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Pressure Cooker Chana Masala is cozy, simple, meatless, and will save you those dollars you might have spent ordering it for take-out!

Pressure Cooker Chana Masala is cozy, simple, meatless, and will save you those dollars you might have spent ordering it for take-out!

This past Saturday Kev and I went our separate ways for the morning. He was playing ultimate frisbee with a friend and I had it on my mind to take a long walk and whatever might come with it. I started my walk on the trail along the lake in downtown Austin and found myself seeing all sorts of new things I’ve never noticed before! Isn’t that funny when you head off somewhere you think you’re more than familiar with and then it feels like you’re in a foreign city?

I continued my walk among a slew of weekend bikers, runners, and what seemed like a thousand dogs until popping out at the library. If you haven’t been to the brand spankin new downtown Austin library, I’m telling you right now – there’s no time to lose. Get there ASAP! It tops my list for best free downtown hangout and I like to utilize it as much as possible. This past week I filled out my 2018 Modern Mrs. Darcy Reading Challenge, so I got the first book of my challenge at the library along with a few other books on creative writing to hopefully figure out how to improve my writing prowess for all of you! When I sit down to write these posts, my brain is usually full of a swirling blur of words and thoughts and sentences, but being able to concisely record them usually proves to be quite difficult. So, my goal for the next few months is to hone in on a writing style and learn what my voice sounds like so I can accurately convey what I’m thinking. I hope you’ll all offer me some grace in the process if it seems a bit awkward or messy or all over the place while I’m figuring it out!

Pressure Cooker Chana Masala is cozy, simple, meatless, and will save you those dollars you might have spent ordering it for take-out!

One of my blogging friends, Kate, has a website called Tasty Seasons which is devoted to creating recipes using seasonal ingredients. She often shares gluten free, dairy free, vegetarian, or vegan meals, so if you have any restrictions of the sort in your family, I highly recommend checking her out! The recipe I’m sharing today, Chana Masala, is one of hers that she absolutely and completely nailed. I slightly adapted it for the ingredients I had on hand as well as for cooking it in the pressure cooker, but if you want to cook it on the stovetop and use all of the original ingredients, visit her site for the original recipe!

I had never had Chana Masala before making it myself, so I wasn’t really sure what to expect. It was surprising to me as I was throwing the ingredients in my Instant Pot that there was no salt, but I know how meticulous Kate is in testing her recipes so I continued on as instructed. She tells us to mix together a relish of sorts using raw onion, jalapeño, raw ginger, and lemon juice. Again, I was skeptical as to how those flavors would complement the final dish, but goodness gracious I was proved wrong! Everything about the Chana Masala exceeded my expectations. The spices create the perfect toasted nuttiness which complements the acidity of the tomatoes and the earthy chickpeas. The final touch, the raw relish followed by a sprinkling of cilantro, takes your mouth on a journey straight to India. We even took this one to Kevin’s work and it was devoured by vegan and non-vegan coworkers alike!

Recipe #3 of January’s meatless PC recipe challenge is on point. Thanks Kate!

Pressure Cooker Chana Masala is cozy, simple, meatless, and will save you those dollars you might have spent ordering it for take-out!

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Pressure Cooker Chana Masala is cozy, simple, meatless, and will save you those dollars you might have spent ordering it for take-out!

Pressure Cooker Chana Masala

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  • Author: Kitschen Cat
  • Total Time: 30 mins
  • Yield: 4 1x
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Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 large yellow onion, finely diced, divided
  • 1 jalapeño, seeds and ribs removed, minced
  • 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
  • 4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil (affiliate)
  • 2 teaspoons ground cumin (affiliate)
  • 2 teaspoons garam masala
  • 1 tablespoon ground coriander
  • ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
  • 14.5 oz canned diced tomatoes
  • (2) 15.5 oz cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained
  • 1/4 cup water
  • ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
  • 3 cups cooked rice, for serving

Instructions

  1. Add 2 tablespoons of your diced onion to a small bowl, then stir in minced jalapeńo, fresh ginger, and lemon juice. Set aside.
  2. Saute onion in pressure cooker in olive oil until it starts to soften and develop brown bits.
  3. Add cumin, garam masala, coriander, and turmeric. Saute until fragrant. 1-2 minutes.
  4. Add tomatoes, chickpeas, and 1/4 cup water to spices.
  5. Stir, lock lid, and set to high pressure for 10 minutes.
  6. When time is up, let pressure naturally release for 5 minutes then release any remaining pressure.
  7. Serve over cooked rice topped with a tablespoon of raw onion/jalapeño mixture and a sprinkle of chopped fresh cilantro.
  • Prep Time: 10 mins
  • Cook Time: 20 mins

 

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