Punjabi Chhole Recipe (Chickpea Curry )

My favourite punjabi Chickpea curry (Chhole/ chana masala ) recipe in Amritsari style. Infused with indian whole spices, and black tea for that smoky flavour and colour. Slowly simmered in a rich tempering of onions, tomatoes, lots of ginger and a little garlic for a flavourful indian treat to go with bhaturas, pooris or kulcha.A perfect Sunday Brunch.

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Punjabi chhole recipe (chickpea curry ) , or chana recipe, is the very humble traditional Indian style chickpea curry without coconut milk . There’s a number of ways the white chickpeas are cooked in India. Most famous being the Punjabi ( Amritsari chhole ) cooking method.

The recipe below, is the way that it is cooked at my home, by my mum, and is also followed in many Punjabi households.

There’s a whole lot of ground and whole spices used in this recipe. The secret ingredient of this authentic recipe being the black tea. Yes, a tea bag, or brewed tea is added to these amritsari chhole recipe to add a smoky taste ,aroma and most importantly colour to this Punjabi chickpeas curry.

The other alternative to using the tea , is using roasted ground cumin powder, which again gives a nice flavour and dark colour to these chickpeas.

And there is another method of cooking the chickpeas quick, which uses very few ingredients. That i’ll leave for another post.

Ingredients required to make delicious Amritsari Chhole recipe

For this authentic Punjabi chhole recipe, the ingredients you would need while boiling the chickpeas, are fenugreek seeds (methre), black cardamom, bay leaf, cloves, whole black pepper, cinnamon stick, star anise, a pinch of baking soda (optional) and a tea bag or a cup of brewed black tea.

Ingredients required to cook tempering for Punjabi amritsari chhole

For tempering or tadka of chhole you would need ghee (or oil),onions, asafoetida powder (hing),cumin seeds (jeera),tomatoes (optional), garlic, ginger, green chillies,Black pepper powder, red chilli (Deghi mirchi) powder,Roasted cumin coriander powder, Kasoori methi powder, amchoor (dry mango powder),Chana masala powder.

The details of how to make roasted cumin coriander powder or Dhania jeera masala recipe are given below.

How to make roasted cumin coriander powder (Bhuna dhania jeera masala )at home

To make dhaniya jeera masala add 1 tsp of coriander seeds (Sukha Dhaniya ), 1 tsp cumin seeds (Whole Jeera ) to a hot pan/ tawa.

Keep stirring, so that these do not burn. Heat for 3-4 minutes, till you can smell the strong flavours.

Turn the heat off , and let it cool.

Once cool, add these roasted cumin coriander seeds to a grinder , and grind them finely .

Roasted cumin coriander powder (Dhania jeera masala ) can be used in a number of ways to add flavour to curries , raitas, vegetables and biryani.

Cooking Punjabi Chhole

As  always with any whole legumes I suggest soaking them overnight, before cooking, we follow the same procedure here.

Soak the white chickpeas overnight in enough water.

When cooking, rinse these thoroughly with clean water, and in a pressure cooker, boil these along with methre(fenugreek seeds),black cardamom, bay leaf, cloves, whole black pepper, cinnamon stick, star anise, little baking soda (optional) and a tea bag or brewed black tea. Boil the chickpeas for about 15-18 minutes on slow heat.

Once done, open the cooker, and you can discard the whole spices and tea bag, as the flavour has been induced in your curry.

If you are not using a tea bag, you can use brewed tea to make this chhole recipe. To make it, boil 1 tsp of black tea in a cup of water. Once boiled, sieve it, let cool and keep aside.

This chhole recipe can be cooked without tomatoes. If you do not have tomatoes, or do not want to use tomatoes for any reason, you can use amchoor (dried mango powder), or anardana (Dried pomegranate seeds powder).

Both amchoor and pomegranate seeds powder are easily available in India.

Out of India you can check your nearest Asian stores .

I also have a list of my favourite products, Kitchen gadgets, gifts and Indian spices on my Amazon store.

Cooking the Tempering / Tadka for Amritsari chhole masala

In a pan heat ghee / or oil. Add asafoetida powder, Cumin seeds, and let it splutter for a few seconds. Add Chopped onions. Fry till onions are light golden. Add crushed ginger garlic/ ginger garlic paste. Sautee till the raw aroma goes away.

Now add the pureed tomatoes, and cook till the oil leaves the sides.

Add slit green chillies, black pepper powder, red chilli (deghi mirch)powder, roasted coriander and cumin  powder (recipe above ), Kasoori methi powder, chana masala powder. Mix well.

Add the tempering to cooked chickpeas. Mix well , cover and let it simmer for another 10 minutes.

When done, add amchoor powder. Garnish it with a drizzle of ghee, fresh coriander leaves and slit chillies.

Serve Punjabi chhole hot with bhathuras, Pooris, naan bread, rice or Kulchas, accompanied with salad, pickle, chutney and Raita.

Another way our family loves to have these chhole recipe is with Rice. Chhole chawal is our comfort food . If you want to keep the meal simple, serve these with a bowl to steamed rice. Nothing can beat the delicious pairing of Chhole chawal with a side of raita and achaar masala wala pyaaz (Indian pickled onions).

If you try this recipe, please rate it by clicking the stars below. And don’t forget to like , share the recipe and tag us on Instagram or Facebook using #frombowltosoul if you like the recipe.Please Comment below for any queries, suggestions and ideas .I would love to hear from you.

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Punjabi Chhole (Chickpea curry without coconut ) Recipe card