Chili Chana – Crispy Chana Chilli Recipe

Indian Chinese Favorite – Chilli Chana That Isn’t Deep Fried!

Crispy chilli chana dry is a delicious and popular Indian-Chinese appetizer and this is a healthier, not deep fried version of it.  Traditionally this is made by deep frying chick peas or chana and tossing in a spiced, veggie filled sauce.  It is then served as an appetizer, similar to chilli paneer.

I prefer to pan fry the chick peas to get a nice texture and have a healthier dish.  Then, instead of serving as an appetizer I like to make some simple quinoa and round chilli chana into a main dish. It is spice filled and satisfies the taste buds when you are craving Indian-Chinese fusion flavors.

Similarly, I had turned the popular chilli paneer into a main dish by making Chilli Paneer Noodles which are linked here.

Why is this take better than the usual?

• Protein and flavor packed
• An alternative to the usual chilli paneer
• Serve as appetizer or round out into a meal
• Not deep fried and an option to bake

Recipe Tips and Notes

Ingredient tips

• Use canned chick peas to save time!
• Mince all the vegetables, it really helps to get the flavor out of each one into the sauce.
• Besan flour (gram flour) is needed and it is not the same as chickpea flour! Besan is a made of chana dal or split brown chickpeas which is finely ground. It can be found easily at any Indian store and even online like this one.  This flour is made from Bengal gram beans, an Indian variety of garbanzo beans is difference that the usual chickpea flour found in the US.

Cooking the chana /chickpeas

Why pan fry the chana?

• The chick peas are pan fried to give them some texture.  You could just use chick peas out of a can with less oil but they won’t get the same type of texture. If you choose that option, I would ensure to cut the bell peppers in bigger pieces and add the roasted cashews so you have some crunch in the dish. Else, the chick peas will just be mushy and you won’t have any crunch.

Baking instead of pan frying

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Making chilli chana

First, you will coat the chickpeas with besan or gram flour.  Next, heat oil and pan fry the chana or chickpeas.

Making the sauce with vegetables

Then, saute the vegetables and add sauce mixture.  Add a little water and an arrowroot or cornstarch slurry to thicken the sauce.

Bring it all together!

Toss the chickpeas in the sauce to mix. Top with spring onion greens.  Optionally, top with sesame seeds and roasted cashews for more texture.