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151 Comments

  1. Thank you for all your recipes. I always find them easy to follow and adapt to ingredients I have available. I am keen on trying this recipe. Do you think I can use store bought chana masala powder with coconut in place of the whole spices?

  2. I tried yesterday. Turned out awesome ?. Thanks for the lovely recipe. Everyone liked a lot. Super taste.5 stars

  3. Hello dassanaji!!! Wondering how I have never viewed did recipe even though I m following u for yrs…..hope ur new year is going good….gonna try did recipe as soon as possible. Sorry 4 asking u again n again pls share the recipe of eggless vattalappam recipe with us dassana ji if possible….. Thanks a ton!!!5 stars

    1. thanks aishu. it happens. the structure of website is such that many recipe get hidden. this is a very good curry and you can try at home. i have got a couple of requests for vattalappam. in fact i had an eggless version in one of the hotels in kumarakom in kerala and it was very good. so i will try to add the recipe in some time.

  4. Thank you for all your amazing recipes.
    One point missing in this recipe is the number of whistles needed for cooking the chana. All your other recipes I have tried mentions this.
    Thank you once again
    Roshni

    1. Welcome Roshni. Usually I try to mention. However the time to cook chana varies as it depends upon many factor like size of cooker, age of chana and intensity of flame. older the chana, the more time it takes to cook.

  5. Thank you for this detailed recipe which turned out awesome, followed exactly step by step and the result was outstanding ????5 stars

  6. In the recipe, you mention “pressure cook the chana for 18 to 20 whistles”. How many minutes would 18 to 20 whistles convert? (I prefer to take my attention off cooking while pressure cooker is doing its job. If you specify the minutes it is convenient to come back after the specified number of minutes)

    Appreciate this awesome recipe. Thank you in advance5 stars

  7. Liked your capsicum curry, channa masala, the way you have given instructions is very good, Thanku

  8. For the wet grinder, is it the same device you use for dry grinding, and you just add water before grinding? Or is it a different device?

  9. I can’t wait to try and make this version tonight. I made the Punjabi-style from your website several times, and it simply amazing.

    I was just curious, do you ever add anything else to the chickpeas when you cook them? I have read/seen the addition of baking soda helps cooks the peas more quickly, and cooks the inside without drying. In addition to the beautiful color the tea/gooseberries provides, the theory is it also counteracts the bitter tasting baking soda.

    Could anything be used for the same effect?

    1. thanks bryan. while cooking chickpeas, i usually do not add baking soda. but yes on rare occasions i have added baking soda and it does help the chickpeas to have a soft melt in the mouth texture. just add a pinch of baking soda. this much does not give any bitter taste. if more is added, then yes bitter taste will be felt. there is nothing that can replace baking soda.

  10. I tried Channa Masala today for Aapams.. They just turned out to be Wow….I don’t cook onion and garlic.. I omitted the onion and garlic and remaining ingredients were all the same.. It was Superb. We offered it to lord Jaganath today..Thank you Dassana!5 stars

  11. Thanks for this recipe. I made it (minus black cardamon and mustard seed, which I didn’t have) and found it delicious. It reminded me very much of a chana served with appam in Chennai saravana bhavan. (that is meant to be a compliment)

  12. Goodness me, your recipe tastes absolutely wonderful! Thank you for such detailed yet utterly clear instructions, it turned out absolutely perfectly.

    I did have to make a couple of amendments, mainly because I don’t have a wet grinder. I toasted the spices and ground them in a coffee grinder, then made a paste with water. For the coconut I had to use a creamed coconut block which I finely grated and added to the ingredients.

    Before adding the chick peas I used a hand blender to make sure everything was as finely paste as possible. The end result was not grainy at all, so this method will work if you don’t have a wet grinder.

    Also, as I had them in the cupboard, I added the juice of half a lemon, and a tiny pot’s worth of mango chutney. These additions certainly didn’t hurt the flavour.

    Once again, thanks you so much! I can’t wait to try more of your recipes.5 stars

    1. thanks a lot lee. i am amazed at the small and useful steps you have implemented in the absence of a wet grinder. great 🙂

      thanks for sharing all the methods and variations you have done as this will help readers who do not have a wet grinder. do try the other recipes as well. happy cooking.

  13. I’m getting so hungry looking at this recipe, I’m dying to make it! But I have no stone flower, curry leaves, hing, or cardamom pods. I do have cardamom seeds, though. How much seed should I use, & are there any substitutes for the flower, leaves, & hing? Or should I try a different recipe?

    1. druid, for some reason, your comments were in the spam folder. not sure why.

      you can skip stone flower and hing. curry leaves gives their aroma and taste, so my suggestion would be not to skip it. but if you do not get them where you live, then you do not have any option, but to make the chana masala without curry leaves.

      for cardamom seeds, you can add 2 to 3 cardamom seeds. there is no substitute for curry leaves, stone flower.

      you can try this recipe as i feel these ingredients will not be difficult for you to have or get – https://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/punjabi-chole-chickpeas-in-a-spicy-gravy/

    1. by wet grinder, you mean the table top grinder (for grinding idli & dosa batter) or the mixer-grinder used in indian homes for grinding, blending and juicing?

  14. replace coconut with kaju paste and it is super delicious. spices and kaju to be ground separately.

  15. Thanks for posting such superb reciepes, your webpage is my go to place whenever I cook something new and it turns out delicious and awesome.I tried this chole reciepe today and it turned out excellent tastewise but somehow the texture of the gravy came out to be granular and inconsistent, what should I do to get a smooth, consistent, well bound thick gravy?

    Is it that I need to grind all coconut gravy ingredients for some more time till they become fine and smooth?
    Thanks dassana madam and keep posting such beautiful, neatly presented and well articulated recipes. 🙂

    1. thanks a lot chaaya. the coconut masala needs to be ground fine. if the coconut and spices are not ground fine, the granular or gritty effect will be felt in the gravy. the coconut-spice paste should be smooth. this is applicable for most coconut based gravies, unless otherwise mentioned in the recipe.

  16. Hi.. superb one. I just love all your recipes. Let me try this chana masala tonight for chapati.
    Could u pls let know what is “stock” mentioned in the last point ? Thanks

  17. I was interested as the recipe is a variation of the regular chole masala,but all the recipes I have read so far have onion and garlic. How about giving alternative spices as quite a few of us are no onion no garlic people. Thanks4 stars

    1. i do plan to add a no onion no garlic version of chole masala. about giving alternatives in a recipe containing onion garlic can be tricky as the other ingredients required have to be used in precision, so that there is an overall good balance of taste and flavor in the dish.

  18. HI,

    I love the recipe but I was wondering if I can substitute for some of the ingredients if I can’t find them like the curry leaves or asafoetida.4 stars

    1. you cannot substitute asofoetida and curry leaves as they have their own property and characteristics. hope this help’s you 🙂 at the most you could skip them but that would impact the taste of the recipe.

  19. Thanks for one’s marvelous posting! I certainly enjoyed reading it, you
    are a great author. I will be sure to bookmark your blog and definitely will come back in the future.
    I want to encourage you to definitely continue your great job, have a
    nice morning!

  20. Looks yumm gonna surely try tomorrow
    Kept chickpea for soaking overnight
    Can’t wait for the taste. I basically don’t use coconut in curries but I’m using it as it has to be used in this recipe let’s see he outcome
    I’m sure it will taste best thnx 4 d recipe 🙂4 stars

    1. I always like to try your recipes as they are very simple and easy to make .and very tasty. I have tried 3 receipes .they were very tasty and my children couldn’t believe it was home made.II got a lot of praises . thanks a lot. I’ll try this too today.1 star

  21. Loved this recipe and the food. I don’t know what it was but the flavor was unique compare to chana masala i’ve made before. Perhaps it was the coconut flakes.

  22. Hi Dassana,
    I want to try this recipe. Looks very yummy! I have never made with fresh coconut. Is it okay to use dry coconut?

  23. I just made this and it tasted amazing! What kind of wet grinder do you use? I tried to make the paste in my blender but could not get it so smooth! Help please!5 stars

  24. Namaste dassana, I have found your beautiful blog searching for chana masala recipe and I immediately understood to be in the right place. Your post is so true and familiar that I had the sensation to be with a real Indian chef while cooking chana masala in my kitchen… And what a delicious dinner! Thank you for sharing your talent.5 stars

  25. All of the spices taste amazing! I ended up using my Vitamix to blend/grind the coconut and spices. It was pretty smooth, but in wasn’t as smooth as tomato paste. Should it be? Thank you for such a yummy recipe!5 stars

  26. This recipe is brilliant … seriously bang on .. followed it point by point and was completely impressed by how awesome it was. Loved it

    Nice stuff, ill try some other recipes on this website (this was the first i tried)

  27. hi!
    can i use frozen channa which i previously soaked a few days ago but was not able to use?

    thanks

  28. Hi dassana . I just tried this recipe came out very well. Superb.. Thank u .. Do posting many reciepes…

  29. simple….. and beautifully presented….. thank you soo much for the wonderful recipie…<3 🙂4 stars

  30. Chana, I love, my favorite. You can cook Chana in anyway you want and you won’t hurt my feeling. Thank you. Lok Patel

  31. Greetings. I just made this recipe, tasted a bit when done and it seemed great. Question: I see turmeric in the ingredients list but not in the directions. When should it be added? I threw it in together with the asafoetida, since it is also a powdered dry spice, but cannot be sure if that was right.

    As an aside, I will need to get a proper spice grinder; my combination of mortar and pestle followed by blender did not really produce the desired results for texture! But I think the flavors came through nicely nonetheless.

    1. thanks for the feedback nels and also for letting us know about the turmeric bit. i have updated in the post. you can add turmeric along with the asafoetida. its right. one needs a good grinder or a blender to make a smooth masala paste. for making indian food on a regular basis, which require a thorough grinding of coconut or spices, an indian brand of mixer-grinder is a good investment.

  32. I just discovered this blog and LOVE it!

    I was hoping to make this recipe for dinner, but I don’t have time to soak the chickpeas. Would I be able to cheat and either use canned chickpeas or cook the chick peas in boiling water for a couple minutes and then let them sit in the hot water for an hour? Love the recipes!

  33. hi dassana, awesome recipe.the gravy was very much tasty and sufficient for 5 of us, i was able to serve more unlike the onion based channa masala.i have to use more onions for that.but this recipe requires very little amount of onion.the coconut gives the more volume i think.thanks for the recipe.my family just loved it.5 stars

  34. Dassna, this recipe was just amazing! Thank you. I was looking for alternatives for the regular north indian/punjabi garam masala and this was awesome!

  35. Hi Dassana thank u for a lip smacking yummmmmm recipe. made it twice already.absolutely loved it .Would give it a 100 stars if i cud(it was tat gud ) .wanna try the palak paneer recipe next.5 stars

  36. Hi dassanna,

    Gonna try this channa masala..I have some doubts before trying it..can I temper the whole spices like cloves,cardamom instead of roasting and grinding?also both green and black cardamom won’t make over powerful aroma? We like the flavour of those whole spices to be mild..suggest me whether to reduce the whole spices and grind it or to temper..

    1. hi viji, if you temper the full flavors & taste won’t come through. the usp of this recipe is the roasting and grinding of the whole spices and the coconut. both the cardamoms don’t give a powerful aroma as coconut is added, which also balances the intensity of the spices. but for a milder version, you reduce the spices. just skip the black cardamom in this case.

  37. Thanks for this wonderful recipe, turned out great in my humble kitchen. I wonder, though, why you put the dry-roasted spices in water? I did it and tried blending, but didn’t get anywhere near a smooth paste.

    It was quite chunky, even though it smelled and tasted great when I put it into the dish. (btw I used desiccated coconut). Would it be a good idea to put it through a sieve after blending?

    I liked the recipe a lot to be clear, but other people may not like chunks of spices and coconut. That is why I am asking this 🙂

    1. thanks milos. the spices including coconut needs to be ground very well. basically its the coconut which need to be ground to a smooth paste. generally western made blenders don’t do a thorough job of grinding coconut.

      one needs a really & sturdy good mixer-grinder, preferably an indian make one. since i have used fresh coconut, it needs to be ground well in some water. the water helps in grinding the coconut easily. bit if use desiccated coconut, then no need to add any water while grinding.

      use a good coffee grinder and grind the roasted spices with the coconut in batches to a fine mixture. i would not suggest to use a sieve as most of the flavors of the spices and coconut will be lost then. try using a coffee grinder or a spice grinder to powder the roasted spices and coconut.

      1. I used desiccated coconut again, but without water, so as if making garam masala with coconut. It turned out without chunks and the taste was again wonderful, needless to say. I suppose this can be done when preparing any other curry?
        You are right about a hand grinder, much better and more practical for small quantities of spices than a big blender.

        1. yes, milos this method can be done when preparing any curry. desiccated coconut works very well in the absence of fresh coconut. again if you roast the coconut, it gives a wonderful aroma and flavor to the curry. yes, small grinders are better to grind small amount of spices than large blenders.

  38. Can I substitute dried chickpeas with fresh ones? I found these beautiful and fresh chickpeas (still in the shell) at my local international market. I thought it will eliminate the pressure cook step and go straight to add fresh chickpeas on step 20. Do you think this will work? Thanks!

    1. with fresh chickpeas, the texture as well as the taste would be different. i would still say go ahead with the recipe. it will taste good. you can also steam the fresh chickpeas before you add them at step 20.

  39. Very tasty. The curry leaves are definitely “up front” on this dish. I used half a cup of desiccated coconut, which wasn’t nearly enough to be detectable. Overall very nice, but a lot different than the dish by the same name I’ve had in Indian restaurants in the US. Next time around I’ll knock down the curry leaves and increase the coconut. That should balance out the flavors.

      1. Well this recipe is going to be my go-to chana dish, after six months and almost a dozen recipes tried. This time I added the curry leaves directly to the chutney. I decided to garnish with a few fried onions (in a bag from the local Indian store) and cilantro. Perhaps not very authentic, but it was crazy good.5 stars

  40. This is the second dish I’ve cooked from your website and just like the other it’s the best version of the dish I’ve ever tasted. I actually made it twice in one morning because the first time, after peeling and shredding and toasting the coconut and spices, I melted my spatula into it after picking up the wrong one :-O
    Now I want to try all your recipes. 🙂5 stars

  41. Jus tried it and my husband loved it. Got a little spicy so I added some flour mixture. Very easy to make, you’ve solved my problem of hesitating to buy the ready channa masala . Lovely, thank you for posting4 stars

  42. Hi

    Just wondering, I can’t be certain how the fennel should be added. You say 1/2 tbsp.
    I assume you mean 1/2 tbsp of fennel seeds?

    Thanks!

  43. In the ‘other ingredients’ list you have mentioned bayleaf, asafoetida and green chilli. But none of these is mentioned in the recipe. Pls clarify when these should be added. Thanks.

    1. thanks nina for pointing out the mistake. i have updated the recipe detail. please check. green chili was already mentioned in step 20. do share your feedback once you try the chana masala recipe.

  44. It is wonderful that you make the masala for the chana from scratch. The chana looks very tempting and in fact one almost feels like polishing it off right away from the screen!5 stars

  45. I am yet to try your wheat flour Bhatura and here you are with a gorgeous looking channa masala recipe!!Got to try both soon!