.
-
The cooked vegetable
-
What it is eaten with
-
The sharp little thing
-
Something cool and fresh
Safe at your table
Dinejot tracks ten allergens and tags every one of them by hand. Kala Chana Masala (Black Chickpea Curry) carries none of them. That is a checked answer rather than an ingredient list nobody read.
| Allergen | In this dish |
|---|---|
| Peanuts | No |
| Tree nuts | No |
| Dairy | No |
| Gluten | No |
| Shellfish | No |
| Eggs | No |
| Soy | No |
| Fish | No |
| Sesame | No |
| Coconut | No |
These tags are set by a person rather than inferred from an ingredient list, and they describe the recipe as written here. Read the labels on whatever you actually buy.
What it brings to the plate
Estimated, per serving
- Calories
- 310 kcal
- Protein
- 11 g
- Carbs
- 39 g
- Fat
- 13 g
- Fiber
- 11 g
- Sugar
- 8 g
- Sodium
- 590 mg
- Saturated fat
- 2 g
Estimated values. Actual nutrition varies with ingredients, brands, and how you cook.
When to cook it
Kala Chana Masala (Black Chickpea Curry) takes about 50 minutes from a cold stove to the table, and the cooking itself is a fair bit of work. It is eaten at lunch and dinner. Nothing in the calendar rules it out, so it is a year round dish.
Cooked this? Show everyone.
Comments
Sign in to leave a note for the next cook.
No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts.
Cook this with your whole family
Dinejot plans breakfast, lunch and dinner as whole plates, built around the cooking you call home and filtered for the allergies at your table.
Meal suggestions support your goals. They are not medical advice. Please ask your doctor about your family's health needs.