Chana Masala recipe

Straight from The Beach Hut kitchen comes our Chana Masala recipe, serve with fresh bread, a roti, naan, or a bowl of rice. Follow the recipe below to make your own version at home.

Ingredients

For the sauce:

200ml sunflower oil
4 cloves
4 bay leaves
4 cardamom green
4 cardamom black
2 star anise
6 black peppercorns
1 cinnamon quill
10 cumin seeds
10 coriander seeds

For the Masala:

700g peeled and finely chopped onions
500g ripe chopped tomatoes
30g peeled and finely chopped garlic
60g peeled and grated ginger
15g salt
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp turmeric
2 tsp garam masala
Chilli powder to taste
200ml water
100g fresh coriander chopped with the stalks
2 tins of chickpeas

Method

Heat a large saucepan and add the oil, followed by the sauce spices.
Fry for a couple of seconds
Add the chopped onions to the spices and cook down for about 30 minutes until golden brown. (This will take a while, but important to develop the flavour.)
Add the tomatoes, garlic, ginger, salt and remaining spices along with the water.
Cook slowly until the spices cook out.
When the oil starts to split out of the sauce, it is ready for the coriander and chickpeas.
Check for seasoning and add paprika to taste.
Serve alongside roti bread, naan, focaccia or rice.