Chana Masala (Curried Garbanzo Beans)

[sumdim]

Probably the best dish I've ever cooked on my own. I added some rice to the mix before the cover/simmer stage to give it some added thickness.

[strummerville]

OK this was an awesome dish. I was slightly worried about spending so much $ on tons of spices that I will never use again, but that will not be the case!

[leapfrog]

Despite not having the masala or cilantro, the recipe turned out well. I also used diced fresh tomatoes instead of canned and it worked beautifully.

[Chere]

this is my all time fave Indian dish so I am all over this recipe! I'm new to these boards but I'm loving what I see so far. I'll try this and let you all know! Thanks 

[jenniferhughes]

This was awesome!!! MY BEST CURRY EVER!! I used this basic recipe but changed it some...
Well, I never know when it's become my OWN recipe and if I should post it as a new recipe or if it's just been changed a bit. Anyhere, is what I did:

1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon cumin
1 Tablespoon Hot Madras Curry Powder (McCormick makes one)
1 bay leaf
1 cinnamon stick
1/4 teaspoon basil
1/4 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1 onion, diced small
1/4 cup water
2 T margarine or oil (optional)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 - 15 oz can garbanzo beans (Libby’s makes an organic kind!)
1 - 15 oz can diced tomatoes (Del Monte makes a no-salt added!)
2 T ketchup
Basmati or brown rice for serving.

Directions:

1. Rinse and drain garbanzo beans.
2. Add all the spices above (Yes, all 14!) to a dry (large) skillet. Heat and toast the spices. Stirring constantly. It won’t take long (less than 5 minutes,) they will all become fragrant. It is important not to skip this step.
3. Add garlic and diced onions, stir. Add water (and margarine or oil if using) half at a time. Sauté onions for about 5 minutes. Add undrained tomatoes to onion/spice mixture. Stir.
4. Add rinsed and drain garbanzos. Add Ketchup (got this from another chana masala recipe!)
5. Reduce heat, simmer uncovered for 30 minutes stirring occasionally. Now is a good time to start your rice.
6. Remove cinnamon stick and bay leaf. Serve over rice.

[jenniferhughes]

This was so good I made it for lunch Sunday, ate the leftovers Sunday night and made it again Monday for lunch!!

[lapetitepoire]

Overall, this was fabulous! It was a bit salty for my tastes so I added a bit more ginger and some cardamom to sweeten it up. I think the tomatoes must have been salty or maybe the veggie broth or the tandoori blend I have. But, easily remedied. I assume it was the fault of some ingredient I threw in there!

I left out the funugreek and tumeric because I didn't have either, but it was still pretty good! I didn't mash any of the solids either because I let it boil down pretty far.

Absolutely fabulous recipe! I served it over brown rice along with some kabul flat bread. Very delicious! Would certainly make it again. Company enjoyed it too!

I can't wait to have leftovers tomorrow when all the flavors have melded more. Mmmm!

[faunablues]

The first time I made this  (and I SWEAR I left a review), it was great but a tad too salty (even though I used fresh tomatoes). This time around I used a can of black beans to replace one of the chickpeas (not very authentic, I know) because that's what I had hanging around. I didn't add any salt, and had canned tomatoes. Weirdly, it wound up being way more liquid than before - I don't know if this has to do with the black beans, or because maybe I forgot to add the full amount of liquid before, or because I didn't have the potatoes in this time (but there was way too much water to account for that, plus I didn't add the full amount this time!

It was still great though, though it was much more like soup than anything. It thickened up in the fridge, and I might add more curry powder next time if I feel brave. I used it (and the Pakistani Dhal recipe on here) to introduce my boyfriend to Indian food  (he likes it now).

[plum]

i doubled this recipe and made it last night for the members of the co op with whom i live. everyone loved it! instead of serving it over basmati rice, i used quinoa. i also made some fruit chutney http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=8684.0 {replacing the prunes with dried apricots and added three plums}.

[oncewerewesties]

My husband and I have been looking forward to making weekend curry all week, and we whipped this up last night - holy moley it was amazing! :)
I had made a batch of fresh garam masala on Saturday, so used that, we had some whole dried chillis, so I choped up one of them instead of jalapeno, we don't have any fenugreek or cilantro, but did everything else to recipe [including the 50/50 mix of cumin powder and seeds - recommended]
After nearly an hour on the element it was still really liquidy [though smelling AMAZING], so I smushed the potatoes some, and it was perfect.  Don't know whether the fact that I used pre-cooked, frozen [fresh from the freezer] chickpeas would have had any effect on the outcome...
We adore spicy food, but there's nothing worse than having a hot curry that only tastes... hot.  If I'm going to spend the time putting over 20 ingredients in a pan, I want to be able to taste them!! And this one had the perfect mix - we used special 'hot' curry powder from our local Indian spice store, and the full amount of chilli powder and the whole chilli as mentioned above, but it came out [though pleasantly warm] beautifully rounded in flavour.  Totally recommended.
Also stoked that it made enough for the two of us for dinner last night, husband's lunch for today, and a full dinner-sized portion for both of us in the freezer :)

[carrot_wench]

Oh man, this is some good stuff!
Usually when I make chana masala, I don't bother with potatoes and I stick with a very simple spice blend...but this was a great change of pace.
I did not use fenugreek, turmeric, or the jalepeno, because I didn't have those. I probably wouldn't have wanted to add the jalepeno anyway, because this recipe does pack a bit of a bite! It's right up there at my spice threshold, but the flavor is really good, too. It might just be the perfect blend of spices for such a dish.
I only used 3 cups of broth because I was afraid it'd be too soupy.... and even after smushing it up a bit at the end of cooking, I still felt the need to add about a tablespoon of cornstarch (dissolved in a bit of water) to thicken it up some. It would probably be good even without doing that, but I prefer the extra thickness.
Definitely use the fresh cilantro if You can get it, because that's one element that makes this recipe extra yummy.