A vegetarian Indian dinner in minutes

I love turning a can of beans into supper. Whether that means chili, tacos, or, in this case, a fragrant Indian dal, canned beans offer protein aplenty at a great price.

Chana masala isn’t the most obvious dish to make with a mere five ingredients. Recipes for this chickpea dish typically include a plethora of dried spices and several aromatics. But, with a little attention to detail when shopping and cooking, it can be done.

The first trick is to pull out as much flavor as possible from the ingredients. The most important among them is the spice blend. Instead of curry powder, for this recipe I like to use garam masala, which often contains fennel, pepper, cloves, cinnamon, mace, cardamom, cumin and coriander.

Give the garam masala plenty of time to bloom in hot butter and chopped onions. For umami and a bit of heat, stir in a big scoop of tomato paste and a couple teaspoons of grated fresh ginger. These are at their best when fried for a few minutes. You’ll not only taste the difference at dinner, but also smell it while you’re cooking.

All that’s left to do is simmer the chickpeas (along with their canning liquid and a bit of water). This dal tastes great after just 10 minutes of simmering, but it’s better if you can give it another five minutes or so. Just before serving, pull out a potato masher and give half the beans a good smash. Stir these mashed beans into the sauce to thicken it a bit.

I like to serve chana masala over a bed of steamed white rice. If I have fresh cilantro around, I top the dish with a few of those leaves. It would be equally good with quickly toasted store-bought naan bread.

If the prep seems a bit heavier than usual on chopping, you can certainly take more shortcuts. Use frozen chopped onions (thaw them first) and ginger paste from a tube. The latter can usually be found near the herbs in the produce section of the grocery store, and it tastes fresher than it looks.