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.
Love this punjabi chole,love that authentic colour of this dish.
Even I use tea while making chana masala and I love it. Loved you version of the curry Nags. Great photography as well 🙂
The tea seems to give it such an authentic colour…learnt this from a Punjabi friend and always make it with that ! Nice clicks
Beautiful pops and nicely presented chole
I agree – good chhole/chana masala can be made at home! So, how was it? As good as the restaurant?
Recently one of my aunt made authentic chole with tea and i thought it was crazy! Good to see the same recipe here too 🙂 WIll definitely try this out soon.
it does seem crazy right? i saw this tip in some magazine years ago and since then have always used it. the chickpeas taste nothing like tea btw 🙂
How long does it take for the chickpeas to be fully cooked in the 1st step?
my bad. have edited the post. about 4-5 whistles in the pressure cooker should be sufficient to cook the chickpeas.
Wow,loved the recipe and more the clicks! Beautiful!
Thank you for post..
Garden Centre Ashford
Picture perfect…Bookmarking this one…yumm.
Wow,loved the recipe and more the clicks! Beautiful!