Saturday, May 29, 2010

Channa Masala to the rescue


I know I’m backtracking here a bit, so bear with me.

I got the idea for the Channa Masala recipe on Monday from Eat Live Run, a blog I often frequent.

Fresh ingredients and spices ready to roll in melted butter!

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This dish is by far one of my favorite Indian dishes.  By the looks of things, I’m cooking Indian food once if not twice a week; the great thing about this is that MigL doesn’t complain about it and he doesn’t get sick!  Hooray!  He actually likes it – hip, hip hooray!  Although I did find out later after I’d made the dish that he’s not a huge fan of garbanzo beans (chickpeas)…he can take some, but not a lot.  What the?!  I love garbanzo beans.  It’s up there with lentils and black beans.

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Channa Masala

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 15-ounce cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 garlic cloves, smashed and chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
1 inch knob ginger, peeled and chopped
1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes
3 tbsp tomato paste
1/2 lemon
1 tbsp coriander
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp garam masala
1/4-1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp tumeric
2 tbsp butter

Directions

In a large cast iron skillet, heat the butter. Once melted, add the onions and cook for about 15 minutes on medium low heat, or until golden brown.

Once the onions have caramelized, add the garlic, ginger and jalapeno and stir well. Cook for about two minutes or until it starts to smell like heaven on earth.

Add the tomato paste and pince, using above photos as an example. This is very important and if you don’t do it right your dish is pretty much doomed. No pressure.

Add the coriander, cumin, cayenne and tumeric and stir well. Then add the diced tomatoes, chickpeas and garam masala.

Cook for about five minutes or until the chickpeas have heated through. Finish with a squeeze of lemon and top with plain yogurt and cilantro if desired!

Latin Cook’s notes

This dish paired wonderfully well with Trader Joe’s Garlic Naan (from the frozen section).  It was very filling, delish and the flavors weren’t too overpowering!  I’d definitely make this dish again.

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