Recipe - Chana Masala

2 cn (15.5 oz) lowsalt garbanzo
beans
1 teaspoon Cumin (I didn't have the
cumin seeds. Recipe calls
for cumin seeds)
1 cup Onions
2 teaspoon Ground corriander
1/8 teaspoon Ground tumeric
1 teaspoon Garam masala
One half teaspoon Salt (optional)
2 teaspoon Garlic; minced
2 teaspoon Ginger; minced (grated
finely)
1 cup Water
3 tablespoon Tomato paste
1 cn (15.5 oz) tomato puree
1 tablespoon Lemon juice
One fourth teaspoon Red chili powder (optional)

Rinse garbanzo beans in cold water and drain. In a saucepan, "fry" cumin
seeds (I skipped this step since I had powdered cumin). Add onions,
(cumin), and fry until they turn brown (translucent). Lower heat and add
coriander, tumeric, garam masala, salt, ginger, and garlic. Mix and cook
for 30 seconds, stirring all the time. Add 1 cup water, tomato paste, and
pureed tomatoes. Mix and bring to a boil. Add garbanzo beans, lemon juice,
and red chili powder. Mix well, cover and cook over medium heat for 15
minutes, or until garbanzo beans are soft. Stir occasionally. If the
mixture gets too dry, add a little water. Serve garnished with green
chilies, onions, tomatoes or cilantro.

I left the garnish off and ate the mixture over rice. It was an excellent
chana masala. Flavorful and slightly spicy. I just purchased some cumin
seeds so next time, I make this recipe (some time this week), I'm going to
try the cumin seeds at the beginning. I'm thinking of "frying" the cumin
seeds in a few drops of water or broth.

I found this recipe in the book "Indian Recipes for a Healthy Heart." The
author is Mrs. Lakhani and she boasts 140 lowfat, lowsodium,
lowcholesterol dishes with 104 vegetarian recipes. I've made five recipes
in this book and I'm quite impressed. She does recommend frying onions or
spices, but I just leave out the oil. She has a nonfat paneer recipe for
making mutter paneer and other recipes. I'm going to try it this week and
I'll let you know the results (paneer recipe and the mutter paneer recipe).
Posted to fatfree digest V97 #183 by "Kathy Blain (kblain)"
kblain@sequent.com on Aug 18, 1997