PUNJABI CHOLE MASALA

Chole are very much liked by everyone.. There are n number of recipes to experiment with.. Which is also protein power packed 💪

For this chole recipe, I have made freshly ground spice powder.

Spice powder recipe is adapted from online site.📠

It gives very nice and aromatic flavors to the dish.

So no store bought chole masala is used in this recipe. 😞
To get restaurant like taste, i have used anardana powder.
It gives nice tangyness to the dish.
You can add amchur powder also with it. Don't have it, no worries use the lemon juice.

Soaking time: 8 hours or overnight

Ingredients:

Fresh grounded spice masala ( You can reduce for less spiciness)
Bay leaves – 2
Black cardamom – 2
Cloves – 3-4
Cinnamon stick – ¼ inch piece
Black peppercorns – ½ teaspoon
To grind -
Onion – 1 medium or 1 cup roughly chopped
Tomato – 2 small or 1 cup roughly chopped
Green chili – 1
Ginger – ½ inch piece, chopped (optional)
Garlic – 2 cloves, sliced (optional)
For Curry –
Dry chickpeas or kabuli chana or chole – 1 cup
Oil – 2-3 tbsp
Cumin seeds – ½ tsp
Salt – to taste
Red chili powder – 2. 5 tsp
Coriander powder – 1 tsp
Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
Anardana powder (dried pomegranate seeds powder) – 1 tsp
Water – 2 ¼ cups
Amchur powder (dried mango powder) - 3/4th tsp

To garnish -

Cilantro or coriander leaves – 2 tbsp, finely chopped

Instruction:

Wash dry channa under running cold water till water is clear.

Soak them in enough water for 8 hours overnight, if no time then soak in hot water for 4-5 hrs.

After soaking they will double up in size, pressure cook it for 3-4 whistles in enough water and keep aside.

You can add tea powder tied in cloth with channa to get nice brown color.

Meanwhile the peas are getting cooked we will make dry spice powder.

Take bay leaves, black cardamom, cloves, peppers and cinnamon stick in a small pan.

Dry roast them on low-medium heat for 2 minutes.

Your kitchen gonna get nice aroma of spices.

Remove it to a plate and let it cool completely.

Once cooled, grind it in mixer to a smooth powder.

Now grind the chopped onion, tomato, ginger, garlic and green chili to a smooth paste. I 
used store bought ginger garlic paste.

Heat the oil in a pan on medium heat. Once hot add cumin seeds, let it splutter.

Add prepared onion-tomato puree to the oil and fry it till the oil separates.

Sprinkle some salt to fast cooking.

It will splutter a lot, you can cover it.

It avoids some mess around the stove.. 😉

Now add red chili powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder, anardana powder and prepared spice powder.

Mix well and cook till oil starts to ooze out.

Add boiled chole to the curry and add water as required.

Taste the gravy and adjust the salt or chili powder as per your liking.

Also check the gravy consistency. If gravy is thin and watery, then let it simmer for few minutes.

If it gravy is too thick. add some more water and simmer for 2-3 minutes.

Now at the end, add amchur powder and mix.

Finally add chopped cilantro for garnishing.

Punjabi chole is ready to serve.. 😋😋😋

Note:

You can do this directly in pressure cooker method, will update soon.

You can add store bought masala instead of fresh grounded.

Adding garlic and ginger is optional.

Tastes great with poori, bhaturas, many more. 😍😍

Spiceness can be reduced as your choice.

Do try and let me know how it went well.

Thanks for dropping by 😄😄..!!