Chatpata Chana / Spiced Beans

This was created by accident. I had a lot of watery chole and I decided to add more chickpeas to it but my gas stopped working. I decided I’ll put it in to oven for a bit so the water dehydrates a bit and the chickpeas gets cooked. I completely forgot it was in there and when I realised it was fully dehydrated and the chickpeas were crunchy. It was very yummy and crunchy with tea.

So I refined it a bit where I did not have to make the whole chole but can get away with all dry ingredients and cans of beans.

INGREDIENTS:

• Chickpeas / mixed beans / kidney beans / white beans canned – 2 (I prefer the ones that do not have added salt)
• Masalas of your choice – 3 to 4 tbsp (I use a mix of chilly powder, chaat masala, chole or garam masala, turmeric and amchur. I generally use more of the chaat masala & amchur)
• Seeds and spices (optional) – 3 to 4 tbsp ( I add all sort of things to this like sesame seeds, chia seeds, fennel seeds (saunf), ajwain, jeera, garlic powder, etc)
• Oil – 1 tbsp
• Salt to taste – I normally don’t add salt because of the chaat masala

METHOD

• Drain out the liquid from the cans and give the beans a quick wash. You can used the ones you pressure cook too. I have suggested cans here just in case you want a quick snack.
• In a bowl add the beans, masalas, seeds, spices and oil and mix well so the beans are quoted well with the masalas.
• Line a baking tray and put the spiced beans in the tray and place in oven at 170 deg for 20 – 30 mins. You can take them out earlier or later too depending on how crunchy you want the beans to be.
• Your tasty snack for tea time is ready.

VARIATIONS

There can be so many variations to this one.

• You can use simple salt & pepper with a little bit of vinegar
• You could add onion & tomato when baking
• When serving you can serve with raw chopped tomato, onion, chilly and coriander
• If you like a little sweetness in your food then add a little bit of sugar before baking
• Instead of beans you can use nuts like cashew, almonds, peanuts. Or seeds like pumpkin, flax or pepita.
• When you are making this with nuts or seeds you need to keep the oven at a lower temperature as they tend to get burnt fast. So keep an eye. I normally keep the oven at 140 – 150 deg for 10 - 15 mins then keep an eye on the nuts.

I would love to hear your variation of this recipe. Post me your variations so I have something new to try the next time!