Chana Masala

I asked a friend of mine, who is Indian, for some cooking tips after he once served me a delicious meal. He gave me the recipe below via e-mail. My assumption was that his mom had given him the recipe, as she is also an excellent cook and usually throws delicious things together on the fly. In preparing this post, I decided to double-check by running a search for one of the lines in the recipe; a match popped up on The Vegan Forum. I was slightly surprised to see that it wasn't a home-generated concoction, but a stock online recipe. the surprise didn't elicit more than a shrug though, because no matter the origins, the dish is good.

Chana Masala
2 onions
4 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon paprika
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon ground coriander
2 440g cans chickpeas, drained
1 440 g can tomato pieces
1 teaspoon garam masala


1. Slice onions, crush garlic. Heat oil in a medium pan. Add onion and garlic to pan. Cook over medium heat, stirring, until soft.
2. Add the chili powder, salt, turmeric, paprika, cumin and coriander. Stir over heat for 1 minute.
3. Add chickpeas and undrained tomatoes, stir until combined. Simmer, covered, over low heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in garam masala. Simmer, covered for another 10 minutes.