Chole Masala | Punjabi Chana Masala
Chole Masala is a dish that needs no introduction – a very popular North Indian delicacy prepared by cooking chole/chickpeas in onion-tomato gravy. While cooking chole, we have added tea bag to enhance their colour.
Addition of amchur powder or anardana is a must in this recipe, to make it tangy. The only thing to be kept in mind is to soak chole/chickpeas overnight. So if you plan to prepare chole for lunch then you need to soak them in water overnight. But if you plan to make them for dinner, you can soak them in the morning. There is also a shortcut way to avoid soaking for 8-10 hours – to soak them in boiling water for about 2-3 hours. But we highly recommend soaking chole overnight. This shortcut technique also depends on the type of chole/chickpeas that we are using. So it’s better not to take any risk and soak them in advance.
Serve Chole Masala with parathas or rice.
If you are looking for more Indian Curry/Sabzi recipes, then do have a look at other recipes on the blog like –
Begun Bhaja
Kaju Karela
Mixed Vegetables in Spinach Gravy
Bhindi Masala
Sev Tamatar ki Sabzi
Rajma Masala
Pumpkin Sabzi
Chole Masala | Punjabi Chana Masala
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Ingredients (1 cup = 240 ml)
For boiling chickpeas/chole
- 1 cup chole/chickpeas
- 3 cloves
- ½ inch cinnamon stick/dalchini
- pinch of baking soda/eno
- pinch of salt
- ½ teaspoon chole masala or garam masala
- 1 tea bag
- 3 cups water
Other ingredients
- 4 medium sized tomatoes finely chopped or coarsely pureed
- 2 big sized onion finely chopped (or 3 medium sized onions)
- 2 tablespoon oil
- 1 tablespoon ghee
- 1 broken dry red chilli deseeded
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds/jeera
- 2 green chillies cut into 2 pieces or finely chopped
- pinch of asafoetida/hing
- 5-6 garlic cloves finely chopped or minced
- an inch piece of ginger grated
- 1 teaspoon coriander powder/dhania powder
- 1 teaspoon jeera/cumin powder
- ½ teaspoon red chili powder or as required
- ½ teaspoon amchur powder/mango powder
- 1.5 teaspoon chole masala
- salt
- small bunch of coriander leaves chopped
Instructions
For boiling chickpeas/chole
- Soak chole overnight. Next day, drain all the excess water and wash thoroughly.
- Transfer them to a vessel for pressure cooking. Add cloves, cinnamon stick, salt, eno, chole masala, 1 tea bag and 3 cups of water. Pressure cook them on high flame till 1 whistle and then reduce the flame and cook for another 15-20 minutes.
- Once the pressure releases, open the lid. Remove tea bag and strain. Preserve the stock (water in which we boiled chickpeas). We will be using it for our gravy. Set boiled chole aside.
Preparing Chole Masala
- In a non-stick pan, heat oil and ghee. Add dry red chilli and cumin seeds. Once they splutter, add green chilli, hing, and chopped onions.
- Saute till the onions become transparent.
- Then add ginger and garlic and saute for another 2-3 minutes.
- Now add chopped tomatoes and saute till tomatoes become soft and pulpy.
- Now add all the spice powders - dhaniya powder, jeera powder, chole masala, red chilli powder, amchur powder and salt. Saute for 2-3 minutes or till fat starts separating from our gravy.
- Now add boiled chole and about 1-1.5 cups of the preserved stock and stir.
- Simmer for another 5-10 minutes. If you prefer more gravy, you may add more stock.
- Garnish with chopped coriander leaves. Serve hot with puris, parathas, bhaturas or steamed rice/ jeera peas pulao.
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