Chana Masala

From: Smitten Kitchen, though she adapted from Madhur Jaffrey

Ugh. I totally screwed this up, and then tried to "fix" it by adding more of everything else, but in the end I have a giGANtic pot of something that still tastes not-right. BUT, it was tasting pretty darn good before I screwed it up, so I'm giving you the recipe with the instruction to don't pour spices directly over the pot. Basically, I almost always eyeball measurements, except when baking. I followed the recipe fairly closely (although, without measuring per se), and it tasted really good - except then I thought "oh, I'll just add a little more garam masala and then it will be great!" And then, when I intended to sprinkle just a bit more into the pot, a big lump of spice fell out of the container and into the pot (like, a 2 Tbsp clump). I should have tried to scoop it out, but I didn't, and it really wasn't good. Then I added more chickpeas and more tomatoes, and that still didn't help much. I added some spinach, some more cumin, more of this and that. But really, it still just tastes like "holy garam masala batman!" Sigh. Oh well. Prior to the garam masala incident, it was tasting really good. I should have stopped while I was ahead.

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 medium onions, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
1 fresh, hot green chili pepper, minced (I didn't have this)
1 tablespoon ground coriander
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
2 teaspoons cumin seeds, toasted and ground
1 tablespoon amchoor powder (see Smitten's note) (I omitted)
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon garam masala (sigh)
2 cups tomatoes, chopped small or 1 15-ounce can of whole tomatoes with their juices, chopped small (I used a can of crushed tomatoes)
2/3 cup water
4 cups cooked chickpeas or 2 (15-ounce) cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 lemon (juiced) (see note; Smitten used a whole lemon to swap for the amchoor powder, which I followed)

Heat oil in a large skillet. Add onion, garlic, ginger and pepper and sauté over medium heat until browned, about 5 minutes. Turn heat down to medium-low and add the coriander, cumin, cayenne, turmeric, 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 stir in salt and lemon juice.

Eat up or put a lid on it and reheat it when needed. Curries such as this reheat very well, later or or in the days that follow, should it last that long.