chana masala

You know when you have a great lunch, and then you have it for dinner too because it was so good? And then even the next day you might just have it once more? That's what this is. So creamy and rich, a bit spicy but you can always cut down the spice if you're not into that.

I'm pretty sure that traditionally chana masala doesn't have coconut milk in it. I've been buying this ready made because I'm lazy and the one I've been buying had coconut milk in, so that's why I added it to this. It's so worth it I promise, doesn't even taste of coconut at the end, just super creamy.

It might seem like you need a lot of spices but most of them you'll probably have at the back of the cupboard. If you also just happen to have some canned chickpeas, tomatoes and coconut milk, it's chana masala party time my friend.

You'll need:

2 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed

2 red onions, sliced

3 cloves garlic

1 inch piece of fresh ginger

1 can chopped tomatoes

1 can coconut milk

1 tsp dried chili flakes

1 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp fennel seeds

a handful of fresh coriander

1/4 tsp garam masala

the juice of 1/2 a lemon

Slice the onions and put into a wok or a deep-ish frying pan with the oil. Place over a medium heat and leave them to cook down a bit until they look like this:

Then add the ginger and garlic and cook for a few more minutes. Tip in the tomatoes and the chili flakes, cumin, ground coriander, turmeric and fennel seeds. Let that simmer for a minute or so, then add the chickpeas.

Stir them in and then pour on that delicious coconutty milk.

Once that's all stirred together you can leave it for a while. On a medium-ish heat, let it simmer away and the liquid reduce. Read the paper or watch some of the new Lost or something. Be sure to give it a stir every 5-10 minutes just so nothing sticks. Once most of the liquid has bubbled away, chop your coriander and add that with the garam masala.

Squeeze over the juice from the lemon and some salt to taste and serve immediately with some pitta or flatbread to dip into the juice at the end.