Instant Pot Chana Masala
Servings: 6 people
Chana masala also known as chole is an Indian vegan and gluten-free chickpeas curry cooked in onion tomato gravy and spices. It is served with bhatura, deep-fried puffy bread, and the dish is known as chole bhature. Check out this Instant Pot chana masala recipe by soaking and without soaking the chickpeas.
Equipment
Ingredients
Spices
- 1 ½ tablespoon Chana masala powder
- 2 Cloves
- 2 Whole Red Chili
- 1 inch Cinnamon stick
- 2 Peppercorn
- 1 Bay leaf
- ¼ teaspoon Cumin seeds
- 1 Star anise
- 1 Big cardamom (Black cardamom or green cardamoms)
For chana masala gravy
- 1 Onion (medium size)
- 2 Tomatoes (medium size)
- 1 tablespoon Ginger garlic paste (or minced)
- 1 teaspoon Serrano pepper (optional, to taste)
- 1 ½ cup Water
- 1 ½ cup Chickpeas (soaked in water)
- 1 Teabag (optional)
- 1 teaspoon Organic cane sugar (optional)
- 1 teaspoon Salt (to taste)
- 1 tablespoon Oil
Instructions
- Soak the chickpeas in water for about 8 hours.
- Discard the water before cooking.
- Blend onion, tomatoes, ginger garlic in Vitamix or any other blender.
- Turn on "Saute" mode of the Instant Pot on "Normal" setting.
- Once hot, add oil.
- After the oil is hot, add all the whole spices - cumin seeds, bay leaf, peppercorn, cloves, red whole chili, big cardamom, and star anise.
- Add the blended tomato onion paste, chana masala powder, and salt.
- Continue to saute for another 5-7 minutes or until all the moisture evaporates from the mixture.
- Add water, soaked chickpeas and optionally add a tea bag and sugar.
- Select "Cancel" to come out of "Saute" mode.
- Close and lock the lid, select "Pressure" on high for 18 minutes followed by natural release.
- Discard the tea bag. Garnish with cilantro and its ready to serve.
Notes
If you forget to soak the chickpeas, you can pressure cook the chickpeas without soaking them for 50 minutes.
Substitutions
- Tomato paste - instead of fresh tomatoes, you can use a tablespoon of tomato paste for every tomato.
- Spicy - add some serrano peppers to make it spicy and less or none to make it kid-friendly.
- Garam masala - instead of whole garam masala spices, you can use half a teaspoon of garam masala powder instead.
- Chana masala powder - instead of store-bought chana masala powder, you can use coriander powder (1 tsp), cumin powder (½ tsp), red chili powder (¼ tsp), and dry mango powder(¼ tsp) known as amchur powder.
- Canned chickpeas - you can use canned chickpeas in the recipe and pressure cook it for 5 minutes instead.
Nutrition
Calories: 224kcal (11%) | Carbohydrates: 35g (12%) | Protein: 10g (20%) | Fat: 6g (9%) | Saturated Fat: 1g (6%) | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 1g | Sodium: 407mg (18%) | Potassium: 570mg (16%) | Fiber: 10g (42%) | Sugar: 8g (9%) | Vitamin A: 423IU (8%) | Vitamin C: 9mg (11%) | Calcium: 67mg (7%) | Iron: 3mg (17%)
