India — Pindi Chana or Chhole is a classic Punjabi dish and is eaten across Northern India. This recipe uses big, white chana or gramsand is cooked in a mixture of spices, cinammon sticks and black tea water to give it a nice, dark colour. This is usually garnished with julienned ginger, chopped coriander and wedges of lime. This delicious and filling dish can be eaten with any kind of bread be it roti, bhature, naan or even steamed rice for that matter.
For pressure cooking:
2 cup chana / chickpea (pre-soaked for at least 8 hours)
4 tea bags
2 inch cinnamon / dalchini
2 bay leaf / tej patta
6 pods cardamom / elachi
8 cloves / lavang
0.5 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
6 cup water
For chana masala spice powder:
1 tsp cumin / jeera
2 tsp coriander seeds
0.5 tsp shahi jeera
0.5 tsp pepper
0.5 tsp fennel / saunf
2 tsp kasuri methi / dry fenugreek leaves
6 cloves
4 pods cardamom / elachi
6 dried red chilli
0.5 tsp turmeric
0.5 tsp aamchur / dry mango powder
0.5 tsp pomegranate powder
pinch hing / asafoetida
For curry:
6 tsp oil
2 bay leaf / tej patta
2 onion (finely chopped)
2 tsp ginger garlic paste
2 chilli (slit)
4 tomato (finely chopped)
1 tsp salt
4 tbsp coriander (finely chopped)
For tempering:
2 tbsp ghee / clarified butter
2 chilli (slit)
2 inch ginger (julienne)
0.5 tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder
INSTRUCTIONS
Star by adding 3 tsp oil into a large vessel, preferably a kadai, and saute 1 bay leaf.
After this add 1 onion followed by 1 tsp ginger garlic paste and 1 chilli.
Let this saute well until the onions turn golden brown, add the prepared spice powder to this, then saute on a low flame until the spice powder turns aromatic. Thden add two tomatoes to this and saute well.
Cook until the tomatoes turn mushy and the oil is separated from the vegetables. Now add cooked chana and half teaspoon of salt. Now let this simmer until everything is combined and cooked, this usually takes 15-20 minutes on a medium flame. Finally garnish with chopped ginger and coriander. Serve with a wedge of lime, steamed rice and your choice of bread, enjoy!
(Recipe Hebbar’s Kitchen)