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Instant Pot Chana Masala

One of the great Indian chick pea dishes
Print Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Course: Main Course, Side Dish
Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 1 tsp grated ginger (I've found ginger puree in a tube which I've liked)
  • 1 tbls garam masala
  • 1 tsp shaa jeera (optional)
  • ½ tsp ground coriander
  • ½ tsp ground cumin
  • ¼ tsp Indian chilli powder (or cayenne)
  • ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
  • 2 tbls butter
  • 14 ounce can diced or crushed tomatoes (use 28 ounces if cooking on stove top)
  • 2 cups dried chickpeas, soaked overnight
  • 1 tsp kosher salt
  • cilantro as needed for garnish

Equipment

  • Instant Pot or Pressure cooker (but a sauce pan will do!)

Method
 

  1. Combine the ginger, garam masala, shaa jeera (if using), coriander, cumin, chilli powder or cayenne, and cinnamon in a ramekin.
  2. Press the saute button on your Instant Pot (again you can do this on the stove top in a sauce pan). When the butter is frothy and about to brown, add the ingredients from the ramekin and saute till fragrant, about a minute.
  3. Add the tomatoes, chickpeas and salt. Cancel the saute, cover the Instant Pot and set timer for 12 minutes. Allow the chickpeas to rest 20 or 30 minutes before releasing the steam.
  4. Taste and evaluate the chickpeas. Consider reducing by. simmering or thickening with a slurry. Add more salt if it needs it. A squeeze of lemon if you have it never hurt any dish that I know of.

Notes

To repeat, the recipe is for an instant pot or pressure cooker. The beans will take about 45 minutes to an hour conventionally. You can also use two 15-ounce cans of chickpeas. In this case I recommend stovetop method, simmering the 28. ounces of tomatoes and spiced for 30 minutes, adding the chickpeas and cooking another 15 minutes. This recipe is adapted from my book From Scratch.