Pindi Chole
A simple, healthy and flavourful Punjabi-style chickpea curry made with lightly spiced chickpeas. Easy enough for beginners, rich in protein and fibre, and great with roti, bhatura or rice.
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Rinse the dried chickpeas well and soak them overnight (at least 8 hours).
- After soaking, drain water. In a pressure cooker (or large pot), add chickpeas, tea bags, cinnamon, bay leaf, cardamom, cloves, baking soda, salt and 3 cups water. Pressure cook for 5 whistles (or until chickpeas are soft). Once done, discard tea bags and keep cooked chickpeas aside. Reserve half a cup cooking water.
- In a heavy pan/kadai, heat 3 tsp oil. Add chopped onion and saute until golden brown. Then add ginger-garlic paste and slit green chilli (if using), and sauté for a minute.
- Add the chana masala spice mix (about 2–3 tsp or to taste) and sauté on low flame for a minute until aromatic.
- Add finely chopped tomatoes. Cook until tomatoes turn soft and oil starts to separate from the masala.
- Add the cooked chickpeas, sprinkle salt (about ½ tsp or as per taste), pour some reserved cooking water (or plain water) to adjust consistency, mix gently, cover and simmer for 10–15 minutes on low flame so that flavours blend well.
- If you like richer taste, heat 1 tbsp ghee in a small pan, add slit red chilli, julienne ginger and ¼ tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder, sauté lightly (do not burn) and pour this tempering over the chole.
- Garnish with fresh chopped coriander. Serve hot with roti, bhatura, naan or rice.
Notes
Soaking chickpeas overnight ensures they cook evenly and soften well. Tea bags or a small piece of dried amla/black tea leaves help give the characteristic dark brown colour. Adjust spice level as per taste. Leftover chole tastes better the next day as flavours deepen.