Meals · Curries

Chana masala

Name: Chana masala
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 1 1/2 tbsp canola oil; 2 onions yellow onions, finely chopped; 5 cloves garlic, minced; a thumb ginger, grated; 2 tsp ground cumin; 2 tsp ground coriander; 1 1/2 tsp turmeric; 2 tsp chili powder; 400 g crushed tomatoes; 2 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed; 200 ml water; 1 tsp salt; 1 lime lime; a handful fresh cilantro, chopped

Chickpeas simmered in spiced tomato and onion until the sauce clings. Cheap, fast, keeps for days, and it is fibre plus plant protein plus water with almost no added fat — which puts it near the top of this whole library.

Time: 40 min (10 prep + 30 cook)
Servings: 4
Per serving: 296 kcal
Protein: 11 g

Both directions are legitimate — the score measures fullness per calorie, not virtue. Every version is the same dish, rebalanced.

Ingredients

1 1/2 tbsp canola oil20 g
2 onions yellow onions, finely chopped250 g
5 cloves garlic, minced15 g
a thumb ginger, grated20 g
2 tsp ground cumin5 g
2 tsp ground coriander5 g
1 1/2 tsp turmeric3 g
2 tsp chili powder4 g
400 g crushed tomatoes400 g
2 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed480 g
200 ml water200 g
1 tsp salt5 g

To serve

1 lime lime25 g
a handful fresh cilantro, chopped15 g

Every ingredient links to its food page — same data, same score, same formula.

Steps

Cook the onion in the oil over medium heat for a full 10 minutes until it is genuinely browned, not just softened. This is where the depth comes from and there is no shortcut.
Add the garlic and ginger for a minute, then the cumin, coriander, turmeric and chilli powder. Fry the spices 30 seconds in the oil — dry spices need fat and heat to open up.
Add the tomatoes and cook down 5 minutes until the oil separates at the edges, then the chickpeas, water and salt.
Simmer 15 minutes, mashing a few chickpeas against the side to thicken it. Finish with lime and cilantro.

Why this score

solidly filling

Low energy density — a lot of food for the calories.

Three routes to fullness — one is enough

15% of kcal

79% water

42 g/Mcal

What pulls it down

How scores work

Computed on the finished dish, not an average of the parts: 1184 kcal goes into the pot, 1447 g of ingredients comes out as ~1250 g of food → 95 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water, and energy density is the score's biggest lever — so we show the math. Full formula here.

Per

Calories: 95
Protein: (15%); 4 g
Fat: (30%); 3 g
Carbohydrates: (55%); 13 g
of which sugar: 4 g
Fiber: 4 g
Sodium: 289 mg

Percentages are the share of calories from each macronutrient.

Computed from the ingredients' USDA data — nothing typed by hand. Every number is traceable, every score recomputable.

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Photo: AI-generated. Nutrition and score are computed from the ingredients with the published formula — this recipe hasn't been kitchen-tested by us yet.