Chick pea curry (channa masala)

This curry is very popular in India and there are many versions online. When I made it a few months ago I decided to do some research looking in books and online and combine the best of my favourite ingredients which are in most of the recipes I looked at but I adjusted the quantities of spices to make it quite chilli hot. This is obviously optional, if we have guests who don't like it hot I use 1 green chilli and a quater of a teaspoon of chilli powder and it still tastes great. Also a tin of toms can be used instead of fresh.



5/6 tablespoons ( a good glug) of sunflower oil
1 heaped teaspoon of Cumin seeds.
3 medium onions diced finely.
salt and black pepper.
6/8 cloves of garlic crushed.
2 tablespoons of finely chopped ginger.
3 hot green chillies finely chopped.
1 heaped teaspoon of ground coriander.
1 heaped teaspoon of ground cumin.
1 not so heaped teaspoon of turmeric powder.
1 not so heaped teaspoon of chilli powder 
3 medium to large tomatoes diced.
1 tin of chick peas including liquid
half a green pepper diced coarsely.
1 and a half heaped teaspoons of garam masala.
3 to 4 tablespoons of chopped coriander leaves

Heat oil in a medium pan or frying pan, add cumin seeds and as soon as they start to go a little brown add chopped onions and stir.
Add salt and pepper, stir and cook the onions until they are just going brown, add garlic, ginger, chillies, ground coriander, cumin, turmeric and chilli powder, do not let it burn so keep stirring as you add the spices then quickly add the tomatoes and cook until they start to break down and become softened.
Add green pepper and chick peas and simmer for about 10 minutes stirring occasionally.
Stir in garam masala and coriander leaves and serve with brown basmati rice and a vegetable dish,
I make a lovely aubergine curry from the wonderful book fresh India by Meera Sodha (page 116). The recipe is called coal smoked Aubergine curry, I just make it without the smoking bit and it is delicious. One day I might try it with the smoke.

I have recently researched chana masala online again and found recipes adding cloves, cinnamon stick, cardamoms,amchur- which is green mango powder and kasuri methi-which is crushed dried fenugreek leaves.

So I have made this recipe with 4 cloves, 1/2 a cinnamon stick, 4 green cardamoms added at the begining with the cumin seeds and 1/2 a teaspoon of amchur which turned out really good and was loved by all. I also used a tin of chopped tomatoes instead of fresh but I have not got any kasuri methi yet but will try it soon. It all goes to show that it is good to experiment until you tweak a recipe to how you like it, happy cooking to you and remember to smile when you cook as it adds love to your efforts