Although I am always tempted to order chana masala when we out to eat, TH hardly ever agrees, saying “it’s something we can make at home”. Not that we can’t make any of the other dishes at home, but somehow, dal and channa masala is a no-go for him.
While a regular chana masala is delicious in its simplicity and forms the better part of chana bhatura, I also love this Punjabi chole masala for its depth of flavour. Using black cardamom is key and I highly recommend sourcing it if you don’t have some in your pantry. For the deep colour of chickpeas in this recipe, I use a tea bag when pressure cooking them which adds the colour but none of the flavour in the final dish – trust me.
Punjabi Chole Masala Recipe
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 45 minutes
Serves 4-6
Adapted from: A Mad Tea Party
INGREDIENTS:
1.5 cups of dried chickpeas, soaked overnight
1 tea bag (optional)
1/2 tsp of baking soda (optional)
1″ piece of ginger, grated
2 onions, chopped
1 large tomato, chopped
2 tsp of red chilli powder
2 tbsp of oil
1 tsp of garam masala (I used Kitchen King Masala)
To Dry Roast:
3 tbsp of coriander seeds
A small piece of Indian cinnamon
4 cloves
1 tsp of whole black pepper
3 black cardamom
2 tsp of cumin seeds (jeera)
1 bay leaf
1-2 dry red chillies
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Drain the soaked chickpeas and rinse it once or twice. Add enough water it cover it by an inch and add the baking soda (I don’t generally do this but you can if you want the chickpeas to cook up quicker and softer) and a tea bag (this is for the deep colour which I love in Channa Masala – totally optional). Pressure cook for 4-5 whistles or partially cover and cook in a pan until soft.
2. Dry roast the listed ingredients taking care not to burn any of them. I made the mistake of adding coarsely ground jeera which turned a bit bitter. Don’t make that mistake, add whole jeera.
Cool, grind, and set this masala powder aside.
3. Heat oil in the same pan and add the grated ginger. Fry for 30 seconds until fragrant.
Add the onions next and fry until it turns pink and transparent. Next, add the tomatoes.
Cook until the onions and tomatoes turn mushy and the oil separates. As Anita says “there isn’t much oil to separate here” so just do this for 15 mins or so (if you are impatient like me) and get on with the rest of the process.
4. Add the ground masala powder, red chilli powder and garam masala to the onion-tomato mixture. Stir well for a few mins until this mixture turns dark and fragrant (I let it cook together for about 3-4 mins).
5. Now, add the cooked, drained channa and combine well.
6. Add about 3 cups of water and salt to this and cook in the open pan for 10-15 mins until your desired consistency is reached. Since I served it with chapati, I wanted it to be a bit on the “watery” side but not too much.
You must serve this channa masala with hot chapatis and raw, sliced onions. It tastes fantastic!
Brown base material is a throw from Ikea
Text art on the first pic by the uber-talented Sindhu.
The tea bag actually works!!!! My chole always would come a red colour no matter what combos of spices I tried. Thanks for this great tip. Its rare to see people actually sharing such unsaid, secret tips!
cinnamom-1', cardomom-4 onion-2-3, cut into small pieces, tomato-2,cut into small pieces, green chilly-4,sliced, curry leaves-1leaf, ginger garlic crushed, 3tp sambhar powder, turmeric power-a pinch, sunflower oil-4 tbl sp, 1 tp ghee.
+
cooked channa.
pour oil, ghee in a medium bottomed kadai
add cinnamom, elachi
add onion, curry leaves, green chillies, fry
add tomatoes, channa, salt crystal9kallu uppu)fry till oil seperates
add turmeric, sambhar powder, mediam flame, keep stirring
garnish with coriander.
noooo water
Made it, LOVED IT as usual Nags! <3
Served it with Jeera, Garlic fried rice 😀
please tell me how to use the tea bag/tea powder can be substituted?
you can omit the tea if you don't have teabags. tea leaves are not a good alternative because they are hard to sift out when the chole is cooked. the tea bag is only to add a deeper colour to the chole masala so it's totally fine if you omit it.
Oh the famous Pujabi Chole – looks absolutely gorgeous!
Nice clicks Nags.. Nice fonts..will try soon
great-secret-of-life.blogspot.com
Hi,
I tried your Recipe yesterday and it was a total failure. For 1.5 cups of dried chickpeas you use 1 tsp of whole black pepper + 2 tsp of red chilli powder ?? It is too much. It turned bitter and toooo Hot. Your Pictures look Yummy but the taste not. Sorry
i expect you to use your own judgement on heat levels and salt since preferences and tolerance vary largely. this was on the spicier side for us and we liked it that way. sorry it didn't turn good for you.
YUM ! pretty presentation
I got this recipe in my mail while my black chickpeas were soaking and thought of giving it a try. It was bit too hot for us It's probably the chilly powder I use is really strong. I'll just use half the amount of chilly powder. Other than that we love it. I can't wait to try it with the kabuli chana coz I know it's gonna taste even better. The aroma of the spices is irresistable. Thanks! 🙂
love that bowl.. and the chole look gorgeous! I am one of the kidns who will order a daal or chana masala out too:)