Avantika's Kitchen Delights: Traditional Chole Masala

Chole Masala is a traditional dish of India and is prepared by cooking White Chickpeas / Kabuli Chana in a tomato onion gravy spiced with basic Indian dry spices.

My style of this recipe is very simple and can be cooked quickly and easily. I will show how to prepare this dish in other ways in future.

INGREDIENTS :

(1) 200 gms of White Chickpeas (Called Kabuli Chana in Hindi)

(2)Water for soaking white chickpeas and while cooking

(3) 3 Medium sized Onions

(4) 2 Tomatoes

(5) 15 cloves of Garlic

(6) 1 inch sized Ginger piece

(7) 1 tea spoon of Coriander seeds

(8) Half tea spoon of Cumin / Jeera seeds

(9) Half teaspoon of Turmeric powder / Haldi

(10) 1 teaspoon of Kashmiri Red Chilli powder

(11) 3/4 tea spoon of Cumin / Jeera powder

(12) 1 tea spoon of Coriander / Dhaniya powder

(13) 1 teaspoon of Kitchen King garam masala

(14) 1 teaspoon of Chole masala

(15) Half tea spoon of Black Pepper powder.

(16) 2 pinch of Asafoetida / Hing

(17) 4 table spoon of Vegetable / Cooking oil

(18) 3 Tej Patta / Bay leaves

(19) 1 inch sized Cinnamon Stick

(20) Salt to taste

(21) Coriander leaves for garnish

Cuisine : Indian

Serves : 6 - 10 persons

Time required : 12 hours for soaking the White chickpeas / Kabuli chana, 20 mins for boiling White chick peas and cooking it while other ingredients are being made ready at the same time. 40 mins for preparing the Chole gravy and cooking the chickpeas in it.

Total time : 12 hours/ Over night for soaking White Chickpeas and 1 hour for cooking.

PREPARATION :

(1) Soak 200 Grams of white Chickpeas (Kabuli Chana) in water for 8-12 hours or Over night. I soaked it for exactly 12 hours.

White Chickpeas (Called Kabuli Chana in Hindi)

(2) After soaking 12 hours. Drain away the water and keep the soaked chana aside.

Soaked Chickpeas

(3) Take the soaked Kabuli Chana in a pressure cooker. Add 2 cups of water for one cup of Kabuli Chana and in this proportion add water to the soaked chana. Add 1 tea spoon of salt and half tea spoon of Turmeric powder / Haldi. Cook this in a pressure cooker until it gives 7 whistles on a full gas flame. After 7 whistles, turn off the gas flame and let the pressure of the cooker come down naturally. After which open the lid of the pressure cooker. If the Chickpeas / Kabuli chana is not cooked as required ..... cook until it gives 2-3 or more whistles.
If a pressure cooker is not available and one is trying to cook in a deep pan or any other utensil, one can cook, but it will take more time.
Note : It took me 20 mins to finish the boiling of chick peas and the pressure of the cooker to come down naturally.

(4) Break the boiled kabuli chana with finger tips and check if they are properly cooked. If they break and form a smooth piece...then they are cooked. If they are hard to break...then you will have to boil it more and cook till required point is reached. In my case.....it took me 7 whistles to cook Chickpeas / chana and they were soft while breaking using finger tips as shown.

(5) While the Kabuli Chana is being boiled in the previous step that required 25 minutes, we can get ready rest of the ingredients to prepare the gravy. Chop 3 medium sized Onions into thin long slices as shown.

Chopped Onions

Chopped Onions, 15 cloves of chopped Garlic, 1 inch sized Ginger finely chopped and
1 tea spoon of Coriander seeds.

(6) Take Chopped Onions, Coriander seeds, Ginger and Garlic in a grinding jar and add 1 cup of water. Then grind the mixture into a smooth paste.

(7) Chop two Tomatoes into cubes and put them in the grinding jar and grind into a smooth puree as shown. No need to add water while grinding Tomatoes.

Onion ginger garlic coriander seeds paste, Tomato puree, Coriander leaves chopped, Bay leaves (called Tej patta in Hindi) and Cinnamon stick (called Dalchini in Hindi).

From left to right, from top to third row..... the ingredients are Cumin / Jeera powder, Coriander / Dhania powder, Garam masala (I use Kitchen King Garam Masala),
Chole masala, Black Pepper powder, Asafoetida / Hing powder, Turmeric / Haldi powder, Kashmiri lal mirch powder / Red chilli powder and Cumin / Jeera seeds.

Vegetable / cooking oil and salt.

All ingredients set together to prepare Chole masala

Note : By the time the Kabuli chana is boiled and kept aside, all our ingredients are ready.

METHOD :

(1) With this size of table spoon..take four tablespoons of cooking oil in a kadhai/wok.

(2) Add half tea spoon of Cumin seeds / Jeera to the oil and allow it to splutter. Add 2 pinch of Asafoetida / Hing. Add Tej patta and dalchini. Add Onion Ginger Garlic paste now. Mix well.

(3) Sauté / stir fry the Onion Ginger Garlic paste till they turn golden brown. This took me 12 mins on a low flame.

(4) Add Tomato puree, mix well. Add 1 cup of water. Mix well. Stir fry for 4 mins.

(5) Add all the dry spice powders now.

I added half teaspoon of Haldi, 1 teaspoon of Kashmiri Red Chilli powder, 3/4 tea spoon of Cumin / Jeera powder, 1 tea spoon of Coriander / Dhaniya powder, 1 teaspoon of Kitchen King Garam masala, 1 teaspoon of Chole masala, and half tea spoon of Black Pepper powder.

After that, cook for 2 mins till the spice powders mix well with the onion tomato paste, get cooked and release aroma and flavour.

(6) After stir frying the gravy for 2 mins after adding masala, add 1 glass of water and let it simmer.

(7) Take 1 cup of boiled Kabuli Chana and mash them with finger tips. Add the mashed chana to the boiled gravy. Mashed chana when added to the gravy....it makes the gravy thick.

Add rest of the whole boiled Kabuli Chana to the dense gravy.

(8) Add 3 glasses of hot/warm water to the gravy after adding boiled Kabuli Chana. Add salt to taste. Add chopped coriander leaves and mix well. Cook for 15 minutes on a medium flame.

By now the chana would have absorbed the masalas / spices.

And blended in the gravy.