Chole also known as chana masala is a white chickpeas flavoured with a wide range of spice powders, notably a special Chole Masala, along with onions, ginger and garlic. Another special aspect of this famous street food is the cooking of the chana with tea, to give a rich flavour and color to it.This is best enjoyed with bhatura; a puffed and deep fried flat Indian bread. There are many variations while making chole, here I am sharing Punjabi Chole recipe along with the bhatura recipe in the same post.Simple and easy-to-make it makes for a great recipe for get togethers.
Note – (Soak the chickpeas overnight or for minimum 7-8 hours)
Pressure cook the chickpeas in which they were soaked in with half a teaspoon of turmeric and half teaspoon of salt.
Make a strong tea with these 2 tea bags and 1 cup of water. Add this to the chickpeas and pressure cook until soft.
While the chickpea is cooked, In a iron pan, add little oil and roast all the ingredients to be powdered until brown.Cool the spices and powder it finely.
In a heavy saucepan , heat oil, when the oil is sufficiently hot, add al the powdered spices, gram flour and roast until dark brown. Add onions, ginger-ccilli paste and tomatoes and cook for 3-4 minutes.
Add the cooked chickpeas along with little water, tamarind paste and potatoes. Mix well. Add little extra water if required. Cook for another 3-4 minutes. Mix well until the spices chickpeas and water are incorporated well. Do the salt test & mix.
Garnish with sliced onions and serve hot with bhatura, naan or you can also serve it as chaat with tikki.
Notes
How to soak and cook chole-
Wash and soak the chickpeas overnight or 7-8 hours in sufficient quantity of water as the chana will double in size after soaking it.
In a pressure cooker, add soaked chickpeas, 1/2 teaspoon salt, tea and water. Pressure cook for 9-10 whistles or until the chole is soft.