Punjabi Chana Masala
Easy Chana Masala recipe Chickpeas simmered in a smoky tomato-onion gravy that tastes just like the Punjabi restaurants back home only cleaner, lighter, and perfect for busy weeknight dinner.
Why You'll Love My Chana Masala
I grew up eating chana masala every other Sunday, and after years of tweaking my family's recipe I've landed on a version that stays true to Punjabi flavors yet fits a modern, meal-prep-friendly lifestyle. It's:
- Authentically spiced, not overpowering: we bloom the masala in oil for max flavor.
- Naturally vegan & gluten-free:no cream, no floury thickeners.
- Meal-prep champ: freezes like a dream and tastes even better on day two.
- Weeknight doable: most of the simmer time is hands-off, and canned chickpeas work in a pinch.
What Is Chana Masala (AKA Chole)?
Chana masala, sometimes called chole masala or simply chickpea curry, is a North-Indian staple made by simmering chickpeas in a tomato-onion gravy seasoned and spiced with coriander, cumin, and garam masala. Punjabi versions get their deep brown hue (and subtle smokiness) from boiling the chickpeas with a tea bag, a trick you'll use here.
Ingredients You'll Need
- 250 g dried chickpeas
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tea bag
- 1 tablespoon oil
- ½ cup onion paste
- 1 ½ cups fresh tomato purée
- 1 tablespoon Chana Masala Spice mix
- 1 teaspoon coriander powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin powder
- ½ teaspoon kasuri methi (dried fenugreek)
Pantry check: if you keep garam masala, turmeric, and red-chili powder on hand, you'll use them during the cooking steps-but the core spice base above stays the star.
How to Make Chana Masala Spice Mix
If you do not have chana masala, you can use this garam masala or hot spice mix. Take ½ teaspoon cumin powder, ½ teaspoon cinnamon powder, ½teaspoon ½ coriander powder, ½teaspoon black pepper powder, ¼teaspoon cardamom powder and mix well to combine. This quantity is sufficient to make chana masala one time.
Step-by-Step: How I Make It
Soak the Chickpeas
- Wash 250 g chickpeas thoroughly and soak 6 hours or overnight.
Drain & Rinse
- Discard soaking water to reduce gastric compounds.
Pressure-Cook
- Add soaked chickpeas, 3 cups water, 1 teaspoon salt, and a tea bag.
- Pressure-cook 20 minutes; after the first whistle, drop heat to low.
Sauté the Masala
- In a pan heat 1 tablespoon oil; fry ½ cup onion paste + 1 teaspoon ginger-garlic paste to light brown.
- Stir in coriander, salt, red-chili, turmeric, cumin, garam masala, and kasuri methi; cook briefly.
Add Tomatoes
- Pour in fresh tomato purée; cook 5-6 minutes (no oil-separation needed).
Combine & Simmer
- Add drained chickpeas plus their cooking liquid; simmer 20 minutes on low.
Smoky Tempering
- Heat 1 tablespoon ghee/oil with a fat pinch asafoetida, 3-4 whole green chilies, and 1 heaping tablespoon chana-masala powder; pour over the curry.
- Simmer 5-7 minutes more until creamy and aromatic.
Serve
- Ladle over basmati rice, scoop with naan, or pile onto bhatura.
Meal-Prep, Storage & Freezin
- Fridge: Keeps 4 days in a sealed container.
- Freezer: Portion into pint containers; freeze up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge and reheat on the stovetop with a splash of water.
- Batch hack: Double the recipe, freeze half, and you've got instant protein for grain bowls or stuffed sweet potatoes.
How to Serve It
Pair with steamed basmati rice, whole-wheat naan, Amritsari Kulcha or fluffy quinoa for a high-protein vegan plate. Feeling indulgent? Go full Punjabi and spoon it next to crispy bhatura.
Nutritionist's Note
Per serving: 121 kcal | 19 g carbs | 5 g protein | 4 g fat high in fiber, rich in plant protein, and a smart fit for weight-loss or gluten-free meal plans.
Recipe Notes : Expert Tips
Substitutions and Adjustments
- Instead of using fresh pureed tomatoes you can use canned crushed tomatoes but not the ready to use bottled puree that will not give you a good result.
- If you use canned whole tomatoes, make sure to crush them with back of spoon while cooking.
- You can substitute dried chickpeas for canned chickpeas in that case do not cook chickpeas in pressure cooker. Straight away start with sauté onion paste step.
- I started with dried chickpeas and cooked them from scratch you can use canned chickpeas. Make sure to drain and rinse them before adding.
- I cooked chickpeas with teabag for a good colour and added that water to make gravy. you can boil water add a teabag and then add that water while cooking.
- If you find it too hot or extra spicy you can add a splash of coconut milk or almond milk to tone it down.1
More Such Recipes
- Aloo Matar
- Rajma Masala
- Dal Makhani Recipe
- Vegetable Pulao
- Matar Paratha
- Indian Vegetarian Recipes For Dinner
- Instant Pot Chana Masala (Zero Oil Recipe )
Watch Chana Masala Recipe
Authentic Punjabi Chana Masala
Easy Quick authentic Punjabi chana masala recipe. chole masala spicy is hearty Indian dish is vegan and gluten free curry from North India. Video & stepwise
Ingredients
- 250 grams Chickpeas dried
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 1 teabag
- 1 tablespoon Oil
- ½ cup Onion paste
- 1.5 cup Tomato puree fresh
- 1 teaspoon coriander powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin powder
- ½ teaspoon kasuri methi
Instructions
- First thing you need to soak dried chickpeas, I have taken 250grams of chana which can make 4-6 servings.
- Wash them thoroughly and soak them in water overnight or minimum 6 hours.
- After soaking chickpeas will be puffed up like this and this reduces cooking time and proper cooking of chana masala.
- Next discard the water in which chana is soaked, discarding this water will help to get rid of compounds that cause gas etc.
- To pressure cook them first I add drained out chickpeas in water and then added in 3 cups of water. Make sure that chickpeas are covered nicely with water.
- Now add about a teaspoon of salt, and a teabag. I like to use teabags made with cloth over the paper ones because of better quality.
- Next pressure cook it for 20 minutes. After the first whistle reduce the heat to lowest and pressure cook it.
- Now when chickpeas are cooking you can prepare masala for chana masala. First take 1 tablespoon oil in a pan and ½cup of onion paste, 1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste and fry the paste for few minutes till onion turn light brown.
- Next add in the coriander powder, salt, Red chilli powder, turmeric powder, cumin powder, garam masala powder, kasuri methi.
- Cook this masala or spice powders with oil for few minutes because cooking spices in oil before adding water helps to release the maximum flavours from spices.
- After frying add in the fresh tomato puree. It's homemade tomato puree with fresh tomatoes. I have shown my simple method to make it in other video I will leave a linking the description below. You can click that link and watch it if you are interested.
- Now after mixing the puree nicely I am going to cook this for 5-6 minutes no need to cook this till oil release etc. Because we are going to simmer it and in that process
- Tomatoes will cook properly while retaining the tangy taste. You do not even need to add any thing else like tamarind or mango powder.
- Now add the boiled and drained out chickpeas and mix with Masala. Notice that boiling with teabag changes the color of chickpeas to brown.
- Mix them well with onion and tomato mix and then add water in which chickpeas were cooked. Mix them well and cook them on slow for 20 minutes.
- After simmering these chickpeas for 15-20 minutes these will look like this there is change in the colour.
- Next step now is you need to make a tempering which will give it a smoky taste and authentic chana masala flavour.
- In a small pan add one tablespoon ghee or oil and add a fat pinch of asafoetida, 3-4 green chillis whole and one heaping tablespoon of chana masala. Now immediately pour this tadka or tempting over cooked chana masala and mix them well.
- Once again simmer it for 5-7 minutes and after that chana masala looks like this. Just look at the perfect creamy texture of slow cooked chana and it is smoky and spicy. As a suggested before you can serve these delicious chana masala with poori, bhatura, rice or any Bread of your choice.
Video
Notes
- Instead of using fresh pureed tomatoes you can use canned crushed tomatoes but not the ready to use bottled puree that will not give you a good result.
- If you use canned whole tomatoes, make sure to crush them with back of spoon while cooking.
- You can substitute dried chickpeas for canned chickpeas in that case do not cook chickpeas in pressure cooker. Straight away start with sauté onion paste step.
- I started with dried chickpeas and cooked them from scratch you can use canned chickpeas. Make sure to drain and rinse them before adding.
- I cooked chickpeas with teabag for a good colour and added that water to make gravy. you can boil water add a teabag and then add that water while cooking.
- If you find it too hot or extra spicy you can add a splash of coconut milk or almond milk to tone it down.
Nutrition
Calories: 121kcalCarbohydrates: 19gProtein: 5gFat: 4gSaturated Fat: 1gSodium: 410mgPotassium: 434mgFiber: 5gSugar: 6gVitamin A: 345IUVitamin C: 8mgCalcium: 41mgIron: 3mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
