Chole / Chana masala / Spicy chick peas curry

Chole or Punjabi chole or Chana masala is a spicy chick peas curry which part of the Punjabi cuisine, loved by all. It is a dry curry but can be made with more gravy if you want. Chole is accompanied by Batura which is a deep-fried bread and a glass of lassi. It also goes well with chapathi/ roti / phulka and even dosa. You can also team this up with Kerala appam.

This dish requires overnight soaking of chickpeas. Also keep a good 1.15 hrs of your time for the preparation/ cooking.

Ingredients:

• Chick peas / Kabuli chana- 1 cup
• Tomatoes - 3
• Onion - 1 big or 2 medium
• Green chilies - 2 (slit open)
• Lemon - 1/2
• Red chilly powder - 1 small spoon
• Crushed ginger or ginger paste
• Salt 
• Dry mango powder / Aamchur powder - 1 small spoon
• Edible oil
• For masala
• Bay leaf - 1/2
• Cumin seeds / Jeera - 1 spoon
• Coriander seeds / Methi - 1 spoon
• Fennel seeds / Saunf - 1/2 spoon
• Dry red chilly - 2
• Cinnamon stick - 1/2
• Cloves - 3
• Pepper corns/ seeds - 6-7
• Cardamom - 8

Preparation:

• Soak chick peas overnight in water. By next day its size would have increased.

• In a pressure cooker, cook the chick peas/ chana with a lot of water and 1 spoon salt. Take 6 whistles. The chana should become soft by now. Wait till the steam goes off. Once the steam goes off open the cooker, take one pea in a spoon and try squeezing it. If it is soft and you are able to squeeze then it is ready. This step will take 15-20 mins. 

• Chop the onions and tomatoes and keep aside.

• In a frying pan, dry roast all the ingredients for masala for 1 min. Once it cools down, grind it to make a fine powder.

• Heat a frying pan, add edible oil. Add cumin seeds (very little) and allow them to crackle. Add ginger paste and saute for 1 min. Add green chilies and chopped onions and saute for 3 mins. Onions should become golden brown.

• Add tomatoes, red chilly powder and saute well for 2 mins Let it cook well till we get a paste of tomato-onion. This could take 15 mins.

• Add the ground masala powder to this and saute well for 2 mins. Add the cooked chana/ chick peas from the pressure cooker. Drain out the excess water.

• Add aamchur/  dry mango powder and salt (if needed). Close with a lid and cook for 10 mins in low flame.

• You can make the curry dry or with little gravy as you wish. Squeeze lemon juice and mix well.
• Transfer to a serving bowl and garnish with coriander.

The dish is quite spicy but gels well with a lot of Indian breads. It took almost 1.15 hrs for me and I had to be patient while making it. But the result was superb. Try this dish this weekend and have a good time!