Chana Masala

I have been craving Indian food lately. I am not a big fan to the two Indian restaurants in town. But just tonight I noticed a new one and when I walked in to grab a takeout menu I was greeted by a friendly woman and an amazingly delicious smell. Seems promising. But last night I made my own Indian dishes to satisfy the craving.

I made chana masala, which is chick peas in a rich tomato gravy. Yum!

First, I rinsed and drained a 15 oz. can of chick peas.
Next, I roughly chopped 1 onion, 1 green chili, 4 cloves of garlic, and 1 inch of fresh ginger. The recipe calls for 1 fresh tomato but I used about 1/3C canned diced tomatoes instead.
After roughly chopping these, I put them in the food processor with the tomatoes to make a paste.

Now to the cooking. First, I warmed 2T olive oil and 'fried' 2 bay leaves. The recipe called for frying them but that didn't really seem to happen. I let them sit in the hot oil for 1-2 minutes but they didn't really seem to be sizzling or showing any indications of frying.

Next, I added the tomato-onion-etc. mixture the pan and let that fry over medium heat for 4-5 minutes.

On to the spices. I added 1t red chili powder, 1/2t turmeric, 1t coriander, and 1t garam masala. I stirred these in well with the rest of the mixture and let that fry for another 2-3 minutes.

The recipe calls for adding enough water to make a thick gravy. I ended up adding about 1C of water. I mixed this in and let it come to a boil.

I then added the chick peas and let the whole mixture simmer over medium heat for 5-7 minutes. I garnished this with cilantro and served it with basmati rice and some plain yogurt and sliced cucumbers.