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5.0 from 6 votes

Chole Chana Masala Recipe- Punjabi Style

Made in spicy onion tomato gravy and flavored with Indian spices, this Punjabi Chole Chana Masala Recipe is heavenly and perfect for a weeknight hearty meal!

Prep Time
5 hrs
Cook Time
mins
Total Time
5 hrs 40 mins
Servings: 8 bowl
Calories: 290 kcal
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients

  • 3 cups Dry Chickpea can use canned chickpeas
  • 2 medium onion
  • 4 medium tomato
  • 2-3 clove garlic
  • 1 tablespoon grated ginger
  • 2 tablespoon desi ghee
  • 1 small bay leaf
  • 1-2 piece whole clove
  • 1-2 piece whole black pepper
  • 1 piece cardamom
  • 1 tablespoon red chilly powder can reduce the heat.
  • 1.5 tablespoon chole masala GM brand
  • 1-2 piece green chili
  • 6-7 cups water for boiling chickpeas, can adjust
  • salt as per taste I use 2 teaspoon

Instructions

    Cup of Yum
  1. The prep time begins as early as a night before you wish to cook chickpea curry. Soaking Chickpeas is an important step and I would recommend not skipping it. But if for some reason you couldn't soak them, you may soak them in hot water for 10 min or cook them longer than usual. (15 min more). In a large pressure cooker, add soaked chickpeas (drain the water in which they were soaked) along with salt and grated ginger.Let it boil for 2 whistles on full and then simmer the flame and cook for about 15 min. The boiled chickpeas would be soft and their outer skin would come off. You may mash them easily with fingers. If you don't like mushy chickpeas, you may pressure cook for 10 min only.A few people add tea leaves wrapped in a muslin cloth for the perfect brown color of chickpeas. I have never used them and I use a good masala brand which adds the much needed brown shade to this curry.
  2. In a sauce pan or heavy bottomed kadai/wok, prepare the onion-tomato gravy. Add ghee to the wok. Once hot, add Heeng (Asafoetida), Cumin Seeds, Bayleaf, Cardamom, Black pepper, Clove, onion, and garlic. Onions take about 2 min to become pink and transparent. You may add the chopped tomatoes. Tomato gravy can also be used.
  3. Once tomatoes are cooked, you may add the spices- red chilly powder, chole masala and green chilly. I have not added Garam masala and Amchur as the chole masala had these already.Cook tomatoes with spices for about 2 min on slow flame. Add chickpeas and let them simmer on slow flame for about 5-10 min to blend the spices and flavor. You may boil more depending upon how thick gravy you wish to have. Once they cool off for few hrs, they tend to become thicker.I generally pressure cook the chickpeas after adding masala for about 5 min.
  4. The Chole chana Masala is ready! Top it with coriander leaves and sliced ginger and serve it with rice, paratha or poori.

Notes

  • Boiling Chickpea with salt helps cook them faster.
  • If you are making this dish in summers, I suggest soaking them in hot water for 2-3 hrs rather than to soak overnight. This helps increasing perish-ability time.
  • If you are using the canned chickpeas, make sure to drain the water and remove the aquafaba layer under tap water.
  • To have a blended flavor in the curry, make sure to pressure cook the chole for 5 min after adding the onion-tomato gravy.
  • If you are using store-bought Chole Masala, make sure to read the instructions. I use only a small quantity of it. They usually are added with extra salt and I avoid using whole packet in one recipe. Instead I use 1-2 tablespoon depending upon the quantity of chole.
  • Pls note that the serving size may change if you serve chole curry with rice. This estimated serving is in bowls and depends on the consistency of gravy as well.