I don’t usually like Indian food but I love chana masala. Since Trader Joe’s pre-made Chana (Channa) Masala isn’t vegan, I decided to make my own.
Lin’s Semi-Homemade Chana Masala
serves 2-3 people or 1 really hungry person
Ingredients:
1/2 jar of Trader Joe’s Curry Simmer Sauce
1 can of garbanzo beans
1 medium red onion
1/3 bag of green beans (optional)
1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup of water
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Equipment:
1 stainless steel skillet
1 nonstick skillet
1 strainer or colander of some sort
Directions:
Dump the can of garbanzo beans into the strainer and rinse the garbanzo beans under cold water to get rid of the metallic taste that canned vegetables often have.
As the excess water drains out from the beans, chop up the onion.
I chop onions in a very particular way. I first take off both ends and then make a small slit in the side of the onion so that I can easily peel off the skin.
Chop!
Chop!
Peel!
I then halve the onion and chop each section separately.
When the onion is finely chopped, heat the 1 tablespoon of EVOO in the stainless steel skillet. It should take about a minute for the pan and oil to get hot.
Once the pan becomes hot, carefully put the chopped onions into the pan. Do it slowly so that you don’t get splashed by hot oil!
Season the onions with a dash of salt and pepper (I used about 1 teaspoon of each) and cook until the onions begin to caramelize. It should take about 2 minutes on a medium flame. Make sure the flame isn’t too high or else the onions will burn.
I recommend using a stainless steel skillet to caramelize the onions because non-stick pans just don’t do it as well or as quickly.
Set the onions aside when they’re done.
To prepare the curry, pour half the jar of the curry into the nonstick pan and stir the 1/2 cup of water into it. Mix well.
Add the garbanzo beans and let the mixture simmer uncovered on a medium flame for about 10 minutes.
Then add the frozen green beans and caramelized onions to the mixture and let it simmer for an additional 10 minutes.
Don’t forget to stir occasionally!
The chana masala should be done at the end of the 10 minutes with a total cooking time of about 20 minutes.
The end product:
I served the dish over brown basmalti rice, which I made in my rice cooker.
I try to use brown rice whenever I can
Having a rice cooker makes life so much easier for me. As the rice is being cooked, I can make the rest of the meal without worrying about it. Anyone who cooks rice should get one. The rice doesn’t burn and comes out perfectly every time. My cooker cost about $15 from Walmart. If you want a fancy one, my friend Alex recommends his $100+ Zojirushi cooker. Alex claims it sings to him when he makes rice.
Step 1: Rinse the rice and put the correct rice to water ratio into the cooker
Step 2: Cover the cooker and hit “Cook”
20-30 minutes later… voila!
