Chana Masala Soup

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chana masala soup

I am posting this because everyone in the family loved this soup… except for me.  They are asking for seconds right now.  I think it can still be improved.  I started off by working on a chana masala recipe from smittenkitchen.com – the only big change was less pepper and a few more veggies.  As the dish simmered during completion I realized the kids would not go for it – it just looked gross.  So I added chicken broth and purreed the whole thing to make soup.  I added heavy cream to give it the rich flavor I was looking for. Keep reading for the recipe…

Chana Masala Soup

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 medium onions, minced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
  • 2 teaspoon cumin seeds, cooked with the garlic
  • 1 fresh, hot green chili pepper, minced (optional, I omitted)
  • 1 tablespoon ground coriander
  • 2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper (I reduced to a quarter)
  • 1 teaspoon ground curry powder (original recipe called for tumeric)
  • 2 teaspoons paprika
  • 1 teaspoon garam masala
  • 1 fifteen ounce can whole tomatoes with their juices, chopped small
  • 1 cup chopped carrots (optional)
  • 1 cup chopped peppers (optional)
  • 4 cup water or broth (I used water plus two teaspoons)  knorr chicken bouillon)
  • 4 cups cooked chickpeas or 2 (15-ounce) cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
  • salt, to taste
  • 1 cup heavy cream (to taste)
  • lime to squeeze over the soup (some recipes use 1 Tablespoon amchoor powder for the sour flavor

Heat oil in a large skillet. Add onion, garlic, ginger and pepper and sauté over medium heat until browned, about 5 minutes. Add the cumin seeds.  Turn heat down to medium-low and add the coriander, cumin, cayenne, curry powder, cumin seeds, amchoor (if using it), paprika and garam masala. Cook onion mixture with spiced for a minute or two, then add the tomatoes and any accumulated juices, scraping up any bits that have stuck to the pan. Add the water and chickpeas. Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes, then puree to make this into soup.  Taste and add salt along with heavy cream.

Below is a wanna-be naan recipe.   You can not get real naan bread unless you have a tandoori oven.   Follow the directions on the “how to make pita bread post,” FOUND HERE.  The only real changes are the addition of buttermilk and honey to flavor the dough.  Brush with melted butter, garlic powder, season salt and parsley for garlic naan.

Naan

  • 750 g unbleached flour
  • 2 Tablespoons honey
  • 3 teaspoons salt
  • 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 15 ounces water mixed with 1/4 cup buttermilk powder