Pindi Chole
A classic dish from Punjab made out of Kabuli chana steeped in tea decoction and flavourful spices.
Calories 293kcal
Ingredients
For Pressure Cooking
- 1 Cup Dry Kabuli Chana
- 1 No Bay Leaf
- 3-4 no Green Cardamom
- 1 no Black Cardamom
- 4-5 Cloves
- 2 inch Cinnamon Sticks
- 1.5 tablespoon Tea Powder or 2 Tea bags
- 2 cups Water for pressure cooking
- 1 pinch Baking soda
- 1 teaspoon Salt
For Gravy
- 2 no's Onions medium size
- 6-7 no's Garlic cloves
- 1" inch Ginger
- 4-5 no's Large Tomato
- 2 tablespoon Mustard Oil
- 1 teaspoon Red Chilli Powder
- 1 teaspoon Coriander Powder
- 1 teaspoon Chole Masala , Refer Notes
- 1 teaspoon Kasuri Methi
- ¾ teaspoon Salt or as required
For Seasoning
- 1 tablespoon Ghee / Clarified Butter
- ½ inch Ginger ,cut into Julienne
- 2 no's Green Chilli , roughly cut and slit
- ½ teaspoon Garam Masala
For Serving / Garnishing
- 2 tablespoon Coriander Leaves
- 1-2 no Lemon Wedges
- Few Onion Rings
Instructions
Preparations
- Rinse and wash Kabuli Chana . Soak Kabuli Chana / Garbanzo beans for 8 hrs or overnight . Drain water ,wash and keep it aside.
- Boil 1 cup water with 1.5 tablespoon Tea powder. Strain and keep tea decoction aside.
- In a mixer jar , add roughly chop onions and blend to smooth paste . Around ½-2/3 cup onion paste is obtained.
- Make fresh ginger garlic paste from 6-8 garlic cloves and 1 inch ginger,makes around 2 teaspoon of ginger garlic paste
- In the same jar ,blend 4-5 tomatoes smoothly to get around 1 Cup of tomato puree. You can also blanch tomato and puree them.
For Semi Dry Gravy
- In a pressure cooker along with Soaked chana, add 1 Bay leaf , 3-4 cloves , 1.5 inch cinnamon stick , 3-4 green cardamom , 1 Black cardamom and 2 tea bags or 1 cup tea decoction (I have used tea 1 cup tea decoction made from 1.5 tablespoon of tea powder ).
- Add 2 cups of water ( or 1 cup water + 1 cup tea decoction) ,pinch of baking soda and salt . Pressure cook for 2-3 whistles, Allow pressure to release on its own.
- Discard whole spices , strain and separate boiled chana and stock , set aside.
- Heat mustard oil in a Kadai , add onion paste and fry till brown.
- Add ginger garlic paste and saute ,till raw smell goes off.
- Add red chilli powder , coriander powder and Chole masala powder ( Refer Notes if you are not using Chole masala ) , mix well .
- Now ,add 1 cup of tomato puree and saute and allow it cook till oil starts to release from the corners.
- Now add cooked chole , mix well . Add stock and ½ cup of water , add salt (remember salt is already added to chhole while cooking) and bring to boil.
- Once it comes to boil , simmer the flame allow it to thicken.Once it reaches the required consistency, add Kasuri methi / dried fenugreek and mix well.
For Seasoning
- Heat 1 tablespoon of ghee in a seasoning pan , add ginger juliennes fry well.
- Now add green chillies , fry and add ½ teaspoon of garam masala .
- Pour this seasoning over the chole .Mix well everything and garnish with coriander leaves .
For Serving
- Serve hot with lemon wedges and onion rings, along with Poori / Bhatura / Kulcha / Naan or Tandoori Roti.
- I served it along with Aloo Puri , was a killer combination :)
Notes
- If you don't have Chole Masala , alternatively for shortcut method , use 1 teaspoon of garam masala along with ½ teaspoon of Dry mango powder / amchur powder , ¾ teaspoon of Anardana seeds / pomegranate seeds powder and ½ teaspoon of Black salt.
- You can even add tamarind juice extracted from 1 teaspoon of firmly pressed tamarind soaked in ½ cup of warm water.
- Also cooking in a cast iron skillet ,gives a dark hue to the final outcome of the dish.
Nutrition
Calories: 293kcal