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. 

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Chana masala/chick peas with gravy...

Hello friends! My today's recipe is again a simple one without use of onion, garlic or tomato. Our daily food normally doesn't consist of onion or garlic. Feel free to add them if you so desire. Lets cook chana masala now.

Ingredients:

Chick peas (soaked overnight) – 2 cups

Potatoes (medium sized) – 2 .

Gram flour – 1 tbsp

Chilli powder – 1/2 tspn.

Turmeric powder – 1/4 tspn.

Coriander and cumin powder – 1/2 tspn.

Tamarind – 1 small piece.

Asafoetida – pinch

Green chillies - 3 – 4 .

Ginger – 1/2″ piece 

Oil – 2 tbsp.

Coriander leaves  (finely chopped) – 1/4 bunch

Salt - to taste

Method:

Soak the chick peas in water overnight in sufficient water as the chick peas grow in size after soaking them.

Make a small bag of loose tea powder or tea bag. 

Pressure cook the chick peas and the chopped potatoes with the bag of tea powder and some salt.  Cook to 2-3 whistles or till the  chick peas become tender. Keep the cooked chick peas  aside and retain the water in which it is cooked. Remove tea bag from chana.

Take a pan, add oil to it and place it on a slow flame. Then add asafoetida, keep on stirring it  while adding gram flour. Stir it till it changes color to become light brown. Then add chillies, ginger, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, coriander and jeera powder.

Squash the tamarind soaked in water with your fingers so that the pulp gets dissolved in water. Strain this mixture and pour it in the above pan.

Now add the cooked chana with the retained water to the pan. Add little salt and mix it well. If required add a cup of water to it. Adjust the seasonings if required.

Let this mixture simmer for 15-20 minutes till the gravy becomes thick.

Garnish with fresh chopped coriander leaves and ginger strips and serve hot.

Chana  can be served with Poori, chapatti or rice.

Over to you for your views.

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