This recipe for Chole (or Chana Masala) is a bit different from what you typically see in recipe blogs. I have not seen something similar below and when I made this last week, I thought, I should share with you all.

This recipe was shared by our Sindhi neighbour aeons ago to my mum and I further experimented with this recipe, with this recipe the final incarnation which I have been making for years!

Chole

• 1 cup of dry chickpeas, soaked overnight
• 2 tbsp each of chana dal and yellow moong dal
• 4 onions, finely chopped
• 3 tomatoes, finely chopped
• 1 pod garlic, chopped
• 1-inch pieces ginger, chopped
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp amchur powder
• 1 tsp tamarind paste
• 1-2 tsp chole (or chana masala) powder
• 1 tsp garam masala powder
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• 1-2 tsp red chilli powder
• Salt to taste
• 2 tbsp oil
• Coriander leaves to garnish

Method:

• In a pressure cooker, cook the soaked chickpeas with the turmeric powder till they are soft
• Cook the dals (chana and moong) separately and keep aside.
• Heat the oil in a pan and when warm, add the cumin seeds and when the seeds pop, add the garlic and stir for a few seconds. Then add the ginger and saute for a few seconds.
• Now add half the chopped onions and saute till it becomes translucent.
• Next, add the tomatoes and a bit of salt plus the red chilli powder and let the tomatoes cook till it becomes mushy.
• Remove from the flame and keep aside till completely cool.
• In a blender, blend to a fine paste with the cooked dals.
• In the pan, pour the blended paste and let it come to a boil. Add the cooked chole and let it blend together.
• Add the tamarind paste if using, otherwise omit this step.
• Add the amchur powder and the garam and chole masalas and check for seasoning at this point. Add more if needed.
• Switch off the flame, garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with puris or bhature.
• Sprinkle the remaining chopped onions on individual servings and serve hot.
• I usually serve it with a sprinkling of chopped onions, followed by a tsp of tamarind dates chutney and some sev.

Notes:

• You can also cook the dals along with the chole to save time. This is how I usually do it, but this time I did as above and the result was that nobody could say there was dal in the chole and the whole gravy was super thick. Doing it with dal makes the gravy thick and you don’t need to add any thickening agents to the gravy, including blending some the cooked chole as some people are wont to do.
• I also realised that I have not yet shared the recipe for my Tamarind Dates chutney, so will do that soon. I’ll then link this recipe to that one so you have both recipes in the same page.