Punjabi Chhole
A classic homely Punjabi recipe for a spicy Chhole/ Chole/ Pindi Chana (Garbanzo beans spiced curry).
Servings: 4
Equipment
- Pressure Cooker
- Small Kadhai or Pan
Ingredients
- 1 cup Raw Chickpeas/ Safed Chana/ Chole/ Chhole
- Water for soaking
- Salt to taste
For the Masala/ Tadka
- 2 tbsp Vegetable oil/Tel
- 1 tsp Cumin seeds/ Jeera
- 1 Black Cardamom/ Badi Elaichi
- A small stick of cinnamon/ Dalchini
- 1/2 tsp Whole black pepper/ Kali Mirch
- 2 Cloves/ Laung
- 2 Onions/ Pyaaz, medium sized finely chopped
- 2 Garlic/ Lassan, big cloves minced
- 1 inch piece Ginger/ Adrak cleaned or peeled, finely chopped
- 2 Tomatoes/ Tamatar, large pureed or crushed
- Tamarind/ Imli - a small lemon size piece Or Amchur Or 1/2 teaspoon Anardana (Pomegranate seeds)
- 1/2 tsp Turmeric powder/ Haldi Optional
- 2 tsp Red chilli powder/ Lal Mirch powder
- 4 tsp Coriander powder/ Dhaniya Powder
- 1/2 tsp Garam masala
- 1 tsp Roasted Cumin powder/ Bhuna Jeera powder See Notes
- Fresh coriander leaves/ Hara Dhaniya cleaned and chopped
Instructions
- Rinse and soak the chickpeas in cold water overnight or for 5-6 hours. Adjust the water in the soaked chickpeas to about approximately 3 cms and cook for 3 whistles in a pressure cooker followed by 5 minutes on low heat.
- To prepare the tadka, start by soaking the tamarind in half a cup of hot water. Leave this while you gather and prepare other ingredients for the recipe.
- In a food processor, process the onions and garlic to a fine chop. Keep aside. Purée the tomatoes, ginger and green chilli together.
- Put all the whole spices in a mortar and pestle and grind to a coarse spice mix. For the tadka, heat oil in a small kadhai.
- Once the oil heats up, add the coarse spice mix and let the spices bloom for 30 seconds. You will be able to smell the aroma.
- Next add the chopped onions and garlic and mix it in. Cook the onions till they become a dark golden brown but careful not to burn them. When the onions are light golden, you should be ready with the tomatoes as the onions will only take a couple of minutes to be done.
- Add the tomato-chilli-ginger purée and mix it in the onions. Throw in the salt, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, coriander powder and garam masala and stir.
- Let the tomatoes cook on low heat and stir occasionally. Once you see the oil separate, the tomatoes are cooked.
- Add 2-3 ladles of boiled chickpeas in the tadka and press them to mash them with the back of the ladle/spoon. We do this to thicken the curry.
- Cook for another 5 minutes on low heat and then transfer the tadka in the pressure cooker with the rest of the chickpeas.
- Add tamarind pulp and 1/2 cup of water if needed. If you prefer the chhole to be thicker, you can skip adding the water.
- At this point, add the roasted cumin powder and mix it in.
- Pressure cook the chickpeas for one whistle. Remove from heat and let the pressure release on its own from the cooker.
- Take out the chickpeas in a serving bowl and top them with chopped fresh coriander leaves.
- To serve you could fry some potatoes and slice some raw onion and add on top of the Chhole bowl. Serve these delicious spicy Punjabi Chhole with bhatura, puris, chapati or rice! Would be great with some quinoa too!
Notes
- Roasted Cumin/ Bhuna Jeera Powder: Find full recipe for this condiment here. But here's a short version: In a small pan or tawa, dry roast cumin seeds till you can see the the colour change to a darker brown and can smell the aroma. Keep stirring the jeera in the pan so that it roasts evenly. In a mortar and pestle, grind the cumin and keep aside. You can roast and grind a bigger batch of roasted cumin powder and grind it in a dry grinder. This roasted cumin powder/ bhuna jeera is great for salads, chaats and raitas (spiced yogurt)!