Punjabi Chana Recipe (2024)

Pro tip: chickpeas don’t easily absorb flavors of the sauce (that’s why you simmer so long). Instead - if you make your chickpeas from scratch - do the overnight soak with cloves, cinnamon, salt, and bay leaves. Do the same when (pressure) cooking, with new water. Now you have seasoned chickpeas that only need 5-10 minutes in the sauce. Second tip, world of difference: toast coriander seeds and grind them in a mortar/pestle. This spice needs to be fresh to get that “fragrant” effect. Enjoy!

So delicious! One of my favorite NYTimes recipes. Definitely takes one full hour of simmering, stirring every 10ish minutes. I subbed Serrano peppers for the Thai chili and it was awesome.

Why simmer canned chickpeas for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Better to add to final 5-10 minutes to preserve their character.

The beans will not absorb the flavours that well, fresh beans are best imho (same time of cooking of beans are soaked overnight)

Easy, tasty, light, and healthy. I was pressed for time so I didn't cook it for nearly as long at the end (maybe 15-20 min), uncovering to let it reduce for the last few minutes, and it came out great! Note that this does not taste much like the traditional Indian chana masala dishes I've had, but it's very good nonetheless.

Wasn't paying attention and accidentally grabbed the Kashmiri chili powder instead of paprika, and it was a delicious mistake.

Changes:Soak 1 heaping cup chana dal 8 hours or overnight Ghee instead of oil - several TbspAfter cooking onions, ginger, garlic, and chili, add 1t cumin seed and 1t mustard seed and sizzle.1/2 package tiny cherry tomatoes, 1T tomato paste, and 1T Turkish red pepper paste instead of two tomatoes After pureeing, add 1t coriander, 1t garam masala, 1t kashimiri chili, 1/2t turmeric, and salt. Omit paprika. Add chickpeas and 2-3c water. Cook 45-60 minutes. Add 1t tamarind concentrate and 1

Truly delicious. I used 1/2 can of tomato paste because I didn’t have tomatoes on hand. For heat, I only added about 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, no chili pepper, because my guys prefer less spice. Also I blended the first stage sauce with a stick blender. Came out soooo good. Even our normally finicky son liked it. I’ll definitely be adding this to my repertoire.

Tried the receipe. It was very good. I only simmered for half hour which gave plenty of flavor. Put red chili powder instead of paprika. I also used the chickpea water instead of water. I used about a half cup of chickpea water. It is more flavorful.

Wow! I confess to many (decades of) failures with Indian food in the past. I gave up. But today I tried again and this totally worked for me. The ingredients are simple so it is technique and timing, I guess. I followed the directions. Brilliant! Bright, good-looking & tasty. Used fried potatoes rather than rice.

Just watched an episode of ATK on Punjabi recipes. They used the aqua faba from the canned chickpeas instead of water.

I love this recipe. What green vegetable would you pick to serve with it for a dinner for six?

Excellent! Truly a keeper. Generally top with plain yogurt and sometimes a fried egg. I use dried chickpeas as a personal preference.

Delicious! I didn't have a Thai chile so I just used a bit of jalapeno. I found that the sauce was fine without adding water beyond the initial 1/4 cup, no danger of burning with the frequent stirring.

Doubled spices! It was very good

Use veggie broth instead of water. Adding crushed tomatoes is also tasty.

Needs way more spice except for paprika. Chickpeas need more spice/salt. Add butter, umami, mustard seed. Skip puréeing

This dish came out delicious! I substituted 1/2 tsp. of scotch bonnet flakes for the chili, and didn’t puree the tomatoes. Keep it chunky. Major yum :)

I like the consistency of the purée. Next time I will add the spices to the sauté. I’ll also try ghee instead of oil & maybe double for richness. Totally agree with getting rid of the paprika and replacing with cumin. I only used a 1/4 salt bc I added veggie broth as it simmered. I did 3 cans of chickpeas and semi-mashed them with a potato masher before simmering. I used a 15 oz can of stewed tomatoes. I might try a larger can of crushed tomatoes. Tasted at end & added more garam masala & lime.

It is really good with a heaping tablespoon of chaat masala and a teaspoon of tamarind paste, the good stuff, not the concentrate with the texture of Marmite.