Channa Masala
Protein packed Channa Masala
Channa masala is one of my favourite Indian foods. I ate it during my Indian food challenege. I also ate it during my Athlean X food challenge. Safe to say it’s my go to Indian meal. This version of mine is pretty easy to make even though I use a good amount of spices to get the best flavour. I’ve mainly added the paneer to this to pack in some more protein. This would specifically be good for vegetarians. I think meat eaters don’t have an issue getting in a good amount of protein through their other meals. I’ve also kept the fat fairly low but it can be lowered even more though I prefer to have a bit of good fat because fat is flavour. Ghee is my preferred cooking fat for Indian food.
Anyway enough jibber jabber. Enjoy!
Nutrition Info (Per serving)
- Calories: 156
- Carbs: 23g
- Fat: 5g
- Protein: 7g
- Fiber: 6g
This recipe makes 6 servings. Get this recipe on myfitnesspal. For starters these are very small servings of about 100g-120g. You will need to weigh the channa after it’s cooked and then divide by 6. Also this doesn’t include the paneer because I am not sure what paneer you will use and I also recommend weighing it separately to know exactly how much you are eating. Paneer will add more protein to these macros. As you can see channa always has way more carbs than protein.
Channa Masala
Ingredients
- 200 grams Channa/Chick Pea Not canned, the raw hard ones. You can used canned ones if you like as well.
- 100 grams Paneer Optional. You can make it without paneer as well.
- 100 grams Onion
- 150 grams Tomato Puree You can also use fresh tomatoes or even puree your own at home.
- 10 grams Ginger
- 10 grams garlic
- 1 Tsp Channa Masala Powder I use this one
- 1/2 Tsp Kashmiri Red Chilli Powder I recommend this
- 1/2 Tsp Coriander Powder I recommend this
- 1 Tbsp Ghee I recommend this
- 1 Chicken/Beef Stock Cube I recommend this
- 1 Tea Bag
- 2 Bay leaves Buy Online
- 2 Black Cardamons Buy Online
- 3 Green Cardamons Buy Online
- 1 Cinnamon Stick Buy Online
- 1/2 Tsp Cumin Seeds Buy Online
- Coriander to garnish
- Salt to Taste
Instructions
- You want to soak the channa overnight in water. At least for 8 hours. You will notice that the chick peas will have swollen up quite a bit from the soaking.
- Pressure cook the chick peas with the water, bay leaves, stock cube and tea bag for about 15 minutes till the chick peas are nice and tender.
- Heat the ghee in a saucepan and add in the onions with a bit of salt and fry till translucent. Add in the whole spices next, the black cardamons, cumin seeds, green cardamons and cinnamon stick.
- Once the onions start turning brown around the edges add in the ginger and garlic and fry for another minute or 2 before adding in the channa masala powder, chilli powder and coriander powder.
- Then pour in the water from pressure cooking the chick peas. I hope you didn't throw that water out. All the flavour is there. So add the water along with the tomato puree.
- Cover with a lid and cook for 8 minutes till the oils separate from the gravy and then add in the chick peas and mix well.
- Once again cover and cook for 2-3 minutes before adding in the paneer and mix well and cook for a further minute or two till it absorbs some of the flavour.
- Finally finish with fresh coriander mix well and serve with either rice or roti or bhatura.
