Andy Crawford | Reborn in PHP

Chana Recipe

Published September 2022 | By Andy Crawford

Recipe for Chana as requested by Emma. Apologies that this has taken about six years to write-up, but I have been busy.

Chana

Ingredients - serves 10 (ish)

[1] 500g (dry weight) Cooked Chick Peas.

To prepare, I usually pressure cook for one hour and then leave to stand (under pressure) for about another hour. 500g will require about 5 litres of water.

Alternatively soak overnight and boil for about 1 & 1/2 hours.

Or the really lazy way is to use about four or five 400g tins of ready cooked chick peas.

[2] Splash of Sunflower Oil.

[3] Mustard Seeds (1-2 teaspoons).

[4] Onions (2-8 or about 400g) Finely Chopped.

[5] Dry Spices (eg Turmeric, Ground Cumin, Ground Coriander, Chana Masala Spice, Hot Madras Curry Powder, Garam Masala, Tandoori Spice or whatever you have and whatever you like). A heavily loaded teaspoon of each along with an unhealthy amount of salt.

[6] 500ml Boiling Water

[7] Wet Spices - Green Chilli (3-6 chopped - depending on how hot they are and how hot you want it) Ginger 50g (ish) Garlic (1 head/50g ish crushed/grated).

[8] Tomato Paste (500g Passata or Crushed Tomato or 2x400g tins of Chopped Tomato).

Method

Have the [1] chick peas ready along with the water/aquafaba.

In a large pan, heat the [2] oil and throw in the [3] mustard seeds. They will pop and crack so cover to save splattering the kitchen with oil and seeds. Turn on the cooker extractor hood. Add in the [4] onions and brown. Close doors and open windows as this saves stinking out the house.

Add [5] Dry Spices and [6] Boiling Water. Boil for a few minutes on a high heat to hydrate the spices and turn into a paste.

Add [7] Wet Spices (no need to cook). Add [1] Cooked Chick Peas with the water/aquafaba and the tomato. Boil for about 10 minutes. Allow to stand for about 1 hour.

Serve. After sitting for an hour it will have cooled a bit.

Notes:

Consistency if it is too wet then you used too much water, too dry, then not enough.

Stir regularly throughout so as not to burn. Do not check email, Facebook or chat on the phone while cooking.

Spices are a personal thing. Some like it hot, some like it spicy. Modify the spices according to taste.

If using chopped tomato or fresh tomato cook for longer.

If using tinned chick peas, you may want to drain and discard some of the water/aquafaba.

If pressure cooking the chick peas, they must not boil dry so it is better to use too much water and drain a bit, rather than too little and burning the pan and having to start over.