Kala Channa Masala

Of late, I am focusing more on adding traffic to the blog. One such effort of mine is to get the blog "Yummly Certified". Yummly has a large user base and features some of the best food blogs from around the world. All I had to do was to write a guest-post for them with a new, simple recipe (that is not featured in my blog so far), with high resolution pics. If they approve of my recipe and the pictures, then the recipe is featured in their site while the blog also gets "Yummly Certified"! "Win-win"!!!

So, I wrote this recipe of "kala channa masala" as my first guest post, mailed it to yummly and was anxiously waiting to hear back from them. It was almost a month, and I still did not hear from them, not even a whisper. So, I sent out another mail for follow-up and guess what... yummly have stopped accepting guest blog submissions and apparently, my email have fallen through the cracks. Dang, what a bummer and didn't even have a clue that this was coming!!

So, this simple, hearty & healthy recipe was lying in my drafts for quite sometime now that I am finally sharing to all my wonderful readers. Enjoy!!

Basic Info

Complexity - Medium
Prep time - 8-10 hrs (includes soaking time)
Cook time - 30 mins
Serves - 4

Ingredients
1.5 cups uncooked kala channa / black chickpeas

1 bay leaf
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 medium onion, chopped
2 medium ripe tomatoes, chopped
1 inch ginger, grated
2 green chillies, finely chopped

1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1/4 tsp hing
1/2 tsp garam masala

2 tbsp oil
Salt to taste
1/8 cup finely chopped cilantro

Method

Soak kala chana overnight or for 8-9 hours. Wash soaked channa well in running water and pressure cook in 3 cups of water for 5-6 whistles. Keep it aside to cool.

In a pan, heat 2 tbsp of oil. Add bay leaf, cumin seeds and let them crackle. Add grated ginger, finely chopped green chillies and saute for 15-20 secs. Next, add finely chopped onion and saute until it turns translucent.

Add finely chopped tomatoes, turmeric powder, hing, red chili powder, coriander powder and saute until the tomatoes are completely cooked and oil starts to leave the sides.

Add pressure cooked kala chana along with all of the remaining water, salt and mix well. Pressure cook again for 3-4 whistles. 

Finally, stir in garam masala and garnish with chopped cilantro.

Serve hot with steamed rice/roti.