Pindi Chole
A gift from Rawalpindi, Pindi Chole or Pindi Chana is an authentic and rustic chickpea maincourse dish cooked in traditional spices. Believe me, this dish is so delicious! The aroma and good looks of this dish add another reason for making it irresistible! It is best served with kulcha, poori or bhatura but you can pair it with any bread of your choice and enjoy!๐๐โ
While it is common in most parts of the country to flavour chole with readymade chole masala, what makes the Pindi Chana really different from the rest is making it with freshly ground spices at home and the procedure of cooking kabuli chana in combination with chana dal .
Here is the complete recipe:
- 4
- 25 minutes
- 40 minutes
Ingredients
- For Pressure Cook
- 1 Cup White Chickpeas/Kabuli Chana
- 1 Tea Bag or 1 teaspoon Dried Tea leaves
- 1 inch Cinnamon Stick or 1 teaspoon Cinnamon Powder
- 2 Cloves
- 2 Green Cardamoms
- 1 tablespoon Split Bengal Gram/Chana dal
- A pinch of Baking Soda
- A pinch of Salt
- 2 Cups Water
- To Roast and Grind
- 3-5 Black Peppercorns
- 3 Dried Kashmiri Red Chillies
- 1/4 teaspoon Carom Seeds
- 1 tablespoon Coriander Seeds
- 1 tablespoon Cumin Seeds
- 1 tablespoon Dried Pomegranate Seeds/Sukha Anardana (see notes)
- To Mix Together
- 1 teaspoon Red Chilli Powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Turmeric Powder
- 1 teaspoon Dry Mango Powder/Amchur Powder
- 1/4 teaspoon Garam Masala
- 1/4 teaspoon Black Salt
- 1 teaspoon Dried Fenugreek Leaves/Kasoori Methi
- Salt as per taste
- For Gravy
- 2 Large Onions, roughly chopped
- 5-6 cloves Garlic
- 1 teaspoon grated Ginger
- 2-3 Medium Green Chillies
- 2 tablespoon Coriander Leaves
- 1 Large Tomato, pureed to a fine paste
- 2 tablespoon Olive Oil
- For Garnishing(Optional)
- Long and thinly sliced ginger
- Lemon Juice
- Coriander Leaves
- Thin slices of Onion & Tomatoes
- Slit Green Chillies
- For Tempering(Optional)
- 2 tablespoon Clarified Butter/Ghee
- 1 tablespoon Mustard and Cumin seeds
- A pinch of Asafoetida/Heeng
Directions
- Soak chickpeas for 8-9 hours or overnight. Drain the excess water and rinse them in cold water for 2-3 minutes.
- Put tea bag/powder, cinnamon, cloves and coarsely crushed cardamom in 2 cups water and boil for 2-3 minutes. Strain the spices and reserve the water.
- Combine the chickpeas, chana dal, baking soda and salt in the water reserved in step 2. Mix well, put in a pressure cooker and cook for 3 whistles or until soft.
- In a pan, dry roast black peppercorns, cumin seeds, coriander seeds and all the other ingredients mentioned in โto roast and grindโ heading for 5-6 minutes or till they turn light brown. Let the spices cool down and grind them to a fine powder.
- In the mixture ground above, add turmeric powder, red chilli powder, dry mango powder, black salt, garam masala, kasoori methi and salt. Mix the powder well. Homemade Chole Masala is ready.
- Grind onions, garlic, ginger, green chillies and coriander leaves to a fine paste.
- Heat oil in a deep non-stick pan, add the onion paste and sautรฉ on a medium for 5-6 minutes.
- When the oil starts leaving the sides, add tomato pureรฉ and the chole masala made in step 5. Mix well and cook the gravy for 6-7 minutes or till the oil again starts leaving the sides.
- Add boiled chickpeas and 1 cup warm water and mix well and cook on a medium flame for 3-4 minutes or till the water dries out while stirring occasionally.
- Transfer the prepared chole in a serving bowl and garnish with long sliced ginger, coriander leaves, lemon juice, slit green chillies and thinly sliced onions and tomatoes.
- For tempering, heat ghee in a pan and add asafoetida, mustard and cumin seeds. Put the tempering on the garnished chole and serve hot with Kulcha, Poori or Bhatura.
Notes:
- For a quicker version, you can use canned chickpeas as it will save soaking and boiling time.
- If you do not have dry pomegranate seeds then you can also use tamarind paste. In this case, add the tamarind paste in step 8 after adding tomato pureรฉ.
- You can increase or decrease the chilli powder content as per your taste.
- If the chole masala is made in excess then you can preserve it for a couple of months. Put it in an air tight container and keep in your refrigerator.
If you haven't tried Pindi Chole yet then there's no more excuse to do it and you are going to love it! Do try this recipe at home and let me know how it went. Leave a comment, take a picture, post it on Instagram and tag me @hungertreats.
Happy Cooking! :)
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