Chana palak/ chick peas with spinach gravy

Hello all! Today's dish comprises of protein plus iron with chickpeas and spinach. Both rich in nutrients and this dish is made many ways. I chose to use spinach gravy for this. Years back when I was still a new bride and yet learning basics of cooking, I saw a programme on tv which showed how to cook chickpeas with spinach and I copied the whole thing by looking at the recipe but being a novice I doubled the quantity of masalas/spices making it too spicy to eat but still it was yummy. I did not attempt it again till yesterday when I recalled this dish. This time I kept the spice level in control and result was wow. It is so easy that even bachelors and novices can also cook this dish in jiffy.
Ingredients:

• 200gms chickpeas/chana
• 1 cup spinach
• 1 onion
• 1 tomato
• 2-3 cloves of garlic
• 1 small piece of ginger
• 3-4 green chillies
• a small pinch of asafoetida/hing
• 1 small piece of  cinnamon stick/dalchini
• 2-3 cloves/laung
• 1 small tejpatta
• 1tbsp red chilli powder
• 1tbsp coriander powder
• 1tbsp garam masala powder
• 1tsp turmeric powder
• salt to taste
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 2tbsp oil or ghee

Method:
Soak chickpeas overnight. Drain and boil them with little bit of salt. Keep aside. Chop the spinach, blanch and make puree out of it.  To get more taste I grated onion, tomato, garlic and ginger separately. In a pan heat oil, add cumin seeds, once it splutters add chopped green chillies. Add cloves, cinnamon stick, tej patta and saute it. Add hing and then add grated onions. Saute the onions but do not let them brown too much. Add grated ginger and garlic and saute till raw smell goes. Just be careful not to burn them. Finally add grated tomato and stir. Once oil separates, add boiled chana and little water. Cook for few minutes and then add spinach puree. Stir and add  the remaining masalas. Adjust the consistency of gravy. Watch out for salt as chana already had some salt. Once the gravy is cooked, serve it with garnish of your choice. I added onion rings on top. Chana palak can go very well with rice, chapati or pooris.

Hope you liked this dish.

Note: In place of spinach puree you can add chopped spinach and let it cook till it softens. 

Posted in: bachelor cooking,chana,chickpeas,gravy dishes,palak,spinach,vegetarian