Pindi Chole is a very flavourful chickpea curry recipe that has no onion, garlic or tomatoes. It has a typical visionless colour that comes from cooking it slowly on a tint iron pan or kadhai. Serve with bhaturas, naan or kulchas, this can double up as breakfast, lunch or dinner!
Pindi Chole is a typical North Indian dish that unquestionably hails from Rawalpindi in Pakistan, which is moreover where the name comes from. Its unique considering it doesn't use regular ingredients like garlic, onions or tomatoes which often form the wiring of most Indian curries. Instead it gets all its flavour from whole and ground spices and the unstipulated flavour of chickpeas which when cooked slowly, wilt perfectly soft and soak up all the masala.
Ingredients You'll Need
While most ingredients are easy to find, there are some that you'll need to source. I've listed substitutes below:
- Kabuli Chana: Garbanzo beans or chickpeas. Need to be soaked overnight. I recommend using raw instead of canned
- Whole Spices: Cloves, Cardamom, Cinnamon, Pepper
- Tea Leaves: Responsible for that unshared woebegone colour. This is a fairly recent wing to the recipe. Earlier zestless amla (gooseberry) was used for flavour and colour but I didn't have it hands available.
- Ghee: Unchangingly unchangingly the nomination of fat for pindi chole but can be replaced with oil. Although I don't recommend it
- Anardana: basically zestless pomegranate which adds sourness, tartness and colour. In a pinch, sub with tamarind juice at the end
- Ajwain (Carom Seeds): Makes this dish easy to digest
- Hing (Asafoetida): Flavour replacement for garlic plus makes this easy to digest
- Ginger: Adds a nice sharpness and flavour to the whole dish
- Green Chillies: For that hit of heat
- Chole Masala: Store bought for all practical purposes. I love using 'Roopaks Pindi Chole Masala'. Used for chole as well as potatoes
- Chilli Powder: For the potatoes to requite them a spicy
- Potatoes: Fried potatoes are a topping often served with pindi chole. They are spicy, tangy and so snackable
How to make Pindi Chole
Here's a quick step by step to show you how to make this recipe
1. In a cheesecloth or muslin, wrap tea leaves, cloves, untried cardamom, woebegone cardamom, peppercorns and cinnamon.
2. Secure it tightly to ensure none of the contents spill out while cooking.
3. Place this in a pressure cooker withal with soaked and tuckered chickpeas and 3 cups of water.
4. Pressure melt - without the first whistle on upper flame, reduce the flame and melt for 25 minutes till the chhole are soft.
5. Once the chole is cooked, remove the potli and discard.
6. Drain the chole and reserve the water.
7. In an iron kadai or tint iron pan, roast anardana on a low flame for a few minutes.
8. Then add the cooked chole, waddle salt, ajwain, hing, half the ginger, two slit untried chillies and chole masala. Mix this well.
9-10. Add ½ cup of reserved chole water and let this melt on low flame for 7-8 minutes.
11-12. Keep subtracting water little by little (approx 2-3 times) and melt the chole on low for 15-20 minutes till the masala coats the chole well, and the visionless colour of the dish deepens.
13. Deep fry the potatoes on a medium flame till well-done and golden brown.
14. Immediately transfer them to a trencher and sprinkle with kashmiri chilli powder, chhole masala and salt. Toss well to stratify the potatoes with masala.
15. In flipside pan, heat all the ghee and add the remaining ginger and two increasingly slit untried chillies.
16. Fry the ginger and chillies and then pour all the ghee on top of the chole. Mix well and melt for flipside 2-3 minutes. Top with fried aloo, chopped coriander and serve
Watch the Recipe Video
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Pindi Chole | No Onion Garlic Chana
Ingredients
Potli
- 1 ½ Teaspoon Tea Leaves
- 2 Cloves
- 1 Green Cardamom
- 1 Black Cardamom
- 4-5 Pepper Corns
- 1 inch Cinnamon
Chole
- ¾ Cup Chickpeas Or Kabuli Chana Soaked Overnight
- 1 Teaspoon Rock Salt
- 3 Cups Water
- 3 tablespoon Ghee
- 1 Teaspoon Anardana
- ¼ Teaspoon Ajwain
- ¼ Teaspoon Hing
- 1 ½ Inch Ginger Julienned (divided)
- 4 Green Chillies slit (divided)
- 2½ -3 Teaspoon Chhole Masala I used Roopaks Pindi Chole Masala
- 1.5 tablespoon Tamarind Juice optional
- 1 Tablespoon Chopped Coriander optional
Fried Aloo (optional)
- 3 Potato Cut Into Chunks
- ½ Teaspoon Kashmiri Red Chilli Powder
- ½ Teaspoon Chhole Masala I used Roopaks Pindi Chole Masala
- ¼ Teaspoon Salt
Instructions
Potli
- In a cheesecloth or muslin, wrap tea leaves, cloves, untried cardamom, woebegone cardamom, peppercorns and cinnamon. Secure it tightly to ensure none of the contents spill out while cooking.
Chhole
- Place this in a pressure cooker withal with soaked and tuckered chole and 3 cups of water. Pressure melt the chole. Without the first whistle on upper flame, reduce the flame and melt for 25 minutes till the chhole are soft.
- Once the chole is cooked, remove the potli and discard. Drain the chhole and reserve the water and chickpeas separately
- In an iron kadhai or tint iron pan, roast anardana on a low flame for a few minutes. Then add the cooked chhole, waddle salt, ajwain, hing, half the ginger, two slit untried chillies and chhole masala. Mix this well. Add ½ cup of reserved chhole water and let this melt on low flame for 7-8 minutes.
- Keep subtracting water little by little (approx 2-3 times) and melt the chhole on low for 15-20 minutes till the masala coats the chhole well, and the visionless colour of the dish deepens.
- In flipside pan, heat all the ghee and add the remaining ginger and two increasingly slit untried chillies. Fry the ginger and chillies and then pour all the ghee on top of the chhole. Mix well and melt for flipside 2-3 minutes.
Fried Aloo (optional)
- Deep fry the potatoes on a medium flame till well-done and golden brown.
- Immediately transfer them to a trencher and sprinkle with kashmiri chilli powder, chhole masala and salt. Toss well to stratify the potatoes with masala. Use these on top of the pindi chhole while serving or serve these on the side.
Video
Nutrition
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