Shital's-Kitchen: Chana Masala

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Chana Masala

Sunday evenings, strolling at Nariman point (longest and beautiful coast line in Mumbai) having  freshly made Chana Masala on streets and fresh tender coconut water! This has been a part of my life for 20 years. I am terribly homesick today :((

But, I have my wonderful friends who came over for our creative session. Last week we made some clay beads for jewellery so we painted them and worked on still life with water color. Oh My God! I was so nervous, but, with constant encouragement and motivation I was able to complete my painting and was pretty happy with it :)

Here is the glimpse of a fun evening:

Bhakti, painting her clay beads for jewellery.


Finally I liked my work! :) Of course it was no where close to what the my creative friends did!

Thinking of my years in Mumbai, I planned to make Chana Masala, a spicy snack made of Green Gram/ Green Chick Peas. A snack rich in protein and low on calories to help us concentrate on our work. This is a popular road side snack prepared right in front of you while you watch wonderful waves of Arabian Sea, splashing towards huge rocks, sprinkling salt water on you!

2 cups of green bengal gram (I used frozen ones today)

Use dried green chana, soak overnight, and then boil uncovered in water containing salt.
You will need to boil frozen one too but it just take 5-7 minutes to get tender.

Chop some veggies.

While I waited for my friends to arrive, had some slices of raw mango seasoned with salt and red chili powder. Another favorite of Mumbai beach :)

Heat 1 tbsp. of butter. (You could use olive oil too)

Saute onions and green chillies for a minute.

Add chopped tomatoes and boiled green gram/ chana.
You need not cook tomatoes and onions till they turn soft.


Add salt, red chili powder and 1 tbsp. of pav bhaji masala. Toss green chana well with the spices.  

On high temperature mix well for a minute.
Squeeze fresh lime. 

Remove from heat and add 1/2 of chopped raw mango and cilantro.

Garnish with raw mango and cilantro.
Serve with your favorite drink. Here is Green Tea of their choice.

Enjoy this Hot Beach Snack with Wonderful Friends!!

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