Blogging Marathon #140 Week 2, Day 1
Theme: Easy Dinner Ideas

Aloo chana curry is a one pot curry that can be made in Instant Pot/pressure cooker. You can serve this with plain basmati rice or roti. I served it with a very simple Pulao, I will be sharing that recipe too later this week.

The only prep you need for this curry is cooking the chana ahead, which you can avoid if you are using readymade canned beans. Instant pot recipe is just a short cut version of stovetop recipe to cut the hands on time short. Another thing I like with using instant pot is that the inner pot is much bigger than my pans and so you can increase the recipe to serve more people too.

For this recipe, I prefer using tomatoes that are pureed. A couple of pulses in the mixer jar would do the trick. If it’s on stovetop , you can cook the tomatoes until it’s disintegrated but in instant pot, I feel pureed tomatoes are better. This is not to say that chopped tomatoes won’t work, they do. But pureed gives a better texture is what I feel.

Now that all that prep work is out of the way, let’s get to the recipe.

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 large onion, chopped finely
• 2 teaspoon ginger garlic paste
• 2 large tomatoes, pureed
• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder (or to taste)
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• 2 cups cooked chana
• 2 big potatoes , peeled and diced
• 2 cups water, divided
• Salt to taste
• Lemon juice to taste
• 1/4 cup coriander leaves chopped

Method:

1. Keep the spices and salt ready in a small bowl.
2. Heat oil in the inner pot of Instant Pot or your pressure cooker in Sauté mode. Add cumin seeds and once it crackles , add chopped onions. Cook for a minute or two until it changes color.
3. Add ginger garlic paste, all the spices and tomato purée. Mix well. Let it cook for a minute.
4. Now add the diced potatoes and chickpeas. Add 1.5 cups of water. Scrape the bottom of the pot to ensure that nothing is sticking to it.
5. Keep the lid on and change the mode from Sauté mode to Pressure cook/Manual. Cook for 5 minutes in high pressure. Let the pressure release naturally.
6. Open the IP and add chopped coriander leaves, mix everything well. Taste test and adjust seasonings if desired. Add more water if the curry is thick for your taste and let it cook in sauté mode till you like it. Squeeze some lemon juice in at the time of serving.
7. Serve with plain rice or roti.