Chole Recipe (Street Style Chole Masala)

For pressure cooking white chickpeas

• 1 cup dried white chickpeas (garbanzo beans, kabuli chana or safed chole) - 200 grams
• 3 cups water - for soaking chickpeas
• 2.5 to 3 cups water - for pressure cooking the chickpeas
• 2 to 3 dried amla or dried Indian gooseberry or 1 black tea bag, optional
• ½ teaspoon salt or add as required

Ingredients for gravy

• ⅓ cup onions - finely chopped
• ½ cup tomatoes - finely chopped
• ½ teaspoon ginger garlic paste or 2 to 3 small garlic cloves + ½ inch ginger, crushed to a paste in a mortar-pestle
• ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder (ground turmeric)
• ½ teaspoon red chili powder or cayenne pepper
• ¼ teaspoon garam masala - optional
• ¾ to 1 teaspoon amchur powder (dry mango powder), optional and only to be added when you do not have dry pomegranate seeds
• 2 to 3 green chilies - slit
• 1 to 1.25 cups water or the stock in which the chickpeas were cooked
• 1.5 to 2 tablespoons oil
• salt as required

Spices for chole masala powder

• 2 black cardamoms
• 1 inch cinnamon
• 3 to 4 black peppercorns
• 2 cloves
• 1 tej patta (Indian bay leaf) - medium sized
• ¼ teaspoon carom seeds (ajwain)
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
• ½ teaspoon dry pomegranate seeds
• 1 to 2 kashmiri dry red chilies

For garnishing

• 2 to 3 tablespoons Coriander leaves - chopped, (cilantro)
• ½ to 1 inch ginger - julienne
• 1 onion - small to medium-sized, sliced or chopped
• 1 tomato - small to medium-sized, sliced or chopped
• 1 lemon or lime, sliced or quartered