Method
Wash & soak the chickpeas overnight. By morning, they’ll have softened, and swelled to over double the size.
Take a pressure cooker. Add 600 ml of water & bring to a boil. Add the chickpeas, a little salt, a tsp of ghee & the piece of ginger (very lightly crushed, since we only want the flavour, and need to fish it out and discard after the pressure cooking). Also add tejpatta, cinnamon sticks & black cardamom at this time.
Pressure cook for 45 minutes after the whistle. Take off the stove, and allow the pressure to release.
In a kadahi, add 2 tbsp of oil, allow to heat adequately. Add a tsp of jeera. Add chopped onions to the oil, and fry till the onions have browned.
Add garlic paste to the pan. Fry for a couple of minute.
Add 2 tbsp tomato puree, salt to taste, 1 tsp of red pepper powder, Kashmiri mirch powder and haldi. And 3 tsp of dhaniya powder.
Keep stirring till the oil has been released. At this point, add about 2-3 tbsp of the pressure cooked chickpeas, add to the pan, and crush mix these to the masala with help of a spatula or back of a large serving spoon.
When the mix is uniform again, add 2 tbsp of commercial brand chana masala from any reputed company. Also add 2 tsp of anardana powder. Add a tbsp of water from the pressure cooker to the pan, cook till all the oil starts showing.
Go back to the pressure cooker, fish out and discard the ginger piece, tejpatta, cinnamon sticks & the black cardamoms. They’ve played their role.
Add the ready masala from the pan to the cooker, bring to a boil. Test for seasoning & adjust.
Before serving, tamper the dish with about 30 ml oil, 1 tsp jeera & ½ tsp kashmiri mirch powder.
Serve with the garnishing option of chopped onions and fresh green peppers.
Enjoy with soft, fluffy, yummy bhaturas…
