Punjabi Chhole

Chhole makes it appearance on our table during weekends when the family craves for an exquisite breakfast. It is served with a bowl full of finely chopped onions along with  delicately chopped green chillies and lemon wedges. Hot puris land up on plates. Abbas also requires the bottle of green chilli sauce as the chopped green chillies fail to satiate his spice hunger… I feel so satisfied looking at Abbas as he indulges in one of his favourite breakfast platter ever! He would say “Seemu, I have overloaded myself. I think I’m gonna skip lunch today!!!” I smile to myself as I know he will be hungry by afternoon…

I had been making a ‘No-onion No-garlic Chhole’ for quite a long time and wanted a change of taste. Googling led me to the blog “A Mad Tea Party” and I instantly liked the recipe as it used roasted spices powder. I have always felt through my experience that freshly ground spices give a different dimension to any dish you cook. It’s calls for extra effort and time but then the end result would be simply worth it! I prepared this version of Chhole last Saturday and was happy with the outcome. We had some leftover Chhole which was consumed as Sunday brunch. Put Chhole in bowls and topped each bowl with onions, coriander leaves, green chillies, and Sev. We enjoyed it in the form of Chaat….

Here goes the recipe…

Ingredients
Kabuli Chana – 3 cup (chickpeas/garbanzo beans), soaked overnight in ½ tsp of cooking soda (or soak for 3-4 hours in hot water)
Ginger – 1”piece, peeled and grated (I used ginger paste)
Onion – 2 cups chopped
Tomato – 1 cup chopped
Oil – 2-3 Tbsp
Red chilli powder – 2 tsp
Garam masala – 1 tsp (optional)
Salt

For the masala
Coriander seeds - 2 tbsp heaped
Anardana  (seeds of wild pomegranate) – 1tbsp, (I did not have this, so omitted)
Cinnamon – 1” piece
Cloves – 4-5
Black peppercorns – 1 tsp
Black cardamom – 3-4
Cumin seeds – 2 tsp
Bay leaf - 1


Method

1.      Pressure cook chana / chickpeas for about 20 mins with enough water to cover them. I generally keep the flame high till one or 2 whistles and then keep it on sim for rest of the duration.

2.      In a cast iron pan, roast all the spices. Keep tossing and till they are almost blackened. Cool and grind to a powder.

3.      Heat oil in a pan. Add ginger and stir till its fragrant. Now add onions and sauté till they turn translucent pink. Then add tomatoes and sauté till oil starts separating.

4.      Add fresh ground masala, garam masala powder (optional) and red chilli powder.

5.      Add green chillies, cooked chhole (along with water) and salt. SImemr for 10 mins or more till you get the desired consistency.

6.      Serve hot with Indian bread.

Sending this to Bookmarked Recipes Every Tuesday event hosted by Priya and Aipi.